Ever since DLC and the rise of digital added content for games became a mainstay of the gaming scene, there have been those who wonder why many games persist with annual, or discrete releases for updated versions, rather than simply releasing those updates as DLC. Fighting games and sports games have drawn this sort of ire the most- and while fighting games have moved towards the ‘games as a service’ model this past generation, we still continue to get annual releases for sports games every year, led by EA’s E Sports lineup of FIFA, Madden, and much else.

However, in the future, that might change- in the future, updates to the games might just become ‘service updates’ pushed to gamers online. Speaking to Bloomberg, EA CEO Andrew Wilson admitted that that was definitely a future direction the publisher was exploring.

“There’s a world where it gets easier and easier to move that code around — where we may not have to do an annual release,” he said. “We can really think about those games as a 365-day, live service. The greatest disruptor to the consumption of entertainment media in the last five years has been the combination of streaming plus subscription. It’s changed the way we watch television, the way we listen to music, and the way I read books.”

I do think that would be the smart thing to do- and for the lower income markets, or countries with poorer internet engagement and connectivity (but countries where games like FIFA are nonetheless hugely popular- like India and Brazil), EA could still package and bundle updates, press them on disc, and sell them as a discrete physical release. That would be an option- having options is nice.

Electronic Arts will be kicking off E3 2017 with a bang with EA Play, starting at 12 PM PT/3 PM ET. This will be the publisher’s big press conference to showcase all of its major upcoming releases.

Recent leaks have indicated that Bioware’s Project Dylan will have a 45 second worldwide reveal teaser while the core development team behind Brothers: A Tale of Two Sons will have their next game A Way Out revealed. Madden on Project Scorpio is also apparently being showcased.

As for confirmed games, we know that Need for Speed: Payback, FIFA 18 and Star Wars: Battlefront 2 will be showcased. Star Wars: Battlefront 2 had its own leak today with multiplayer from the pre-alpha build. The footage showcased a 20 vs. 20 match in progress with heroes like Rey and Darth Maul on Theed. It’s since been removed.

What are you looking forward to seeing the most this year from Electronic Arts? Let us know in the comments below and stay tuned for more information as we provide live coverage of the conference here on GamingBolt.