14 DAY TRIAL // Publisher Electronic Arts has revealed that its shooter Battlefield 1943, which was created by DICE and was launched in the middle of summer 2009 has earned more than 16 million dollars for the company and has only cost a fraction of that to initially develop and then maintain.
Speaking at the 39 Annual Media and Communication Conference organized by UBS Eric Brown, who is the chief financial officer of Electronic Arts, has mentioned the 16 million dollar figure while also saying that costs were in the “single digit millions” range, which suggests that the game has been a hit for the publisher.
DICE has created Battlefield 1943 specifically for those competitive multiplayer gamers who were not interested in the change of tone which arrived alongside the first Bad Company title, which also delivered a single player component and a focus on humor.
The game was quick to get more than 1 million sales, a big number for a title which is only offered via download, and Electronic Arts promises that the game would also get a release on the PC, which has not yet arrived.
Another downloadable only piece of content which performed well for Electronic Arts has been the Ultimate Team mode for the FIFA sports simulation franchise.
Overall download delivered content has made up about 20 percent of the revenue of the publisher and the company aims to increase that to 40%.
At the moment, DICE is working on the Vietnam expansion pack prepared for Battlefield Bad Company 2 and is also widely thought to be working on Battlefield 3, a game that EA believes can take on the Call of Duty franchise.
It's not clear whether the developer has the resources to also work on a new Battlefield title, download only video games that could replicate the success seen by 1943.