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EA And DICE Considering Early Access For Future Battlefield Titles
As the video game industry continues to broaden its business models, the concept of early access (paid alpha and beta testing) continues to spread to new genres and developers. Large publishers, including Ubisoft and Square Enix are testing the process out, too.
We spoke with DICE general manager Karl Magnus Troedsson on a number of topics, including the shift in beta strategy with Visceral's Battlefield: Hardline. Throughout the conversation, Troedsson referenced an increased desire to involve the community in the development process. "We have nothing to announce, but we are having discussions when it comes to [early access]," Troedsson told us. "It comes not from a business perspective, but more from a perspective of if it would help us have a stable launch of the game."
Conversations haven't yet progressed to involve price point, and if DICE were to do it, players would be involved in the conversation about whether to proceed. "We would ask our players in a controlled way," Troedsson says. "We probably wouldn't open the floodgates for everyone, but we might do it for geographical territories or people who bought the last game. Yes, it is something we are considering, not from a business standpoint, but from one of creating quality in our products."
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