EA scraps in-game ads in favor of microtransactions

December 21st, 2010

EA is an interesting beast. As one of the largest and most prominent games makers on the planet, they hold their own unique space in your average gamers’ world. And while EA has been going through a revamping process for longer than I can count, EA’s General Manager of Free-to-play, Ben Cousins, has some interesting things to say about the direction of the company in an interview with Edge.

According to Cousins, EA will be moving further and further away from any in-game advertising based campaigns, focusing more on microtransactions. “We actually aren’t getting much from ad revenue at all,” says Cousins. “The in-game advertising business hasn’t grown as fast as people expected it to.” It’s not that in-game ads are to fault, but rather, Cousins points out the massive and sudden explosion of microtransaction based revenue models, as evidenced by Zynga. “If you think about how fast the virtual goods business has grown in the last year or so, it’s been much quicker and become a much more reliable source of revenue.”

Cousins isn’t simply making numbers and figures up. You’ll remember when EA jumped into the free-to-play pool, they did so with Battlefield Heroes, which was supported through a mixture of (presumably tested and re-tested) in-game advertising slots and microtransactions. “We hedged our bets,” he said. “we thought we’d do in-game advertising and virtual goods sales, and one of those took off really fast and the other hasn’t really taken off at all.”

The interview with Edge arrives just ahead of EA’s newest iteration of a free-to-play Battlefield title hits the streets, Battlefield: Play4Free. He doesn’t quite see this shift at EA as the final nail in the coffin for IGA, but he does note that publishers need to up the bar in the creativity department for the model to be truly compelling, i.e. generate significant revenues.

“We did a deal with Dr Pepper for Battlefield Heroes, where if you buy a bottle and scan in the code you get an exclusive outfit. That kind of deep integration will work, I think, but I’m not convinced that we’ll have billboards in games and things like that. Maybe those days are over.”

Over the course of the year, we’ve seen a massive uptake in microtransactions, while the world of in-game advertising has already said goodbye to one of it’s major players. If Cousins’ is on the right track, could we see another IGA-based shop shutter it’s doors in 2011? Or…will advertisers take Cousins’ and others’ comments to heart and give a serious retooling to their methods?

Aeria Games goes big with free-to-play MMOFPS on Unity 3

November 9th, 2010

Aeria Games has recently announced plans to bring to market the world’s first free-to-play MMOFPS built entirely on the Unity 3 game engine. Announced in conjunction with Brazilian Aquiris Game Studio, Aeria’s decision to launch a free-to-play MMOFPS on the Unity 3 engine marks an important step in the adoption of the engine in the gaming space. Rooted in a modern warfare style, the new title will be available on both Mac and PC, with a browser based version expected shortly after the initial launch.

“Using the Unity 3 engine means we’ll be able to allow anyone, anywhere, to jump into the game and compete, through a client or via the browser” said Mauricio Longoni, CTO of Aquiris Game Studio. “Unity provides the kind of cutting-edge 3D game experience one expects from modern titles, yet does so with near-universal compatibility.”

Currently unnamed, Aeria’s MMOFPS will allow players to face off against each other in lightening fast gun fights in various modes, back by a massive arsenal of modern, realistic military weaponry. Aeria is also utilizing Electrotank Inc.’s electroServer 5 technology, allowing for a massively scalable game server, and capable of delivering super fast real-time multiplayer actions – read: no lag.

“Being able to play a robust, fast-paced FPS against a worldwide audience, regardless of platform or location, is a feat by itself,” said Lan Hoang, CEO of Aeria Games. “Presenting this opportunity free of charge is an achievement that redefines what players should come to expect from free-to-play gaming.”

It should be interesting to see how players take to this yet unnamed title from Aeria. There are a number of similar titles on the market today, each with their own unique following and dedicated gamer type. However, none of these titles bring to the table the type of processing power available via Unity 3. By offering this normally top shelf engine to the masses in a free-to-play title just upped the ante for all others in the space.

Again, the Unity 3 driven MMOFPS from Aeria is yet unnamed, but Closed Beta Testing is expected to begin in the first quarter of 2011. Stay tuned at aeriagames.com.

