Virtual Goods News

This week Electronic Arts's online game BattleForge enters open beta. The game makes novel use of microtransaction sales of virtual goods as part of its business model and is one of the first times we've seen virtual goods worked into the business plan of what is clearly a triple A MMOG.

BattleForge is not a free-to-play title, instead retailing in stores and online for $49.99. There is no monthly fee for play, with post-purchase revenue instead to be generated by sales of virtual goods. While it will not be strictly necessary for a player to purchase virtual goods, most players will probably end up doing so due to the nature of the gameplay.

BattleForge is a "MMORTS" where players essentially play RTS battles either against computer opponents or other human opponents. Each unit in the battle is represented by a virtual trading card. Units used in battle gain experience and grow more powerful, but players can only obtain more units for their army by purchasing virtual "booster packs" that contain random assortments of virtual cards.

The strategic elements of the game will require a player to either purchase lots of boosters until they obtain the units they desire for their army, or to trade away unwanted units to other players. So in BattleForge, a player's army of characters as represented by virtual trading cards are essentially virtual goods to be purchased. 

EA will not be charging a subscription fee for the game despite its MMO status. All post-purchase costs of operating the game are going to be funded by sales of virtual goods in the form of the CCG-style unit "booster packs". Each booster pack contains eight cards: five common units, two uncommon units, and one rare or ultra rare unit. 

Along with the box copy purchase of BattleForge required to begin playing the game, users get four "starter deck" armies aligned to each of the game's major elemental powers. Each starter deck con