JAN. 12, 2012 • More than 25 million people are actively playing titles from Electronic Arts’ Play4Free label. Battlefield Heroes and Need for Speed World account for 10 million active players each, while the remaining 5 million is spread between Dragon Age Legends, Battleforge, and Lord of Ultima.
Impact: The free-to-play (F2P) world has not taken off nearly as fast in Western markets as it did in Asia. While 25 million users sounds like a great deal, it does not equate to a great deal in terms of revenue. In the DFC reports on client-based, browser-based and social network games we provide business model analysis that shows what level of revenue can be expected at various numbers. Electronic Arts’ reported numbers tend to indicate that even their most popular F2P games are generating less than $10 million a year. For a company the size of EA those figures have almost no bearing on the bottom line.
