FIFA Is Reportedly Going Free-to-Play

[Dead2009]

https://comicbook.com/gaming/news/fifa-22-free-to-play/

Is FIFA going free-to-play? Well, according to a new report it is, but not in time for FIFA 22 on PC, PS4, PS5, Xbox One, Xbox Series X|S, and Nintendo Switch. This week, Konami announced that PES -- FIFA's one and only space rival -- is no longer PES, but eFootball, and free-to-play. Upon this announcement, many wondered when and if FIFA would follow suit and go free-to-play itself. Well, it's not going free-to-play with FIFA 22, but according to a new report, FIFA 23 will be free-to-play.

The report -- which comes the way of FIFA insider, Donk -- not only claims FIFA 23 will be free-to-play, but that it will add cross-play to the series. While the latter is easy enough to imagine, it's difficult to imagine FIFA going free-to-play, even after its only competition went free-to-play. Why? Because it doesn't need to. FIFA sells big numbers each and every year. That said, the bulk of its revenue isn't actually game sales, but microtransactions, and to that end, a free-to-play model makes sense.

[Dead2009]

Re: FIFA Is Reportedly Going Free-to-Play

If I've learned anything from insiders online, it's that ones with the name of DONK are to be completely trusted.

[CrReam]

Re: FIFA Is Reportedly Going Free-to-Play

How many people actually play these games just for the card packs and online? Makes sense in a way.

[PhillyPhanatic14]

Re: FIFA Is Reportedly Going Free-to-Play

This free version of PES looks like complete garbage. Especially in comparison to #1 - other games that actually know how to use the UE5 engine, and #2 - FIFA 22 which is shipping with more than 1 mode and more than 9 total teams lol.


I don't think anyone wins if FIFA goes f2p. There's no reason to innovate anymore if they're not trying to sell copies each fall.

[Mackrel829]

Re: FIFA Is Reportedly Going Free-to-Play

This free version of PES looks like complete garbage. Especially in comparison to #1 - other games that actually know how to use the UE5 engine, and #2 - FIFA 22 which is shipping with more than 1 mode and more than 9 total teams lol.


I don't think anyone wins if FIFA goes f2p. There's no reason to innovate anymore if they're not trying to sell copies each fall.

This is my fear.

Free to play would essentially mean the end of career mode. Career mode players give nothing to the company in terms of micro-transactions so there'd be absolutely no incentive to even out the mode in the game, much less put any effort into making it good.

[jrnlgrn]

Re: FIFA Is Reportedly Going Free-to-Play

I really don't see EA doing this. They wouldn't want to give up the guaranteed $60-70 from a yearly purchase by all users. They'd probably still rake in a lot of money but think about all the people that tap out after purchase for various reasons. Thats revenue they wouldn't be earning.


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[electrickeeper]

Re: FIFA Is Reportedly Going Free-to-Play

I really don't see EA doing this. They wouldn't want to give up the guaranteed $60-70 from a yearly purchase by all users. They'd probably still rake in a lot of money but think about all the people that tap out after purchase for various reasons. Thats revenue they wouldn't be earning.


Sent from my Pixel 4a (5G) using Operation Sports mobile app

I'm not quite there with it.

If you get 5 guys who are paying $20 every 2 months for a season pass, you'd need ~10 full game purchases to equal (depending on your full game retail). For the most part, it's more palatable for people to drop $20 every few months on something they didn't pay $60/$70 for up front. Sure it's a psychological thing, but it's also pretty shrewd business as long as you can keep up with the content to justify the price.

I think the FUT-addicted folk will make up for any lost sales, and I'm sure that EA doesn't really care who spends money; which sucks for non FUT players.

[KG]

Re: FIFA Is Reportedly Going Free-to-Play

One thing that you gotta remember is that EA isn't making a cool $60 of each game just from the sale. The retail place takes their cut, there's the cost of production, the cost of licenses, etc...

Whatever EA can do to lessen one of those costs they'll more than likely do. I don't want to give credence to any rumors about this but if EA does make the game free and then charge for a la carte modes like EA they'll probably nickel & dime folks to death with add-ons where I suspect they already make the majority of the profit.

I also wouldn't write off Career Mode IF they go to a la carte. It's still the 2nd most popular mode based off play-hours so if anything gets the shaft it will probably be my beloved Pro Clubs or Volta. I thought they wasted a lot of time with the new Exhibition features modes/features they rolled out in FIFA 20 but that might just be me.

[jrnlgrn]

Re: FIFA Is Reportedly Going Free-to-Play

One thing that you gotta remember is that EA isn't making a cool $60 of each game just from the sale. The retail place takes their cut, there's the cost of production, the cost of licenses, etc...

Whatever EA can do to lessen one of those costs they'll more than likely do. I don't want to give credence to any rumors about this but if EA does make the game free and then charge for a la carte modes like EA they'll probably nickel & dime folks to death with add-ons where I suspect they already make the majority of the profit.

I also wouldn't write off Career Mode IF they go to a la carte. It's still the 2nd most popular mode based off play-hours so if anything gets the shaft it will probably be my beloved Pro Clubs or Volta. I thought they wasted a lot of time with the new Exhibition features modes/features they rolled out in FIFA 20 but that might just be me.

I can see them first doing something similar to the PES lite or going all digital to cut out the used market before going completely free to play.

Also I can see arguments for and against using FIFA as the test for going f2p. You could say FIFA sells the most units of their sports titles so they have a bigger base to milk for money and that lessens the risk. Against would be that's a big gamble and potential huge revenue loss if '23 were to get bad reviews out the gate. I'd think it be easier to test with the NHL series or if they decided to make a new NBA Live or whatever it would be called. Although eFootball will probably be the example they use to decide if it's a good idea.

Either way they need to make a good '22 before we get to talking f2p in 23.

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[dipatach]

Re: FIFA Is Reportedly Going Free-to-Play

This is my fear.

Free to play would essentially mean the end of career mode. Career mode players give nothing to the company in terms of micro-transactions so there'd be absolutely no incentive to even out the mode in the game, much less put any effort into making it good.

I don’t think so. If they want, they can monetize career mode. In fact, I’m shocked they haven’t monetize career. Unlock the ability to fully edit player, buying gears, changing kits every season, training boost are some examples of how they could monetize career mode. If career mode was deeper, many career mode players would actually purchase features within career mode. But it’s not


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[dubcity]

Re: FIFA Is Reportedly Going Free-to-Play

I don’t think so. If they want, they can monetize career mode. In fact, I’m shocked they haven’t monetize career. Unlock the ability to fully edit player, buying gears, changing kits every season, training boost are some examples of how they could monetize career mode. If career mode was deeper, many career mode players would actually purchase features within career mode. But it’s not


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I think the first and last part of your post sum it up. If they want to they will, but they don't. Free-to-play moves the game even further away from an offline focus, if that's possible. We're dealing with EA FIFA here, and they are the worst of the worst (and the founding father) of pay-to-win online microtransactions. While other developers are trying to repair images and focusing on cosmetic loot, EA FIFA are past the point of caring what people think.