Sidenote: Interesting to note that Aeria chose yesterday as the day to make their announcement of this title, only one day after EA’s announcement of a free-to-play Battlefield title, as well as the same day the highly anticipated Call of Duty: Black Ops is available to the public. Coincidence? You decide.

EA announces new Battlefield Play4Free (or Heroes take two?)

November 8th, 2010

When EA and DICE set off to experiment in the free-to-play world a while back, gamers’ response to their free-to-play Battlefield Heroes was mixed. Some (myself included) loved the cartoonish take on a not-always-fun topic, while others snubbed the title for the same attributes, or, not realistic enough. Well it seems like EA has listened to user feedback, and is now bringing forth a new free-to-play, or play4free as EA refers to it, in a much more “traditional” sense.

Announced this past Friday, EA’s Battlefield Play4Free is arguably a complete antithesis to Heroes, featuring photo-realistic characters, environments, weapons and maps. Clearly, EA is targeting a very different audience with their newest offering. Billed as a deep PC shooter, Battlefield Play4Free incorporates a number of traditional Battlefield series notables including vehicle warfare, sandbox gameplay, and 32 player online shoot’em down goodness.

“We broke new ground in 2009 with the launch of Battlefield Heroes; a game that has 6M registered players worldwide. Now we are complementing that arcade shooter with a core, realistic Battlefield shooter experience that fans have been clamoring for,” said James Salt, Senior Producer, Battlefield Play4Free. “Battlefield Play4Free is for serious shooter fans who are looking for a premium – but free – experience that rivals top console titles.”

And if EA has anything to say about it, Battlefield P4F will take on those console titles via it’s advanced graphics, production vales, and incredible depth and realism – again, an almost 180 degree turn from Heroes’ modus operandi. Battlefield P4F pulls elements from Battlefield 2 and Battlefield: Bad Company 2, providing players with the most popular maps, classes, and weapons from the two titles, offering players up to 16 different vehicle choices.

This newest iteration in the Battlefield franchise is a clear indication that EA is now taking free-to-play quite seriously. Remember, when Battlefield Heroes launched, EA and DICE were bravely taking the plunge in a still-to-be-proven market (i.e. North America). Since garnering over 6 million players, and learning quite a few valuable lessons along the way, it’s clear that EA now feels as though the timing is right to launch a “serious, hardcore” free-to-play title, and see how the market responds. My guess? Well, let’s hope those Play4Free servers are up to the challenge, as I suspect that even non-shooter fans like myself won’t pass up a moment (or 100) to go give this one a try.

The Battlefield play4free official launch is scheduled for Spring 2011, but trigger happy applicants can sign up to be included in EA’s closed beta of the project, which kicks off November 30th, at battlefield.play4free.com.

Facebook games come of age – first FPS arriving soon

February 8th, 2010

Farming and Fish Tanks have been a massive success for a number of casual games developers on social networking platforms, primarily Facebook. Mafia type games have also seen their fair share of success, and while they do contain an element of violence, they’re still grounded to a static, turn based, game style. If these games may be viewed as ‘all encompassing – all inclusive’ styles, it looks like social games on Facebook might be taking a step towards segmentation, as 3G Studios plans to bring a browser based first person shooter directly to your Facebook gaming addiction enjoyment.

Menubar_BA_MidTitled “Brave Arms”, 3G Studios says that they plan on bringing, “a real video game experience,” to Facebook. While full details are currently scarce, those available indicate that the casual game will feature solo as well as team play style, and will include a microtransactions based monetization component.

A quick visit to the Brave Arms official site reveals that the game will feature 3D characters set in a variety of environments. Neither one of these images, however are very descript, one featuring a (what looks like stock digital imagery) warehouse, while the other shows a snowboard mountain setting. Additionally, screenshots show a few different weapon options; dual wielding handguns, assault/sniper rifles with scopes, as well as a futuristic looking weapon which may shoot (frickin’) laser beams!

