Electronic Arts Plans To Charge For Long Game Demos
Electronic Arts
Electronic Arts is planning on charging for extended video game demos, in order to grow their digital game business. Their plan is to raise this business to become one-third of their total revenue across the next couple of years.
Electronic Arts plans on releasing premium downloadable content over the PlayStation Network and Xbox Live for $10 to $15, and then later release the game at full price, according to the EA Group General Manager, Nick Earl. Wedbush analyst, Michael Pachter, describes this premium downloadable content as being a very long video game demo, along the lines of Battlefield 1943 in 2009. The retail version of the game would be released shortly after the demo.
Nick Earls states that this strategy will allow the company to lower the risk of marketing the full game while providing some low-cost income. John Riccitiello, the EA company CEO, told Patcher that the company has performed poorly over his years and that the rehaul of the company is taking longer than expected. EA is estimated to be two-thirds of the way through its re-haul, and one-third of the way through its transformation to digital distribution through multiple channels. Another way EA plans to achieve the goal is by “exploiting all of its packaged games with digital revenue streams”.
Many fans are already saying how no one will want to pay for what is considered a very long demo. From what is understood about Electronic Arts’ strategy, they plan to simply have paid demos as an extra source of income from those who are on the ropes about purchasing the game. This allows for revenue from potential fans and fans that will actually make a purchase. This is definitely going to backfire on them, because $10 for a game demo is not nearly enough of an incentive to convince the every day gamer to purchase the game.
While no confirmation has been made about this statement, Electronic Arts is planned to begin charging customers for new demos.
