Battlefield DLC

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Zacks
EA Launches Battlefield 3: End Game
7 MAR 2013

Electronic Arts (EA) studio DICE recently announced the launch of Battlefield 3: End Game digital expansion pack. The expansion pack is currently available to Battlefield 3 Premium members, exclusively on Sony’s (SNE) PlayStation 3.

For Battlefield 3 Premium members using Microsoft’s (MSFT) Xbox 360 and personal computers, the expansion pack will be available from Mar 12, 2013 onward.

Battlefield 3 has been touted as one of the most successful EA games of all times and earned the distinction of being the fastest selling title in EA’s history. Battlefield 3 Premium was launched by EA in Sep, 2012 and currently has more than 2.9 million members.

The membership of Battlefield 3 Premium service allows players complete first hand access to all expansion packs namely Back to Karkand, Close Quarters, Armored Kill, Aftermath and the just released End Game.

Battlefield 3 players who do not have a premium membership will be able to access the expansion pack from Mar 19 and 26, on PlayStation and Xbox 360 & personal computers, respectively.

Battlefield 3: End Game is the fifth and final expansion pack of the series, which offers four new maps, a new bike and two new vehicles and a new drop ship. The expansion pack also brings back two classic game modes (Capture the Flag and Air Superiority), which is an added attraction.

Lately, downloadable contents (DLCs) and expansion packs have been extensively used by EA to keep gamers interested in its game franchises. So far, EA has always benefited from the launch of DLCs and expansion packs for some of its famous franchises that include Battlefield and Mass Effect.

However, some gamers remain dissatisfied with the continuous launch of DLCs as they believe that DLCs and expansion packs are being used by gaming companies to exploit them. They blamed EA of intentionally holding back game content, which it releases later in the form of DLCs and expansion packs to garner recurring revenues.

Although this negative publicity may hurt subscriber base, we nonetheless believe that EA will continue to launch expansion packs of its popular franchises going forward. In the recently concluded third quarter for instance, extra content and free-to-play were responsible for much of EA’s digital revenue growth. EA’s DLC and free-to-play micro transaction content shot up 50.0% year over year to $185.0 million in the quarter.

We believe that given EA’s variety of titles and massive fan following, it is better equipped to gain traction in the digital format than most of the other new players. This will also help it to counter stiff competition from Activision (ATVI) going forward.

However, we believe that EA faces a number of headwinds that include a soft video game industry performance, particularly due to weakness in retail sales amid an aging console system lifecycle. Additionally, the huge popularity of free-to-play games is also cannibalizing higher priced packaged goods video games sales, which is a major concern in our view.

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I could not find the by DLC revenues. I would be very interested to see how each DLC faired, not including Premium subscribers.

? Sales/Revenue ?
$ - Close Quarters
$ - Armored Kill
$ - Aftermath
$ - End Game

The Close Quarters DLC being the first one out the gate would have some up-tick impact in terms of sales. If an analyst were to shave-off 20% or so for Close Quarters being the first release, how would the COD Close Quarters compare with a more Battlefield-like Armored Kill?

Or were enough Battlefield fans upset by the COD catering, that they lost interest in the weak efforts to offer a Battlefield-like DLC?

I would be pleasantly surprised to see Armored Kill out sell Close Quarters. Although, I strongly believe the COD fans have overtaken the Battlefield franchise.

Marketing, COD growing interest in FPS online gaming, and better internet connectivity were the keys to the success of BF3. I strongly believe the revenue stream would have been very similar if DICE had provided a true sequel to BF2 and Armored Kill had been the first DLC released. The dozen or so game modes included with BF3 could have entertained the COD kiddies and the Battlefield Veterans could have had a proper Conquest game mode.

Gamers were very impressed by the graphics, audio, and destruction. That was enough for most. Grand Bazaar and Close Quarters could have still been included. The base game just needed to include bigger maps with large playable areas, integrated teamplay tools, LAN ability, mod tools, and a battle recorder and the PC market share would have been much, much larger. Think of how many COD fans could have been genuinely converted into Battlefield fans. DICE could have let Battlefield be Battlefield and use Bad Company and Metal of Honor to lure COD fans over to Battlefield.

If EA/DICE's bold statement that "the PC is the lead development platform" for BF3 had not been a complete lie, we could have received a much better game. I believe, even though I have not seen any clear evidence to back it up, that PS3 and Xbox pushed hard for an even gameplay experience. The console manufactures did not want a better product on the PC. It was also in EA/DICE's best interest to have strong console sales.