Ever since John Riccitiello took by last year as chief
executive of Electronic Arts, the video-game industry bellwether, he
has promised to revitalize the company with new games and new ways
of reaching consumers. Now that may be happening.

In a major departure from its traditional business model, EA
announced Monday that it is developing a new version of its
hit series Battlefield that will be distributed as a free download
on the Net.

Rather than being sold at retail outlets, the game is meant to
generate revenue through advertising and small in-game transactions
that allow players to spend a few dollars on new outfits, weapons
and other virtual gear.

At a conference Monday in Munich, the company announced that the new game, Battlefield Heroes, will be released for PCs that summer. More broadly, EA hopes the game can help point the way forward for western game publishers looking to diversify beyond appealing to hard-core players with relatively expensive games that can cost $60 or more.

EA’s

most recent experiment with free online gaming began two
years ago in South Korea, the world’s most fervent gaming culture.
In 2006, the company introduced a free version of its FIFA soccer
franchise there.

Gerhard Florin, EA’s executive vice president for publishing in
the Americas and Europe, said in a telephone interview from
Geneva that the game had signed up more than five million South
Korean users and now generates more than $1 million in monthly in-
game sales. Players can pay not only for decorative items like shoes
and jerseys but additionally for boosts in their players’ speed, agility and
accuracy. Florin said that while most users buy nothing, a sizable
minority spend $15 to $20 a month.

With Battlefield Heroes, EA hopes to bring that system of
“microtransactions” to western players, but with the addition of
increased advertising. Florin said the licensing agreements around
the FIFA game prevented EA from inserting advertisements from
companies that were not already sponsors…

Orginal post by Top Tech News