Earlier this week, Ben Cousins, who is the General Manager of the EA-owned Easy Studios, tweeted that an entirely new game in the Battlefield franchise would be unveiled this Friday. Living up to his promise, Easy Studios unveiled Battlefield Play4Free this morning. The title will be entirely free to play, but EA will offer users the possibility to expand their experience by means of microtransactions.
Battlefield Play4Free will be the second installment in the franchise that does not require a fee to play, the former being Battlefield Heroes from 2009. However, where Battlefield Heroes focused on offering a casual and arcade experience, Battlefield Play4Free will focus on offering a more intense first-person shooting experience that will rival top console titles.
Play4Free will feature 32-player gamemodes and will use maps based on those found in Battlefield 2. With respect to classes, however, the game will use the classes found in Battlefield Bad Company 2. The game is expected to launch in Spring 2011, but the beta will be launched later this month. Those who are interested can sign up for the beta on this website.
Ehh…personally I’m someone who would rather just fork over $50-$60 and get a higher quality, permanent, and fun experience that’s balanced due to everyone being on a level playing field.
This will be interesting to look at from a dev cost to sales perspective. Kind of seems like Battlefield 2 repackaged to make some extra money. Reusing a ton of assets to save the dough.
Also, I want me some 64 player games :). I’ll probably check it out though…since it’s free. Oh those sneaky devils!
This will be interesting. I love Battlefield, and free is always nice. Just have to wait and see what the catch is. Kinda want a dedicated Battlefield 3 though.
Will check it out when it launches in spring.