EA: Consumers are ‘enjoying and embracing’ in-game microtransactions

Speaking today during the Morgan Stanley Technology, Media, and Telecom Conference, Blake Jorgensen, Electronic Arts Chief Financial Officer, insisted that gamers are “enjoying and embracing" in-game microtransactions. EA’s success, headlined by Mass Effect 3, with these microtransactions means that company is planning to implement the system into more and more of their coming titles throughout all genres.

"We are building into all of our games the ability to pay for things along the way; to get to a higher level, to buy a new characters; to buy a truck or gun or whatever it might be," Jorgensen said. "And consumers are enjoying and embracing that way of business."

But, to be able to implement the system into more of their games requires the correct technology that needs to flourish in-house – something Jorgensen says Chief Technology Officer Rajat Taneja has done exceptionally well.

"We've got to have a very strong backend to make sure…if you're doing microtransactions, and you're processing credit cards for every one of those microtransactions, you'll get eaten alive. And so Rajat's team has built an amazing backend to manage that and manage that much more profitably. We've outsourced a lot of that stuff historically; we're bringing that all in-house now."

Microtransations have become a successful business model for many reasons, but for gamers it’s certainly the idea that they don’t have to dish out cash for in-game items, as they can earn them with time and experience, but the option is there nonetheless. As the industry aims for a more digital approach, it’ll be interesting to see how much a factor these transactions are for games’ success. We’ve seen how arcade games like Happy Wars have flourished offering upgrades and such for players who wish to purchase them, though it’s certainly not required.

We ask you, now; do you ever purchase in-game items through microtransactions? If so, for what game, and why? Let us know by commenting below. We’d love to hear your thoughts on such a relevant topic.

Source: [GameSpot]