EA: "It's totally conceivable that PC will become our biggest platform"

Battlefield Heroes

Frank Gibeau, president of EA games has been speaking about the rise of the PC, and EA's determination to stick with the PC market. Gibeau cites the rise of digital distribution, the success of free-to-play games and the PC's massive user base as important reasons for EA to focus more on PC gaming, saying "it's totally conceivable it will become our biggest platform.

Gibeau was speaking in an interview with Gamasutra about EA's future focus, saying "we're moving from a fire-and-forget packaged goods model to an online services model,” adding that "PC retail may be a big problem, but PC downloads are awesome. … The margins are much better and we don't have any rules in terms of first party approvals."

EA seem keen to expand their PC presence with digital downloads and free-to-play games with microtransaction models. Industry Gamers have notes from a recent management meeting in which EA say that digital revenues account for 40% of the games market worldwide.

In January, EA CEO John Riccitello told Industry Gamers that "at the end of [2011], the digital business is bigger than the packaged goods business, full stop," saying "we'll find ways to even sell our packaged goods content in chunks and in pieces and subscriptions and micro-transactions."

Frank Gibeau echoes Riccitello's comments, saying "I think that free to play model is coming to the west in a big way." It's a trend that has proved successful for EA's free-to-play shooter, Battlefield Heroes, which recently hit seven million users.

"The user base is gigantic," says Gibeau, "from our perspective, it's an extremely healthy platform. … It's totally conceivable it will become our biggest platform."

EA have just released Dragon Age 2 , and Battlefield 3, Battlefield Play4Free and Star Wars: The Old Republic are currently in the works.

Tom Senior

Part of the UK team, Tom was with PC Gamer at the very beginning of the website's launch—first as a news writer, and then as online editor until his departure in 2020. His specialties are strategy games, action RPGs, hack ‘n slash games, digital card games… basically anything that he can fit on a hard drive. His final boss form is Deckard Cain.

Latest in Gaming Industry
Monster Hunter Wilds' stockpile master studying a manifest
As layoffs and studio closures continue to deathroll the western AAA industry, analyst points out 5 of 8 major Japanese companies hit all-time share prices this year
A still from a video announcement of Game Informer's return, featuring the magazine's Halo 2 issue.
Game Informer is back from the dead: 'The whole team has returned'
Typing on internet search toolbar: What am I doing?
How a Microsoft exec managed to pitch Microsoft Word through the genius tactic of being able to actually use it in a 'type-off' demanded by clients: 'I was the only one who'd actually been a secretary'
Half-Life wallpaper - Gordon Freeman
Former Valve exec says the company struggled to sell Half-Life until coming up with the ultimate 'one simple trick' of marketing manoeuvres: slapping a 'Game of the Year' sticker on the box
Gabe Newell looks into the camera, behind him is a prop of a turret from Team Fortress 2.
Gabe Newell's cult of personality is intense, but a Valve exec who worked with him says his superpower is how he 'delighted in people on the team just being really good at what they did'
The Spy from Team Fortress 2 holds up a folder with an accusatory expression.
One of Valve's original executives shares a very simple secret to its success: 'You can't use up your credibility' by trying to make bad games work
Latest in News
Image of Ronaldo from Fatal Fury: City of the Wolves trailer
It doesn't really make sense that soccer star Ronaldo is now a Fatal Fury character, but if you follow the money you can see how it happened
Junah beginning a battle in Metaphor: ReFantazio.
Today's RPG fans are 'very sensitive to feeling like they wasted time' when they die, says Metaphor: ReFantazio battle planner—but Atlus still made combat hard anyway
Image of Cersei Lanniser from Game of Thrones: Kingsroad Steam early access trailer
A new Game of Thrones RPG is coming to Steam today with a cast of 'familiar faces,' which is good because it's really the only way to tell it's a GoT game at all
The new Prime Asset featured in the upcoming update for the Outlast Trials.
The Outlast Trials puts its already paranoid players under surveillance for a time-limited story event
A Viera looking confused in Final Fantasy 14.
Old armor continues to fall victim to Final Fantasy 14's bizarre two-channel dye system, unless you're super into changing the colour of teeny-tiny eyelets: 'Why even bother at this point?'
Starfield: Shattered Space
By the time Bethesda was on Starfield, you'd 'basically get in trouble' for breaking schedule, says former dev: 'A lot of the great stuff within Skyrim came from having the freedom to do what you want'