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All of EA’s games may soon have a free-to-play version

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all of eas games may soon have a free to play version battlefield
Image used with permission by copyright holder

This weekend at Gamescom, Electronic Arts’ COO Peter Moore claimed that EA would no longer be shipping games without an online component, shocking absolutely no one. The publisher has made no secret of its love of online functionality – both because of the add-value to players that increases a game’s lifespan, and the microtransactions that have come to define EA’s online offerings – and it hasn’t released a game this year that didn’t feature at least some online connectivity. Moore also stated that EA was looking to continue the free-to-play model currently seen in games like Battelfield Play4Free and the upcoming FIFA for mobile devices, and that all EA games are moving in that direction.

“The ability for you to be able to interact with those franchises on a free-to-play basis is going to be part and parcel with every major franchise we do now,” Moore told Engadget.

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That doesn’t mean that EA is going to suddenly change its entire product line up, nor does it mean you can put away your wallets if you want to pick up Battlefield 4. If anything, you should keep them handy for all the clever new (and ultimately frustrating) ways to spend money via microstransactions. What it does indicate though, is that we should soon see more offshoots of popular EA franchises adopting the model that has fundamentally changed PC gaming. Battlefield’s free model is a success, and the upcoming FIFA game on mobile devises will also use the new financial model. Both are separate and original offshoots of the retail games, and will likely prove to be the first of many.

In the interview, Moore also claimed that EA is currently focusing the bulk of its energies on the console market as it prepares for the next-gen debuts later this year. After that comes mobile titles, and then free-to-play PC games. The next-gen consoles are expected to have a significant influx of free-to-play games, so those lines may soon blur.

Moore also restated EA’s online policy. “We don’t ship a game at EA that is offline,” Moore said. “It just doesn’t happen. And gamers either want to be connected so their stats and achievements reflect who they are, or you want the full multiplayer experience on top of that. We don’t deliver offline experiences anymore.”

That doesn’t necessarily mean that every EA game will have a playable online mode, but all games will in some way make use of online connectivity.

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Ryan Fleming
Ryan Fleming
Former Digital Trends Contributor
Ryan Fleming is the Gaming and Cinema Editor for Digital Trends. He joined the DT staff in 2009 after spending time covering…
The new Skate game is a free-to-play live service title with microtransactions
A player does a trick on a skateboard in skate.

In the premiere episode of EA's new dev diary series The Board Room, we learned that the next game in the Skate series -- simply stylized as skate. -- will be a free-to-play title with microtransactions and a live service title that developer Full Circle will support for the foreseeable future. 
The Board Room | skate.
This approach might be a bit worrying for fans who just wanted a more traditional Skate 4, but the developer explains in the video that they really want it to be the only Skate game going forward, which is why they've stylized its title as skate. with a period at the end. Expect it to be a multiplayer-focused live service title that gets frequent updates over time depending on what the developers want to add and what the community requests.
Of course, this free-to-play approach means skate. will have microtransactions. That said, the developers are promising that it won't be pay-to-win as players can't buy in-game advantages, no areas are locked behind a paywall, and there are no loot boxes. They also teased that it's a game that they want to be available everywhere, so players can expect it on PC, PS4, PS5, Xbox One, Xbox Series X, and even mobile devices eventually.
While the business model for skate. was the biggest news from this presentation, a few more specific details about the game were also discussed. We got a look at collaborative zones where players can work together to build skate parks and got confirmation that skate. will have full cross-play when it launches. We also learned the name of the city skate. is set in is called San Vansterdam. It looks like it will be a large playground where players can spend a lot of time skating, grinding, running, and climbing over whatever they come across.
Skate. is currently in development for PC, PS5, and Xbox Series X/S. There is no final release date just yet, but as EA has previously explained, interested players can sign up to playtest the game before its official launch.

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2022’s biggest video game reveals have been a bummer so far
Player with handgun in Call of Duty: Warzone.

