Spore Microtransactions Still On The Menu

Tag : Parts For Car

Despite earlier denials by Electronic Arts , it appears that Spore may incorporate microtransactions after all, charging for accessto body parts, planets and other game components.
After a March report by Gamasutra said the Spore Store would allow for the purchase of "asynchronously downloadedassets from other players," EA responded with a statement claimingthe Spore Store is intended solely for "out-of-game merchandise," liket-shirts or posters. "'Sharing' or 'downloading' player createdcontent is a core feature of Spore , not at all something that is part of the Spore Store or even under consideration for additional charge," thestatement said. "The entire game is based on players makingcreatures, buildings and vehicles which can be accessed from whatwe call our Sporepedia - a web-based collection of all player created assets."
"We have also mentioned that we will be providing the Creature Creator tool as a stand-alone product in the month or two before the gamelaunches so that players can begin to design their creatures, butwe do not have plans to sell individual parts viamicrotransactions," the statement concluded.
But things have apparently changed between then and now, accordingto a GameCyte report, which said EA CEO John Riccitiello is keeping thepossibility of Spore -based microtransactions in his sights. In a conference callfollowing the release of the company's first quarter financialresults, Riccitiello said, "Job one with Spore is to make the launch successful. I would love to imagine that twoyears from now or a year from now the debate is whether we need a Spore label inside of EA, because the back-end system works so well thatwe're able to monetize body parts, plant parts, car parts, planets- as a way to generate incremental revenue off an install base ofseveral million active users. But it's a little bit like pool, inthat I'm a little afraid that if we spend way too much time settingup the second shot we'll miss the first shot, and I don't know ifthat metaphor works for any of you, but right now, it's all handson deck to make September 7th the event that matters."
"Yes, we've got a clear, obvious and very compelling post-launchmonetization opportunity. This is a game where basically, the partsare what make the sum of the product work," he continued. "Soselling parts as we do with the Sims Store online right now in The Sims 2 is incredibly obvious, we have all the technology for it, butthat's really not what the overwhelming portion of our focus is onright now. It's on making that a successful launch and making surewe have the right to ask that question down the road."
Obviously, microtransactions won't be waiting for Spore fans when the game launches, but should the franchise take offlike The Sims it will be far more surprising if they don't make an appearancethan if they do. The reaction of the fan base will be worthwatching, as it may have a real impact on similar moves by EA inthe future. While gamers overwhelmingly rejected a plan to make certain weapons in Battlefield: Bad Company available only to players who paid extra for them as DLC, the Spore demographic will presumably be somewhat more casual, and as aresult may be more receptive to forking over the dough foradditional content.