Electronic Arts is finding the free-to-play model as profitable as its console business, according to EA Games label head Frank Gibeau. In an interview with GI.biz, Gibeau said that the publisher will continue to push free-to-play versions of its considerable portfolio, especially in certain foreign markets.
"We're aggressively investing in things that are very low cost like free-to-play," said. "The free-to-play group inside of EA Games is growing extremely fast - we've got 17 million users."
"Frankly when they get to scale, have huge audiences, are very profitable, they're not cannibalizing the main games and they actually reach markets that we're not currently serving. With Need for Speed World, Russia and Brazil are number one and two - the Ukraine is in there too. I can't sell packaged goods in those territories.”
Need For Speed World recently hit 5 million registered users earlier this month. Not bad for a title that exists separately from the main Need For Speed franchise.
"But I'm reaching an audience with Need for Speed content. It's an engine that's not as advanced as Frostbite 2 but it's certainly got great production values and great game designs, and it's free-to-play with micro-transactions. It's a very exciting time from our perspective because it's not all about consoles. It's about smartphones, tablets, free-to-play, browser, social,” added Gibeau.