The announcement of 2022's Call of Duty was always going to feel weird. Over the last year, Activision Blizzard has been scrutinized over horrific sexual harassment allegations, turned Call of Duty: Warzone into a glitchy and bloated mess, and was acquired by Microsoft. But I wasn't expecting its reveal to be this sloppy.
Activision Blizzard previously mentioned that Infinity Ward was making a new Call of Duty. Then, at 1 p.m. ET on February 11, enthusiast Call of Duty websites and content creators posted that Activision told them that Modern Warfare 2 and a reworked Warzone with a sandbox mode are on the way. There was no official word on these claims for about 15 minutes, but Activision eventually confirmed them... in the footnotes of a blog post. Its reveal lacked excitement, was confusing, and dodged the biggest questions surrounding Activision Blizzard.
Six weeks into 2022, this is just the latest example of a AAA publisher announcing a huge game with little fanfare. But why have AAA publishers dropped the pomp and circumstance of their game reveals? 
Activision wants you to know that 2022's Call of Duty is a sequel to 2019's Modern Warfare and on a new engine. Image used with permission by copyright holder
For the fans
Previously, a trailer, press release, and detailed info about what players could expect accompanied Call of Duty game announcements. In recent years, it even happened inside Call of Duty: Warzone! We weren't so lucky this time and had to deal with a flurry of enthusiasts and leakers claiming to have new information about the game with no good way to verify its truthfulness.
Earlier this week, there was reportedly a call where Activision and Infinity Ward revealed the new information on this game, but it seems to have been attended almost solely by enthusiast sites and content creators. Even the most prominent gaming sites like IGN and GameSpot didn't seem privy to the news beforehand.
This announcement was made by the fans before Activision even confirmed it. Based on the coverage from those in attendance, it doesn't seem like content creators asked the tough questions about the status of Activision Blizzard's workplace, how the acquisition affects these games, and the reasoning behind Activision Blizzard's decision making (perhaps they did and Activision refused to comment, but we'll likely never know).
By announcing it this way, Activision Blizzard circumvents having to answer hard questions about the company's current state, gets free press from its fans, and gets ahead of the leaks, reports, and rumors that have occurred since the Microsoft acquisition. Activision built a mostly positive -- if oddly rolled out -- reveal narrative for the new Call of Duty that doesn't have much substance.
While other announcements this year haven't felt as malicious, they still lacked a certain flair that we've come to expect.
Rockstar announced Grand Theft Auto 6 in the footnotes of a GTA series blog post. Respawn Entertainment announced three new Star Wars games, including a sequel to Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order, through a tweet and press release light on additional details. Even Blizzard did it just a few weeks ago with a survival game blog post reveal that called the game "unannounced" in its announcement. None of them had trailers (Crytek got this right with Crysis 4). AAA games are being announced very early with minimal assets and information, making these unveils much less impactful.
This is the only asset EA released alongside its Respawn Entertainment Star Wars announcement. Image used with permission by copyright holder
For the company 
As I previously discussed when Rockstar announced GTA 6, these reveals aren't really about the fans -- they are about the investors and potential hires. Activision first discussed 2022's Call of Duty in a financial results report. GTA 6, the Respawn Star Wars deal, and the Blizzard survival game were announced ahead of earnings reports from their respective companies. The latter two were tied to recruitment calls for their respective developers.
The gaming industry is in the middle of an acquisition craze, and studios are reportedly struggling to recruit great talent. Announcing video games in a nonchalant way helps address both of those issues. Games that are almost guaranteed to be hits please current investors and entice potential buyers. Meanwhile, some developers might be more willing to jump ship from their current employer and work for someone else if they know exactly what they're working on. If some fans get hyped and don't ask tough questions, that's just a positive side effect.
These publishers are putting the bare minimum into reveals and yielding the greatest results. And if this strategy generates enough buzz and keeps working, this might become the norm outside of events like E3, or individual showcases like Nintendo Directs, where fans expect game developers to go all out.
I'm not frustrated because I'm not getting flashy reveals. It's that these announcements all seem more focused on drip-feeding the minimal amount of info so that studios can drive up profits, circumvent criticism, and please investors without sharing anything of substance. As a fan of games, that makes it challenging to care about big projects that should have me excited.

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The best EA games of all time
Cal holding a double bladed lightsaber about to fight an enemy.

EA is one of the biggest publishers in the Western gaming market. They employ thousands of developers across dozens of studios to create games of nearly all sizes, types, and genres. Being around since nearly the beginning of the gaming medium itself, their catalog of games is one of the largest in the industry, and it only continues to grow as their teams produce more and more titles. However, they have earned a somewhat poor reputation in recent years among gamers for how they have treated some of their studios and franchises.

As much hate as the company gets, there's no denying the fact that some of gaming's greatest games and franchises come from EA. In recent years they've even managed to start repairing their image in many gamer's eyes thanks to pulling back on predatory business practices, supporting and improving games that were not well received at launch, and even giving us some traditional single-player experiences. EA might have a few series they're most known for, but they make games for just about every market. Here's what we consider to be the best EA games of all time.

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