EA Games executive vice president Patrick Soderlund recently said that EA is looking into the idea of a subscription service for its Battlefield franchise.
"I think it's fair to say that we're looking at that," he said. "Like all other companies, we're looking at how we can maximize our investment in this and get the most out of our investment, and get more people playing this product. That may take us to different places, but we're not really talking about where that is yet."
Sound familiar? Like Call of Duty Elite familiar? It should. Activision's Call of Duty Elite service has the same idea. It charges $50 annually for instant access to all Modern Warfare 3 DLC and other little perks. If you're a huge MW3 fan who will buy every map pack upon release anyway, then $50 is not that bad of a deal.
However, Soderlund was very quick to point out that they aren't exactly trying to directly compete with Call of Duty.
"When it comes to taking Call of Duty down, you know what? I don't look at it like that. We are in this business because we want to make the best possible products," he said. "Call of Duty is a shooter, but it's a different shooter. And I think they have a market; we have a market. I'm fine with what I'm doing. I'm going to continue innovating and doing as best as I can with my teams. Hopefully that's going to lead us to more units [sold] and more happy consumers."
He can say that all he wants, and I'll just nod, smile, and patronizingly pat him on the head. It's true that they are different types of shooters, but you'll never convince me that they aren't in the same market. By trying to emulate a similar subscription service, EA is practically announcing that the games are competing for the same market.
