Kohato brings word of a new Electronic Arts marketing strategy that aims to start monetizing game demos. According to industry analyst Michael Patcher after an EA investor visit, the publisher will start selling “premium downloadable content” prior to a game’s release for $10-$15 that is essentially a longer-than-usual demo. Patcher said, “I think that the plan is to release PDLC at $15 that has 3-4 hours of gameplay, so [it has] a very high perceived value, then [EA will] take the feedback from the community (press and players) to tweak the follow-on full game that will be released at a normal packaged price point.” He also made reference to a comment from EA’s CEO John Riccitiello that “the line between packaged product sales and digital revenues would soon begin to blur.”
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What can I say? Craziness...
Since the assets are already created for the "full" game there is hardly any additional cost to EA to pull this off. There are enough fans that are rabidly eager to get an early taste of a game that it will pay off... sort of like offering Beta access with a preorder!
Saw that facepalm article. Bad corporate decision making I hope. I hope people don't buy this but I'm afraid many will.
Its just EA's way to get money off of poorly made games... For example CnC 4 had a public beta.. Everyone tried it found out it sucked and didnt buy it.. They dont want that ot happen again so now they will charge for it.. I have already stopped buying any games with EA on it so it won't effect me!!!
Indeed. EA was a decent company many years ago.....now....they are FUBAR.
The gaming industry just keeps getting weirder and weirder. I think I must be getting too old for this crap. I'm getting beyond the point of outrage and traveling into the I don't give a s*** anymore. I'm glad my kids aren't into gaming. I'd hate to have to tell them there is no way we are ever buying into paying for demos, persistent server connections for single player games, and activation limits.
Hold up a second. Read that again:
These guys are basically astrologers, only they get paid better. I wouldn't believe anything that comes out of his mouth.
true all these guys do is make statements to effect the stock market in their favor. They must think this will show up as more possible revenue for Ea which equals stock price increase.
Ah, so that early paid Spore demo was a test. I guess enough idiots must have bought it for them to think this idea will not end in total failure. Shareware (demos that were essentially 1/4-1/3 of the full game) worked back in the day because the shareware was free. Oh well, EA can do what they want. I'm still not going to buy anything from them.
2kGames did this last fall with NBA2k10 Draft Combine.
Also, I wouldn't worry too much about this stuff. The path is already laid out. Everything will go free digital download with micro-transactions in this decade. Steady income streams are easier to manage. Don't you feel the not so gentle push in this direction (read: DLC). This isn't all bad for the consumer. Overall we'll likely spend more tomorrow for the games we like. However, we'll spend much less for those we want to try but ultimately do not like. In the end a micro-transaction model will reward good developers and should punish the rest.
EA already did something like this before... Spore Creature Creator anyone?
And Pachter seems to be an increasingly dumb analyst.
Anyway, EA have already clarified that they aren't charging for demos. They might release prequel game content to those who want to buy it. It would be shorter than the full game, and cost less. It's purely optional.
This isn't the only article to present this. The information originated from an internal EA meeting, if I recall correctly. EA Higher-ups have refused to go into detail about this proposal as it's simply that: a proposal.If it becomes a reality, and I see no reason why it wouldn't, most educated people will see this type of pricing system as the blind greed based money grab it is. However, I believe that unfortunately enough people will pay the asking price and give EA yet another revenue stream besides striping features out of their games and selling them back to their players, and shipping only part of the game at retail and allowing the players to download the rest to destroy the second hand games market. Looking at EA's history, this feels about right.
Heh yeah, and it was an awesome marketing decision. Why? Because the Creature Creator is the only good stuff in that game...
I asked a boss once how Gartner came up with some up its forecast numbers for growth within certain markets. His reply was great: "Analysts are like weathermen."
Wow does george bush work for them. If people dont like the word then change what you call it right!!!!
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