EA CEO: People Need DLC To Tide Them Over Between Releases

EA CEO Andrew Wilson believes that people lose interest in franchises if they don’t have a steady stream of DLC.

EA CEO Andrew Wilson, speaking at the Credit Suisse 2013 Annual Technology Conference, gave a few opinions on the value of downloadable content. While he admits it has an inherent benefit in enhancing the publisher’s bottom line, Wilson also believes that without DLC to fill the gap between sequels, gamers will loose interest in franchises.

“You would think if you play the game for five weeks and then put it away, by the time the next version come around, you would have an appetite that would have build up over the last 10, 11 months to play that game again,” Wilson said. “And actually, the reverse is true. The closer we can get you in terms of engagement to the next launch, the greater propensity you have to purchase.”

Basically, Wilson says that if people are still playing DLC for a game right up until when its sequel launches, they are more likely to just go ahead and buy said sequel. When you look at games like Battlefield, with its “season pass” premium model, this most certainly appears to be the case.

Even SimCity, which was a disaster at best, has still had a steady stream of DLC pumped into it, suggesting that development on the DLC started long before the game was actually released.

EA recently stated that it has halted all work on Battlefield 4 DLC until the game’s most glaring bugs have been fixed.

Source: Game Informer