EA 'won't charge for traditional demos'

Electronic Arts has said that it does not intend to charge for "traditionally free game demos", despite recent suggestions from an analyst.

Wedbush Morgan's Michael Pachter yesterday claimed that EA wants to release paid-for premium samplers ahead of a game's release to judge its potential popularity.

He said that the content would be "a very long game demo, along the lines of 2009's Battlefield 1943". The "full-blown packaged game" would then be released later at full retail price.

However, EA's marketing boss Jeff Brown told Kotaku that paid-for trials are among a number of options being considered. However, the firm would never charge for demos that are usually made available for free.

"EA Sports, EA Games and EA Play are each experimenting with download strategies that deliver fresh game content in formats players want to experience," he said.

"To date, there is no set pricing strategy for the entire EA portfolio. And many of the proposals include free-to-play content on models similar to Madden Ultimate Team, Battlefield Heroes and Battlefield 1943. None of the proposals call for charging consumers for traditionally free game demos."