All EA games to feature online, DLC

By Tom Bramwell Published 9 February, 2010

Publisher makes pledge to investors.

Electronic Arts man John Schappert, formerly of Microsoft, has said that the third-party publisher plans to step up its online efforts during the coming year.

"In fiscal 2011, every one of EA's releases will have an online component, both downloadable content and online play," he told investors during a conference call (thanks IGN).

EA has embraced DLC in recent years and notable recent examples include Dragon Age, quickly supported by the Return to Ostagar extra, and Mass Effect 2, which uses the Cerberus Network platform as an disincentive to second-hand sales.

The publisher also has form thanks to the likes of Burnout Paradise, for which ambitious developer Criterion delivered extensive support that only officially came to an end recently.

Key EA games due out in its next fiscal year (1st April 2010 to 31st March 2011) include APB, Medal of Honor, Crysis 2, a new Need for Speed, Dead Space 2 and more from the Dragon Age and Mass Effect series.

Overnight the publisher also announced plans to introduce Ferraris to Need for Speed: Shift.

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About Tom Bramwell

Tom is Operations director of Eurogamer Network and Editor-at-Large of Eurogamer.net. He joined the company in February 2000.

Read more articles from Tom by visiting the Tom Bramwell archive page.

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Comments (24) Latest comment 2 years ago

Comments threads automatically close after 30 days, but please feel free to continue chatting on the forum!

  • Apostle #1 2 years ago

    Great Terrible news, I expect some awesomedreadful Bad Company 2 DLC! Maps, vehicles, weapons and attatchmentsI don't want new shit in my games a few months on! Make it soBeam me up Scotty.

    Edited by 1 at 09/02/10 @ 21:04

  • Shikasama #2 2 years ago

    So be prepared to pay double for all EA games then

  • mingster #3 2 years ago

    Apostle - Great News? Who's side are you on?
    DLC is a rip off. Especially the whole points system.
    Just make the cost of stuff to be real money.

  • MrLovePump #4 2 years ago

    It's a pretty obvious business move.

    The concept of ebaying or trading in as soon as completed is prety much the defacto approach for many now. Second hand sales don't make money... So they want people to hang on to titles. There is also the concept of rewarding genuine buyers and first time buyers with all this content... You can't sell your code. But second hand buyers will need to pay a lot for the cerberus thing. It's quite a poor play by ea when you think about it. They have effectively really devalued my me2 copy. Its like a car company selling a car but only the original owner can use the stereo. Tossers.

  • Ignatius_Cheese #5 2 years ago

    Drop the RRP of games that feature Day One DLC.

    If it ain't offering anything over and above the main game content, people will rebel! Mark these words...

  • PlugMonkey #6 2 years ago

    Typical woolly corporate committee decision making.

    "Hmm. Online games are popular. If we make all our games have online, they'll all be more popular!"

    Presumably I can now expect Bioware to have to waste a load of development time tacking a completely unnecessary and unwanted online mode onto Mass Effect 3?

  • matrim83 #7 2 years ago

    I know I am in the minority but I got no problem with the way EA are handling DLC at the moment. Most of it is pretty minor stuff and you get a lot of it free with the game anyway. And the DLC that they release later on which is paid (DA and ME 1 for example) is always shit anyway so its not like I am missing something.

    If it helps them save money by negating second hand sales then more power to them. As long as they keep churning out the good stuff I honestly dont mind.

  • cianchristopher #8 2 years ago

    EA are losing millions every quarter. At this rate John "the silver fox" Riccitiello will be gone soon. And the "new EA" we all love so much will be re-branded as an Activision-style "evil empire". With a Bobby Kotick/Emperor Palpatine type leader cackling like a manic as he counts the profits...

    That's how it works, Kotick might be a prick - but he's profitable, and that's what investors want!!!
    Edited by 1 at 09/02/10 @ 10:19

  • Murton #9 2 years ago

    If EA are planning to offer a lot of free content to new buyers a'la Mass Effect I don't see a problem, but if we're going to be seeing a lot re-skins and map packs sold at premium rate or chapters removed and resold later like Assassin's Creed then it's going to be very hard to get gamers behind the move, especially if the retail price point remains at £45+

    I also disagree with every game needing multiplayer, EA's sports and racing titles maybe, but there's no real need for multiplayer in Dead Space (some special co-op missions would be nice though, Left 4 Dead Space anyone?) and Mass Effect/Dragon Age could be utterly destroyed if Bioware are forced to waste time bolting on multiplayer that people don't even want.

  • Shikasama #10 2 years ago

    How are people so easily taken by 'free DLC'? Especially on day one like ME/DA.

    4 years ago that 'free DLC' would have simply been part of the game.

  • ChaK #11 2 years ago

    do they realize how STUPID it is to talk about DLC before launch?

    We're gone a looooooong way sadly, it's a complete ripoff, and people ask for more.

    Maybe they want a larger asshole, who knows
    Edited by 1 at 09/02/10 @ 11:55

  • MrLovePump #12 2 years ago

    The point is though that the free dlc is only for the original purchaser of the game because of the code. I like to fund my gaming buy buying for 40 selling as soon as done for 30 to 35. If the second hand value plumets as these kind of scams go off it's going to stop people like me buying those marginal purchases

  • metalangel #13 2 years ago

    "Free Day One DLC" is, for all intents and purposes, part of the game. It's just not on the disc, to punish people who buy stuff preowned.

    "Ah, but that way they'll make money, because people who buy preowned have to pay 1200MSP for the Cerberus Network stuff!"

