14 DAY TRIAL // Electronic Arts' controversial decision to offer five Battlefield: Bad Company weapons as purchasable content (therefore, not free or part of the core game) was met with an angry reaction from the fans. Usually, this kind of behavior means absolutely nothing to game developers since, in the end, most of the protesters will spend the money anyway. However, it seems that this is one of those few times when fans did have something to say and managed to convince EA it's time to change their mind.
Speaking with IGN, Karl-Magnus Troedsson, senior producer for Battlefield: Bad Company, announced that Electronic Arts would no longer charge to unlock weapons, attributing this decision to the backlash they have received from gamers, "We are not charging for any guns that are out there," said Troedsson. "We read the forums, we read all of the articles and listening to the storm that is out there, we're not going to charge for any of those guns."
However, this doesn't mean that EA's entire plan to make some money with the weapons has collapsed: the previously unlockable-only weapons will automatically be made available to players when they reach level 25 (the cap) and those who purchase the Gold Edition of the game (which costs $10 more) will have them unlocked from the start. Now we know that Electronic Arts reps have told that these weapons offer no advantage over other players, but if they're wrong... well... we're back where it all started, sort of...
Still, this decision seems a bit more rational that just selling weapons, basically because all the developers should get a profit from their work on the game, especially if it is a quality one. And Battlefield: Bad Company is that kind which has "quality" written all over it. So we must admit being surprised (in a very good way) by EA's decision to listen to its fans and change the mechanism a bit.