Brave Arms has a great linage behind it. Developed by 3G Studios which is responsible for the original Rock Band, and handful of PSP games, and most recently Jillian Michael’s Fitness Ultimatum 2009 for Wii. Given these past projects, it should be interesting to see how 3G will make the transition from console and portable titles to the social gaming world.

bfh_logoAnd now for the biggest question – why is 3G Studios the first on the scene with a FPS for Facebook? With EA’s massive investment in social gaming, did 3G simply beat them to the punch? To be honest, even the Brave Arms logo is not only similar to, but I’d venture close enough to tug at consumers’ vague recollection of another free-to-play, first person shooter title they might already be familiar with: EA’s Battlefield Arms. If Battlefield Heroes, or id Software/Bethesda’s Quake Live are or aren’t in development for a Facebook port, well then….fair enough, hats off to 3G Studios for getting to the market first. For now, neither company has indicated that they’re planning on making this move. Perhaps this new offering from 3G might light a few fires at a few corporate offices quite soon. As CEO James Kosta puts it, “Our new title, Brave Arms, will bring first-person shooter games to the masses.” My alternate suggestion might be, “You snooze, you lose big boys.”

Brave Arms is slated for a March release, but enthusiastic players can reserve their nickname in advance at Facebook.

Battlefield Heroes raises prices – receives player backlash

December 2nd, 2009

The EA/DICE title Battlefield Heroes has had a bit of a long and winding road. From being ready to go, then only to be put on hold, and finally the release with a rather gradual, we’ll let anyone in beta. Back in September EA reported that the free-to-play title had passed the 2 million registered players mark, and all seemed well. Likewise, only a month prior, EA’s own senior analytics manager Rommy Ghaly revealed that on average, users spend around $20 in-game. Sounds fair, and all is fine and dandy in this free-to-play shooter n’est pas? Well….apparently not, as EA dropped the virtual bomb yesterday by announcing that the cost of in-game earned currency was going up, while at the same time, RMT (real money transaction) cost were to be lowered. In other words – earning currency by playing has fallen out of favor at EA, and cold hard cash income is coming to the forefront.

Announced on the forum, Battlefield Heroes price restructuring took effect on the 30th, and offers players incentives to purchase items using real money transactions to purchase the virtual currency BattleFunds, as opposed to the currency earned through play, Valor Points. In effect, EA has jacked up the cost of items purchased with Valor Points, while cut the cost of items purchased with BattleFunds by upwards of 50 percent.

But why? To find the answer to this, one might want to have a read through the 70+ page forum thread of players’ reactions. To say that they’re not pleased might be a bit of an understatement. However, if seen from EA’s position, they’ve got an interesting quandary on their hands now – one that can effect virtual economies if not properly planned. It seems as though EA has an imbalanced economy, in so much as players with plenty of time on their hands, ones that have acquired massive amounts of Valor Points through play, often have accounts with upwards of 20,000 points just sitting in the economy. Through not spending this currency, the in-game economy becomes unbalanced. To add to the headache, items purchased with said Valor Point are impermanent items which expire after a certain amount of time. Conversely, items purchased with BattleFunds are permanent items. In other words – those that spend real money for items have them forever, while earned currency buyers have advanced items for a pre-determined time period. The question is – will this change now upset game balance?

What’s also important to keep in mind here is that when Battlefield Heroes first arrived on the scene, they were the only free-to-play first person shooter on the market. Since then, competitors such as Nexon’s Combat Arms or Subagames’ Cross Fire have joined the free-to-play fps ranks. As expected, with the pricing change, a number of vocal players are irate, and have suggested that they’d rather move on to something else, rather than grind away for days on end to acquire items that previously only took a few hours to get. And while these vocal players often serve up empty threats, given the number of them (not counting those that have NOT voiced their opinions), a mass exodus is something that EA should be considering carefully before we see the once promising Battlefield Heroes dead in the water.

EA’s Need for Speed franchise tops 100 million, date set for online free-to-play version

October 22nd, 2009

EA has officially sold more than 100 million copies of it’s popular racing/driving series Need for Speed. Since the first release in 1994, the NFS titles have generated over $2.7 billion in revenue for the Redwood, California based Electronic Arts. The games’ newest iteration, Need for Speed: Shift sales have topped the franchise over this milestone, placing it in the number four all time best selling games. Also included in the over 100 million units sold club are the best selling game of all time, The Sims, as well as the Mario Brother franchise, Pokemon, and Grand Theft Auto.

need-for-speed_shift_03“Few videogame franchises ever reach the 100M units mark, so this is a huge honor. We have millions of fans to thank for driving us to this milestone,” said Frank Gibeau, president, EA Games Label. “With the launch of Need for Speed SHIFT and the upcoming release of Need for Speed NITRO, we hope to continue to deliver the most entertaining, action-packed racing experiences.”

