ttbnews
02-09-2010, 02:21 PM
http://www.1up.com/media?id=3787885&type=lg
EA has made some aggressive strides recently to encourage purchasing new copies of games by incentivizing with exclusive downloadable content. Dragon Age: Origins (http://www.techtalkboards.com/do/gameOverview?cId=2019479) gave players a fully realized party member, Saboteur (http://www.techtalkboards.com/do/gameOverview?cId=3165782) gave users a nude show, and new copies of Mass Effect 2 (http://www.techtalkboards.com/do/gameOverview?cId=3170362) included access to the Cerberus Network, a gateway that granted free access to various pieces of DLC. According to comments made at yesterday's investor conference call, the company has benefitted from the move and has similar plans for future products, reports (http://g4tv.com/thefeed/blog/post/702431/EA-There-Will-Be-More-Things-Like-Mass-Effect-2s-Cerberus-Network-.html) G4.
"In every case, what we've seen is a very positive response from the consumer and each case, particularly starting with Dragon Age, a strong pick-up in revenue per user," said CEO John Riccitiello. "By and large, they like the extra content and we think it's a strong positive move." He went on to remark that the company has "similar strong PDLC [paid downloadable content] with each and every one of our titles this year."
So not only has the inclusion of free DLC encouraged new purchases, it seems that giving away some items for free is encouraging players to buy the paid content as well. As the adage goes, if you scratch our backs, we'll scratch yours. The Cerberus Network model seems particularly effective, since it not only includes the initial round of free armor and weapons, but any other small DLC goodies EA chooses to put out on it as well. Today, for example, a new Cerberus Armor and M-22a Eviscerator Shotgun (above) became available for those with Cerberus access. If this ultimately helps EA's bottom line, we may see the trend spread to other companies.
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http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/1up/ALLXbox360/content?d=yIl2AUoC8zA (http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/1up/ALLXbox360/content?a=aCGYz3guAuw:sBsf85RiJ2s:yIl2AUoC8zA) http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/1up/ALLXbox360/content?d=7Q72WNTAKBA (http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/1up/ALLXbox360/content?a=aCGYz3guAuw:sBsf85RiJ2s:7Q72WNTAKBA) http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/1up/ALLXbox360/content?d=2mJPEYqXBVI (http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/1up/ALLXbox360/content?a=aCGYz3guAuw:sBsf85RiJ2s:2mJPEYqXBVI)
More... (http://www.1up.com/do/newsStory?cId=3177877)
EA has made some aggressive strides recently to encourage purchasing new copies of games by incentivizing with exclusive downloadable content. Dragon Age: Origins (http://www.techtalkboards.com/do/gameOverview?cId=2019479) gave players a fully realized party member, Saboteur (http://www.techtalkboards.com/do/gameOverview?cId=3165782) gave users a nude show, and new copies of Mass Effect 2 (http://www.techtalkboards.com/do/gameOverview?cId=3170362) included access to the Cerberus Network, a gateway that granted free access to various pieces of DLC. According to comments made at yesterday's investor conference call, the company has benefitted from the move and has similar plans for future products, reports (http://g4tv.com/thefeed/blog/post/702431/EA-There-Will-Be-More-Things-Like-Mass-Effect-2s-Cerberus-Network-.html) G4.
"In every case, what we've seen is a very positive response from the consumer and each case, particularly starting with Dragon Age, a strong pick-up in revenue per user," said CEO John Riccitiello. "By and large, they like the extra content and we think it's a strong positive move." He went on to remark that the company has "similar strong PDLC [paid downloadable content] with each and every one of our titles this year."
So not only has the inclusion of free DLC encouraged new purchases, it seems that giving away some items for free is encouraging players to buy the paid content as well. As the adage goes, if you scratch our backs, we'll scratch yours. The Cerberus Network model seems particularly effective, since it not only includes the initial round of free armor and weapons, but any other small DLC goodies EA chooses to put out on it as well. Today, for example, a new Cerberus Armor and M-22a Eviscerator Shotgun (above) became available for those with Cerberus access. If this ultimately helps EA's bottom line, we may see the trend spread to other companies.
http://feedads.g.doubleclick.net/~a/6kVPm2AsX4b5kPE6FKAoIfVqjkA/0/di (http://feedads.g.doubleclick.net/~a/6kVPm2AsX4b5kPE6FKAoIfVqjkA/0/da)
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http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/1up/ALLXbox360/content?d=yIl2AUoC8zA (http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/1up/ALLXbox360/content?a=aCGYz3guAuw:sBsf85RiJ2s:yIl2AUoC8zA) http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/1up/ALLXbox360/content?d=7Q72WNTAKBA (http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/1up/ALLXbox360/content?a=aCGYz3guAuw:sBsf85RiJ2s:7Q72WNTAKBA) http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/1up/ALLXbox360/content?d=2mJPEYqXBVI (http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/1up/ALLXbox360/content?a=aCGYz3guAuw:sBsf85RiJ2s:2mJPEYqXBVI)
More... (http://www.1up.com/do/newsStory?cId=3177877)