EA Denies Charging for 'Traditionally Free' Demos
Someone is not being entirely correct
Yesterday Wedbush Morgan analyst and Internet TV star, Michael Pachter released a report based on a meeting he'd been involved with at Electronic Arts. He stated that the company would be charging for game demos.
Today EA has appears to have shot that theory down in flames. It has, however, left itself enough space to redefine a 'traditional demo'.
Pachter had stated that EA plans 'premium downloadable content' for console costing $10 to $15 and that it was "essentially be a very long game demo, along the lines of 2009's Battlefield 1943."
Apparently such Premium content would, ""serve as a low-cost marketing tool", Pachter qutoed EA Group General Manager Nick Earl as saying.
Well, EA's Jeff Brown has told Kotaku that "the publisher and developer is working on a number of projects for delivering premium content to consumers before, during, and after the launch of a packaged-goods version of the game.
"To date, there is no set pricing strategy for the entire EA portfolio. And many of the proposals include free-to-play content on models similar to Madden Ultimate Team, Battlefield Heroes and Battlefield 1943."
However, the key point is that "None of the proposals" Brown told Kotaku, "call for charging consumers for traditionally free game demos."
Miscommunication? Poor analysis? Or is somebody just telling untruths? Or maybe the phrase, "traditionally free game demos" leaves enough space for the idea of game demos that are not 'traditionally free' to come into play later?
Frankly, this final option and the use of 'traditionally free' leaves a gaping chasm of plausible deniablity for later use. It is, in fact, the equivalent of saying: "We won't charge for things we haven't charged for in the past".
Kotaku.
Today EA has appears to have shot that theory down in flames. It has, however, left itself enough space to redefine a 'traditional demo'.
Pachter had stated that EA plans 'premium downloadable content' for console costing $10 to $15 and that it was "essentially be a very long game demo, along the lines of 2009's Battlefield 1943."
Apparently such Premium content would, ""serve as a low-cost marketing tool", Pachter qutoed EA Group General Manager Nick Earl as saying.
Well, EA's Jeff Brown has told Kotaku that "the publisher and developer is working on a number of projects for delivering premium content to consumers before, during, and after the launch of a packaged-goods version of the game.
"To date, there is no set pricing strategy for the entire EA portfolio. And many of the proposals include free-to-play content on models similar to Madden Ultimate Team, Battlefield Heroes and Battlefield 1943."
However, the key point is that "None of the proposals" Brown told Kotaku, "call for charging consumers for traditionally free game demos."
Miscommunication? Poor analysis? Or is somebody just telling untruths? Or maybe the phrase, "traditionally free game demos" leaves enough space for the idea of game demos that are not 'traditionally free' to come into play later?
Frankly, this final option and the use of 'traditionally free' leaves a gaping chasm of plausible deniablity for later use. It is, in fact, the equivalent of saying: "We won't charge for things we haven't charged for in the past".
Kotaku.
Companies:
Electronic Arts
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