According to EA Games chief Patrick Soderlund, EA is considering adopting a subscription mode for future Battlefield games.<\/p>\n
When asked by Venturebeat if EA would consider adopting a subscription-model, Soderlund replied: “I think it’s fair to say that we’re looking at that. Like all other companies, we’re looking at how we can maximise our investment in this and get the most out of our investment and get more people playing this product.”<\/p>\n
“That may take us to different places, but we’re not really talking about where that is yet,” said Soderlund.<\/p>\n
Before we all totally freak out, it\u2019s important to remember that EA has probably been considering various models for its franchises for years, and that doesn\u2019t mean they will necessarily implement a straight up pay-to-play system any time soon. However, he does mention Battlefield 3 as being a “full-time ongoing service.”<\/p>\n
“We look at it as a 24\/7 service. We have people in Stockholm and North America and other parts of the world that are on this every single hour of every single day. 365 days a year. We have an operations team at DICE to look at telemetry data.”<\/p>\n
“How are people playing the game, how can we improve the experience? Are they having problems? Are servers down? Are they up? All that stuff.”<\/p>\n
Currently, EA and DICE have three new paid expansion packs planned for Battlefield 3; prices have yet to be confirmed.<\/p>\n
Alongside Modern Warfare 3, Activision launched its Call of Duty Elite monthly-subscription service, which gives subscribers access to regular DLC drops months ahead of standard users, along with other features to keep gamers forking out their subscription fees.<\/p>\n
Could EA be looking at something similar? Let us know what you think of this idea in the comments below and in the MyGaming forum.<\/p>\n