You asked for it, you got it!
One of our biggest pet-peeves in video gaming, is having the purchase a minimally upgraded title every year – whether its NBA 2K most of all and the Madden series. Luckily, EA is looking to change the change the game, with a new subscription model for their sports games.
This week, EA CEO Andrew Wilson spoke with Bloomberg News, citing that downloads are popular enough to begin shifting the Madden and FIFA series to bi-annual releases. He cited that the team at EA feels confident in gaining a user-base through subscriptions, as they’ll plan to release the initial game – then roll-out updates for the title for at least 18 months.
After watching many companies use microtransactions and subscriptions for popular titles, we’re assuming EA is looking to have consistent income within their company – rather than hope for gamers to purchase the title every year. If done right, this new model could give developers proper time to polish titles. This would intrigue gamers who may have checked out from numerous franchises; then possibly give these sports titles another chance. We’re hoping 2K Sports also looks into this method as well, if/once EA sees huge financial gains from this method.
Look for a possible subscription plan to revealed at e3, in time for the 2019 games next fall.