Posted 06/21/2012 | by Brad Chacos




The head of EA's Origin may take issue with Steam selling games at a steep discount -- *cough* hypocritically *cough* -- but judging by a statement from his boss, he may not have to worry about being undercut at retail forever. No, David DeMartini isn't getting fired; EA COO Peter Moore just thinks that basically all games will be free to play in the next five to 10 years.

"I think, ultimately, those microtransactions will be in every game, but the game itself or the access to the game will be free," Moore told Kotaku. "I think there's an inevitability that happens five years from now, 10 years from now, that, let's call it the client, to use the term, [is free.]"

It won't be a total shift for the industry; when asked how a game like Mass Effect could translate into F2P, Moore said he thinks that a handful of $60 games that cater to the hardcore will survive, but they'll be few and far between. The real cash isn't in catering to the hardcore, though, Moore says; the big money comes from luring in the masses with the allure of free games.

That's a strong opinion, but Moore isn't an idiot or a n00b to the gaming industry; before settling at EA, he held down executive-level positions at Sega and Microsoft's Xbox division.

Hearing that, does Crytek's decision to focus exclusively on F2P games in the future sound so crazy?

Or do you think big names and multimillion dollar companies are simply getting carried away with a fad?