EA to start charging for 'long demos'

Published on 23-03-10 at 10:12 AM AEST by

rec

Attachment 6695Just when we thought the industry giant was making a change for the better, we're told Electronic Arts want to start charging for demos - and then not discount the full game for purchasers of these demos. There's no denying that in mere months EA has improved its brand image dramatically - delivering high calibre titles and promising more, with a shift from quantity to quality. It seems though that they can't escape the trap of embarrassing, money-grabbing ideas quite yet....

EA Group General Manager, Nick Earl, told Webush analyst Michael Patcher that EA's grand idea for "premium downloadable content" is "essentially be a very long game demo". The "full-blown packaged game" would follow. As a gamer and a consumer, it doesn't get much more insulting than this. Expect to pay $10 to $15 USD for these long demos. Or in my case, expect never to pay.

Electronic Arts Plans To Make You Pay For Glorified Game Demos? [Kotaku]

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Tags: dlc, ea games

6 Comments

Aegis - 23-03-10, 10:57 AM
Gamasutra has the skinny on what they're really up to
Gamasutra - News - Analyst: EA To Release Paid DLC Prior To Packaged Game Launches

[EA will] take the feedback from the community (press and players) to tweak the follow-on full game that will be released at a normal packaged price point.

charging for beta access, not demos, which is even worse...

ResLo - 23-03-10, 12:21 PM
wankers

rec - 23-03-10, 12:32 PM
Once upon a time, studios would pay teams of beta testers. At the moment, they get that testing done for free.

Now they want the beta testers to pay to fix their software? What. The. Fuck.

chad - 23-03-10, 01:20 PM
Charge you for the demo, charge you for the game, charge you for a subscription, charge you to watch adds well you play a game you paid for. I think they should ask the government to have a EA 2% GST tax in Australia for the privilege we get to have them release games here.

grandinferno - 23-03-10, 03:03 PM
Originally Posted by Aegis

charging for beta access, not demos, which is even worse...

You know, for the first time ever I can see people being able to form ALMOST clear justification in their head as to why they pirate software.

For years now nerds like us have taken over the big electronic company's troubleshooting in the form of forums, etc. for nix. We've been testing their games for free (and they still fuck up the launch - see BFBC2) and now they're going to CHARGE US to test THEIR GAME.

The only thing more disgusting than these big companies are the users who will actually PAY for that shit. Don't lower yourself to pay for a Beta. Please.

Aegis - 23-03-10, 03:38 PM
the problem with this whole thing is it's going to become increasingly difficult for laypeople to tell the difference between full releases and moneygrubbing arse-grapes; sure as shit, they will pull every marketing trick in the book to disguise the beta products. :/