    You think so? You think that frugal someone who waits to buy preowned for £15 is going to pay £10 for a bunch of crappy looking armour, guns and one extra NPC? They won't. All that junk doesn't exactly transform the game, does it? You still get the overwhelming majority of the experience without it.*

    "No, but if they were going to pay extra, they might as well buy a new copy for the same price which means EA gets all the money anyway."

    The number of people that strange is a drop in the ocean in terms of total ME2 sales.

    In the meantime, EA currently has £35 less from me because I haven't bought ME2, because of this whole DLC nonsense. I'm quite happy to wait for a GOTY with it all included. If one never comes, fine, I can live without it. But I'm not paying a significant proportion of the RRP again just to add stuff that should have been in there in the first place.

    *I bought Dragon Arse on release, and so got the two 'free day one' DLCs, Stone Prisoner and the armour. I haven't used the armour yet (none of my party can use it) and haven't yet come across the Stone Prisoner sidequest. Indeed, I'm about halfway through the game now and get the feeling I might well miss it.

  • Murton #14 2 years ago

    Metalangel, your not buying Mass Effect 2 hasn't dont anything to EA, they already sold your copy to your local games retailer and it will wait there until someone picks it up. I honestly don't get why everyone thinks that games publishers benefit directly from consumers while there is myriad of middle men in between.

    On the subject of continuous DLC support it's good to EA making this commitment as long as the core games meet expectations without the DLC being considered. I honestly think it's only a matter of time now until we see modular games hitting the market. Games with a little startup content at a really low price point or even free and then built upon through DLCs and microtransactions, won't work in every genre obviously but thing like racing games could really benefit from a modular approach.

  • BabyJesus #15 2 years ago

    Do not want multiplayer RPGs.

  • Lee_Morris #16 2 years ago

    BF 1943 maps please. I just can't seem to get into the Bad Company 2 demo.

  • ignatiusjreilly #17 2 years ago

    You think that frugal someone who waits to buy preowned for £15 is going to pay £10 for a bunch of crappy looking armour, guns and one extra NPC? They won't. All that junk doesn't exactly transform the game, does it? You still get the overwhelming majority of the experience without it.

    Publishers are already saying this to themselves in their offices. The next step is inevitably putting only half the game on the disc, with the rest as a one-time download. And not long after that you'll just be buying a single-use code.

    I think if you look honestly at the way things are going then it's impossible to see any other conclusion.
    Edited by 1 at 09/02/10 @ 14:35

  • RexRunti #18 2 years ago

    @Metalangel

    So your happy to get the GOY edition because it will include all the downloadable content. But refuse to get the current version because it's free now? And of course they've added some more DLC which is also free to people who bought the game so the game of the year edition will actually have zero benefit over the first release (except you might be able to screw the developers out of some well deserved money by selling it when your done).

    Mind you if you can't even look on a world map to find one of the funniest and engaging characters in DA:o (look at that big symbol that kind of looks like a statue behind bars) you might not appreciate games to their fullist anyway.

  • Bloobat #19 2 years ago

    this is not a good thing, some games (like Just Cause 2) are only single player and should remain that way! dlc is also a rip off but a nice addition to have to expand a game if you like it...

  • Bloobat #20 2 years ago

    oh and round of applause for Criterion, i have burnout paradise and they have dedicated lots of time to adding loads of features to the game (most of them being free). I was willing to pay for big surf island and the rest because they were supporting the game very well and listening to their customers most wanted features!

    if only other companies were like this!

  • metalangel #21 2 years ago

    @RexRunti: I was with you until that insult you had to tag onto the end. I need to buy my character the Spirit Healer subclass but now I'll know where to look. Not all DLC for ME2 is going to be free, is it? And would you rather pay £35 for Fallout 3 GOTY which includes all the DLC, or £35 for plain Fallout 3 and another £30 or so for all the DLC seperately?

  • RexRunti #22 2 years ago

    @MetalAngel

    To be fair the DLC in ME2 so far isn't that great. However, the Stone Prisoner from DA:o is well worth it and actually adds quite a bit to the game. ME2's DLC so far is certainly not worth the 1200 MSPs and all the armour stuff I haven't actually used. Whether they'll be more free DLC is unknown but EA has actually done that sort of thing before. Of course if there's some paid for DLC released in 6 months I'm not going to complain (ME2's is massive anyway) but is it really worth waiting 9 months just so you don't have to pay an extra fiver for it.

    I know both games work perfectly without the free DLC but that's kind of the point, don't think of it as punishment for second hand traders more as some freebies for early adopters and it's suddenly great. Otherwise wait for the Game of the Year (generation? it's bloody good) edition.

    PS Sorry for the DA:o insult but it's like right there.
    Edited by 1 at 09/02/10 @ 17:06

  • metalangel #23 2 years ago

    @RexRunti: I don't mind waiting - I bought Mass Effect 1 for £15.99 new several months after BDTS came out. I bought Burnout Paradise just after the bikes were added. I don't need everything when it's brand new. I try to think of it as a new buyer bonus but can't - not when it's not a little bonus but a part of the main game removed and had a "bonus content" sticker applied. Genuine thanks for the Stone Prisoner thing though, my playthrough has been interrupted by Modern Warfare 2 and I have been scrupulously avoiding walkthroughs as I find all the moral choices and dilemmas so compelling. Cheers!

  • Apostle #24 2 years ago

    @mingster: I'm on my side! If a game has clearly had content held back for DLC then I'd object. The DLC for Bad Company 1 was free, and was generous in what it gave. I don't expect the same this time, but for a game I love to have a life-boosting surge i'm willing to pay for that.