While the game has been through 15 different versions, and produced for 14 different platforms, it wasn’t until the 2003 version, Need for Speed: Underground version was released that the franchise really started to take off. Previous versions focused on supercar racing off in a mythical European countryside. The underground version made a dramatic shift to more “accessible” cars, those that we actually obtainable by racing/gaming fans around the world. And while the good times were on a roll for EA for the following two years, in 2007 with Need for Speed Pro Street, the title had sunk back to levels of mediocrity. Recognizing the potential within the franchise, but perhaps more importantly, that there were three distinct groups that played the game, EA wisely broke up the then current studio developing the titles, and brought in a fresh set of hands and eyes, and has now developed three unique product offerings. What once was one, is now in fact three: one group focuses on an action based game for mass market fans, another on pure simulation for die hard fans, and still another, arcade style play for casual racers.

Need for Speed Shift, released this past September falls into the simulation category, while the upcoming release of Need for Speed Nitro, specifically developed for the Nintendo Wii and DS, will fill the arcade pillar, falling perfectly in line with Nintendo’s top racing game of the year 2008, Mario Kart.

The third, and perhaps most interesting continuation of the Need for Speed franchise should arrive on North American shores around this time one year from now. Titled Need for Speed World Online, this version will be an online only, free-to-play title, yet again signaling EA’s firm commitment to the free-to-play, microtransactions supported gaming business model. No word yet on where the microtransactions will come into play, but based on the game play style, it’s safe to assume that car cosmetic upgrades will be available for purchase, as well as temporary performance enhancements, alla Battlefield Heroes. Closed beta testing is expected to commence in Taiwan this winter, with an official global release in Fall 2010.

EA’s foray into free-to-play, Battlefield Heroes now counts over 2 million registered players

September 28th, 2009

Late last week EA announced that their free-to-play, or Play4Free as EA likes to dub the genre, shooter Battlefield Heroes has officially topped the 2 million registered users milestone.

bf_heroes_fall_mapOfficially launched only three months ago, the third person shooter initially attracted over 1 million players in July, suggesting that overall game growth is slowing. A member of the successful Battlefield series, Battlefield Heroes comes out of Sweden based DICE studios. BFH is a sibling of another Battlefield title currently offered in a digital distribution only format, a more traditional rendering of the genre’s World War II action themes, Battlefield 1943.

Looking to not only hold on to these 2 million registered users, as well as draw in a completely new crowd, EA/DICE will be releasing a host of new content, as well as offering users the possibility to name the new content pack. Titled ‘Heroes of the Fall’ and set against the yellow, orange, and red shades of autumn, the new map will be focused on infantry fighting in close quarters of a village with intersecting canals. This new geography will funnel players to clashes at bridges and crossways, while also allowing stealthy players to use backstreets to launch flanking and rear attack maneuvers.

A new map isn’t the only thing being introduced to the popular free-to-play, as this content update will introduce an entirely new class to the game: the Gunner, as well as improvements and upgrades to the friends system. “Along with this new map, ‘Heroes of the Fall’ includes a slew of changes including upgrades of the Gunner class and improvements to the friends system,” said Ben Cousins, General Manager, Battlefield Heroes team. “We’ve also added a brand new ranking system for the game – players can earn cool new titles for their heroes as they play – showing everyone on the battlefield how dedicated they are.”

And sticking true to their already community heavy involvement and interaction, the folks at EA/DICE are offering users the chance to name the new map. While the development team will be selecting the name, this promotion seems like a great way to get the already engaged community even more involved.

There’s been no official word on updates to the in-game item shop, but given that Battlefield Heroes is primarily advertising and microtransaction purchases supported, I’d not be surprised to see updates to this aspect of the game as well. The new Gunner class will most certainly offer players a new way to play a game that they may or may not have already played a number of times, thereby giving the user a whole new class to customize.

