EA Wants to ‘Alleviate Fatigue’ Over Microtransactions

While EA plans to continue the use of microtransactions, subscription models, and expansion packs to elongate the lifespan of its games, it also wants to “alleviate some of that fatigue” surrounding microtransactions being viewed as a means by which publishers attempt to get as much money out of a consumer as possible, according to EA CFO Blake Jorgensen, speaking at UBS Global Technology Conference this week.

When questioned on EA’s plans for microtransactions and subscription-based services, Jorgensen said that before the “economics” of the game are factored into development, the game’s features are planned out first.

"Our game teams are all thinking through, 'What's the engagement model to keep the consumer, to really entertain the consumer for a long period of time?'" he said. "When you think about that, it's not really the economics; the economics come afterward. There might be multiple models of ways to engage people."

Jorgensen addressed the reputation surrounding microtransactions by saying EA hopes it can help destigmatize the economic video game model.

"I do think there's a bit of consumer fatigue around feeling like they're getting nickle and dimed all the time. And a lot of mobile games don't allow you to have fun unless you've paid for it," he said. "So we're looking at new models of ways to try to alleviate some of that fatigue that's going on. Some of those might come in the form of subscription-style, but some of them might simply come in different ways to play games over time so you don't feel like you're always getting nickel and dimed."

When describing the types of ways in which EA wants to approach how it handles the problem of player’s not sticking with a particular title as long as EA would like them to, Jorgensen pointed to the success of Madden’s Ultimate Team mode, which lets players create their fantasy team of players, even allowing for the use of real-world money to buy players.

"The fundamental way that we as an organization think about [microtransactions and subscriptions] is all around engagement," he said. "How do we engage the consumer as long as possible? In the old days, people played Madden for a few months and then stopped playing. When the Super Bowl finished, they were completely gone. Today, with Ultimate Team, they engage for 12 months, all the way up until the time you start playing a new season. "

Most of EA’s games include one of the above economic models with the newly rebooted Need for Speedbeing the exception to the rule.

For more on Jorgensen’s presentation, check out what he said about how EA is approaching whether or not it wants to develop games for virtual reality.

Via GameSpot