Electronic Arts is currently working on inserting more “dynamic” ads into its AAA titles, and this development has produced a lot of justified eye-rolling from gamers as a whole, despite how “thoughtful” CEO Andrew Wilson says the company is being about it.<\/p>
AAA games already cost a hefty $60 or $70 to buy, and as long as games have existed, not being served ads has always been included in that premium price. At the end of the day though, publishers like EA will consider anything that brings in more money over time. And for that reason, they should consider something I’ve been thinking about for some time, especially now that they want to include ads: make EA FC<\/a><\/em> free-to-play.<\/p>
Even before the series transitioned from FIFA<\/em> to EA FC<\/em><\/a>, I’ve had the idea it would be better for both EA and the consumer if their global soccer-sim cash cow was a free-to-play title. With Ultimate Team becoming such a focal point of the game, EA FC<\/em> is a live service game at this point, and going free-to-play would actually make it a more effective one.<\/p>
If EA is insistent on putting ads in the game, the only way the player base would even stomach them is if they’re on a free-to-play title. NBA 2K<\/em> rightly caught a ton of flak<\/a> for putting unskippable ads in their fully priced games, and EA would be wise not do the same. There’s a strong financial reason to do it this way too, since any advertisement deals they make would become much more valuable on a free-to-play title, which leads to the second point.<\/p>
Given EA has decided to focus on its own franchises instead of licensed IPs<\/a>, and since they seem so insistent on implementing ads, there might not be a better time to completely switch the field with its highest grossing property.<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