Big Numbers from Big Players at Austin ‘09

September 21st, 2009

Last week’s GDC conference in Austin spilled out a ton of information not only about what’s up and coming in the gaming industry, but also the current state of affairs. One of the most interesting sessions saw EA, Turbine, K2, Linden Labs, and IMVU pony up and lay down some eye opening, if not eye popping, facts about their microtransaction and virtual goods monetization business models.

EA, perhaps the biggest and oldest games makers now involved in the freemium market reported that after initially only selling character customization options, sales were simply OK. Specifically speaking to Battlefield Heroes, once EA instituted Boost packs, these items/options quickly shot to the top of the list. Learning from this lesson, and perhaps overcoming the initial public balk, EA is now trending towards introducing these options into all of their freemium products. The focus here is on in-game advantages that drive higher conversion rates over that of purely cosmetic items. Using this formula, EA expects a 7-8 percent conversion rate in it’s freemium games, but realizes that rates may be driven down to the 5 percent range, do to the influx from social network traffic.

Turbine is looking good with what at the time raised a few eyebrows when they announced that their long time subscription title Dungeons and Dragons switched to the free-to-play model. Turning more than a few heads, Turbine execs announced that the free switch has significantly increased subscription rates, as well as concurrency rates. To be fair, Turbine is offering a subscription/freemium hybrid model, which the company believes to be the optimal solution, capturing both hard core, play all the time fans, while also hooking the players that only want to pay for what they want, and not for what they don’t. Subscription players are given a dedicated monthly allowance of virtual currency, and free players are given the option to purchase virtual currency with RMTs. Both allow players to unlock a variety of in game content.

K2, publishers of Knight Online, Red Stone, War Rock, Global MU Online, and Sword of the New World, report that every single cent of their revenues are derived from in-game item sales. Citing their key focus on community management, K2 claims an extremely high ARPU. “ARPU is high, relationships is long and persistence is everything.” Given that their revenues are items sales driven, K2 is aggressively pushing for expansion in Turkey, Brazil, and Eastern Bloc countries, areas were the freemium model has thus far been tremendously successful.

Linden Lab, publishers of perhaps one of the most well-know Virtual Worlds, Second Life stated that their annual revenue was over $80 million, and that they’re closing in on the $100 million mark. The company monetizes in one of three ways: Currency sales, premium subscriptions, and a hosting package that allows users’ 3D items to persist throughout the games. Given Second Life’s rocky, sometimes controversy filled, track record, the folks at Linden are now focusing on plugging the holes, and retaining active users as opposed to seeking out new Second Life residents. Linden Lab execs say that the largest stumbling block they’ve encountered is in-game fraud. Remember, Second Life allows users to create their own items for sale within the game, sometimes leading to a removal of currency from the virtual economy. The company considers this fraud/loss risk a basic price of doing business.

Rounding out the top 5 on parade at the GDC Virtual Worlds Monetization talk was IMVU. The firm says that 80 percent of their revenues come from sales of virtual items, and 20 percent from advertising. While 20 percent is a sizeable contribution, IMVU says that this revenue is only possible due to it’s expansive virtual world. They stressed importance on non-paying users, as they add to a large community, and encourage others to be drawn in. Comparing themselves to eBay, IMVU execs cited it’s catalogue of over 2.5 million virtual items made by 20,000 users. The top designers of virtual items within IMVU properties annually earn over $100,000 annually, however, the IMVU market functions on the long tail model, whereby the top 10 catalogue items only account for .2 percent of all sales.

Thanks to Ada Chen for outstanding notetaking.

Free-to-play home Outspark inks deal with Electronic Arts

September 2nd, 2009

The free-to-play/microtransactions supported industry added another major feather to it’s cap yesterday when the deal between publisher Outspark and gaming Goliath EA was announced. San Francisco based Outspark already has a number of successful free-to-play casual/MMO hybrid games that regularly attract 5 million plus unique monthly visitors, and has steadily been gathering steam. One of Outspark’s hallmarks is that their games tend to be highly social and easily customized by the end user.

dg_bi_whiteDubbed Dance Groove Online, this new title will be the first fruits of EA’s purchase last December of Seoul, Korea based J2M. This will be J2M/EA’s first western market introduction of the firms several casual online games. Instantly familiar to fans of Dance Dance Revolution and EA’s own Boogie, with the exception of the dance pad and/or wii Remote will be replaced with an 8 key keyboard layout. Not quite the physical workout, but still the same in rhythm fun. And EA isn’t joking around about making this title a success. According to the official website, in-game tracks aren’t simply studio produced pieces, but rather fully licensed tracks from real-world, bid deal house and club artists including one of my personal all-time favorites, Colette. Still in closed beta, Dance Groove Online should see it’s public appearance later this autumn.

