EA have confirmed that their upcoming, highly anticipated Battlefield 1 will have microtransactions in some form- unfortunately, it will have these microtransactions on top of an existing DLC plan. The confirmation comes to us courtesy of EA’s earnings call for its Financial Year 2016-17 forecast, where EA CEO Andrew Wilson confirmed the publisher’s plans to introduce multiple monetization options in the new game.
“In Battlefield 1 you will see both macro-monetization–like maps and large-scale content–as well as micro-monetization opportunities,” EA CEO Andrew Wilson said. “These will be smaller increments of gameplay. Over time what you’ll see from us is elements of gameplay that allow gamers to engage and expand their experience much the way people do with FIFA Ultimate Team today.”
The implication, albeit speculative and unconfirmed, seems to be that these microtransactions will be in the form of Battlepacks. That said, Wilson was quick to add that they would not be game breaking, and that Battlefield 1 would not degenerate into being a pay-to-win game.
“We never want to be in a place where there’s a belief that we are providing a pay-to-win mechanic inside one of our games.
“When we think about extra monetization inside an experience, we really think about it in two vectors: one, are we able to provide value to the gamer in terms of extended or enhancing their experience; and two, are we able to do that in a world where we give them choice.”
Which sounds good, honestly- the fact that he made this remark to investors, who don’t have much care in the world for game balance, and more, honestly, for the bottom line, certainly bodes well on that front.
Battlefield 1 will launch on PS4, Xbox One, and PC this October. We will see more of it at E3 next month.