Outspark CEO Susan Choe comments, “EA’s scale and strong heritage combined with Outspark’s online platform and unparalleled capability to provide real-time feedback and enhanced customization will bring unrivaled fun to millions of gamers as they play and connect in real time. Our players and EA fans will be eager to get their hands on this game.”

Outspark will be responsible for localizing the game, something they’ve already been successful at, and staying true to their own philosophy, they’ll be adding a host of design, social networking, and customization features. As operators of the title, Outspark will also be responsible for additional back office operations including support, marketing, community and customer service. And naturally, as it will be an Outspark operated online gaming destination, Outspark’s in-game currency system, Sparkcash will be utilized to customize the game experience.

An interesting proposition for sure, and yet more evidence that EA is clearly investing in the casual/free-to-play market. If the Battlefield Heroes numbers are on the money (pun intended), EA is clearly leading the pack of major ‘old-school’ gaming companies in these new monetization markets.

2009 hasn’t seen much in the way of new music and/or dance based titles, so the question begs to be asked, why this format, and why now? Granted EA is teeing up The Beatles Rock Band, and Activision Blizzard and readying Guitar Hero 5, Band Hero, and DJ Hero, so perhaps this is a pre-fire to launch interest again? Either way, it’s a great vote of confidence for Outspark, and yet another free-to-play title to count in the EA arsenal.

On average, Battlefield Heroes users spend $20 in game

August 13th, 2009

EA/DICE’s great experiment with free-to-play/microtransactions supported gaming seems to be paying off. In a recent interview with IGN, senior analytics manager Rommy Ghaly dished out some outstanding numbers and stats surrounding the browser based f2p title.

battlefieldheroes20094While Battlefield Heroes has suffered some production and launch setbacks, it seems as though holding fire has paid off well for EA. Since the launch of the closed beta back in February, the bright and shiny “Play Now” button has been clicked over 40 million times. Battlefield Heroes officially counts over 1.5 million registered users playing from over 133 countries across the globe. However, the majority of these users come from just ten countries – the United States, Germany, the United Kingdom, the Netherlands, France, Sweden, Russia, Canada, Poland and Brazil.

Battlefield Heroes has two unique forms of in-game currency. Battlefunds are used to upgrade characters’ clothing options, as well as provide temporary advancement points, such as added experience and/or valor points boosts. Battlefunds are those that can be purchased via RMT’s. Conversely, Valor points may not be purchased outside the game, and are the currency used for functional in-game items such as new weapons and special consumable attributes. According to Ghaly, 76 percent of all Battlefunds are spent on character customizations, clearly indicating users are willing to spend to make their character unique. The hot ticket Battlefield Heroes items? The Kommendant’s Coat, the Special Forces Officer Cap, Maverik’s Sunglasses, the Elite Camo Trousers and the Marksman’s Honor. The remaining 24 percent of Battlefunds cash spent are primarily aimed at the 30 day xp boost, the 1 day xp boost, and the 30 day Valor points boost. While these items do not provide any pay-to-pwn advantage, they do help players earn hero abilities and purchase better weapons.

And now for the math. Given that Ghaly confirmed that Battlefield Heroes has over 1.5 million registered users, and that these registered users spend, on average, $20 on in-game microtransactions, that would line EA’s coffers with a whopping $30 million in microtransactions revenue.

Perhaps I’m missing something here, but I’ve yet to find any other data supporting one single title bringing home this much bacon solely from microtransactions. Oh, and let’s not forget that Battlefield Heroes offers users a server rental feature that allows them to play private games with their friends, i.e. additional revenue streams.

EA has clearly indicated that they are very much indeed interested in microtransactions, having implemented them in both the Tiger Woods franchise, as well as Madden 10. If Battlefield Heroes continues to be a success for the software giant, could we see even more of the free-to-play type action coming out of Redwood City?