So EA outdid themselves again

[Amaror]

The expertise of EA at making greedy decisions that will get people to hate them is uncanny.
Just when you think they won't do it anymore, like they announced it about a million times in the past. But there they are, outperforming themselves over and over again in making greedy, stupid decisions.
Their latest masterpiece?
Charging for demos. That's right for demos. The demo version of Fifa 2014 and UFC now costs 5 Euros in the Xbox store.
It's incredibly how they manage to go another step further when you think they reached the edge about a mile ago.
Btw. i don't have an xbox myself, but i saw it in an german gaming news show.
You can see it with screenshots at around 2:32

UPDATE:

It seems the charge for the demos was apparently a system error. The links to news sites reporting this are from user tippy2k2

http://www.polygon.com/2014/7/4/5870363/xbox-one-ea-charges-for-fifa-14-ea-sports-ufc-demos-error

http://attackofthefanboy.com/news/humorous-glitch-briefly-shows-5-ea-demos-fifa-14-ufc-xbox-one/

http://www.totalxbox.com/78962/paid-for-fifa-14-and-ea-sports-ufc-demos-are-an-error-ea-confirms/

 

[Savagezion]

I love the face and the "HURR!" at 2:35 Turns out it is an XBox One only thing as far as I can tell. It is still free on PS4.

 

[Zhukov]

I guess they saw MGS: Ground Zero selling and were like, "Holy shit, we can do that?! Sign us up!"

 

[tippy2k2]

Sorry to derail the hate train before it gets any kind of traction but all gaming sites are reporting that it was a system mistake and will be fixed (or has already been fixed but I don't have a Xbox One so I can't go look for myself):

http://www.polygon.com/2014/7/4/5870363/xbox-one-ea-charges-for-fifa-14-ea-sports-ufc-demos-error

http://attackofthefanboy.com/news/humorous-glitch-briefly-shows-5-ea-demos-fifa-14-ufc-xbox-one/

http://www.totalxbox.com/78962/paid-for-fifa-14-and-ea-sports-ufc-demos-are-an-error-ea-confirms/

 

[LaoJim]

The expertise of EA at making greedy decisions that will get people to hate them is uncanny.

Even if it wasn't, EA need to announce this was a clerical error immediately.

There was a brief time, about a year ago, when it seemed like EA might be developing some awareness of why it has such a bad reputation, and did things like getting rid of on-line passes. Since then we've had bad decision after bad decision.

If, as a publisher, you really want to indulge in such a cash grab, at the very least don't call it a demo. Put some kind of unique feature in it (maybe a World Cup one would be appropriate at the minute), something that you're not going to get in the main game, and at least try to give a surface justification for it.

 

[Hazy992]

Sorry to derail the hate train before it gets any kind of traction but all gaming sites are reporting that it was a system mistake and will be fixed (or has already been fixed but I don't have a Xbox One so I can't go look for myself):

http://www.polygon.com/2014/7/4/5870363/xbox-one-ea-charges-for-fifa-14-ea-sports-ufc-demos-error

http://attackofthefanboy.com/news/humorous-glitch-briefly-shows-5-ea-demos-fifa-14-ufc-xbox-one/

http://www.totalxbox.com/78962/paid-for-fifa-14-and-ea-sports-ufc-demos-are-an-error-ea-confirms/

+1

It was just an error guys, cool your jets. Not everything involving EA is a grand, evil conspiracy to part you with your cash, sometimes mistakes happen.

 

[woodaba]

If I may pull the conspiracy card, it does seem rather odd that the "error" was priced at the "reasonable" price point of a fiver. I would have expected it to be closer to a full game price than that. EA might be testing the waters on paid demos with this "error", seeing if they can get away with it. After all, people were happy to shill out £20 for the equivalent of the Tanker chapter of MGS2 in the form of Ground Zeroes, so who knows? Maybe the industry really is in that bad of a place where they might be able to get away with this.

 

[woodaba]

That's because Ground Zeroes had a decent sized mission, plus plenty of extra side stuff and unlockables. It was worth the price.

Any game I can complete in an hour, seeing most of the content, is a game I would not call worth £20. But that's just me.

 

[WhiteTigerShiro]

This isn't the first time we've seen something like this. Capcom not only charged for a demo of a game [http://www.escapistmagazine.com/news/view/109512-Capcom-Killing-Mega-Man-Legends-3-If-Prototype-Version-Doesnt-Sell], but then they canceled the game anyway [http://www.escapistmagazine.com/news/view/111745-Capcom-Kills-Mega-Man-Legends-3] (possibly because the demo didn't sell well enough, as threatened in the first link).

Edit: Come to think of it, though, I honestly don't even remember if they got so far as releasing the demo. And yes, I know, they called it a "prototype version". Tomay-to, Tomah-to.

 

[Macsen Wledig]

That's because Ground Zeroes had a decent sized mission, plus plenty of extra side stuff and unlockables. It was worth the price.

Any game I can complete in an hour, seeing most of the content, is a game I would not call worth £20. But that's just me.

You beat most of the game in an hour? I find that unlikely. You need to complete certain missions and find unlockables to unlock 20% of the missions which takes more than an hour.

Not much more.

It's pretty bad when movies are a better value for money than a game.

 

[Macsen Wledig]

That's because Ground Zeroes had a decent sized mission, plus plenty of extra side stuff and unlockables. It was worth the price.

Any game I can complete in an hour, seeing most of the content, is a game I would not call worth £20. But that's just me.

You beat most of the game in an hour? I find that unlikely. You need to complete certain missions and find unlockables to unlock 20% of the missions which takes more than an hour.

Not much more.

It's pretty bad when movies are a better value for money than a game.

Let's not get into this. Some people believe GZ was a good value, and have fun with it. Others don't. It's opinion, it's fine.

Who are you to shut down a discussion? I know it's an opinion (what else would it be?), that's what we're discussing, opinions.

 

[josemlopes]

The OP could put the update at the start of the post because most people will read the first few lines to get what is going on, maybe watch the video and create a rant on how evil this is and how GZ is the one to blame.

 

[sXeth]

Isn't this what ninety percent of Early Access is?

EA seems late to the party, if anything.

 

[Canadamus Prime]

As much as I hate to defend EA, charging for demos is nothing new. Years ago you used to be able to buy sample versions of some PC games for $5. The displays for these would be everywhere, even in stores that didn't normally sell games.
EDIT: That's even if this wasn't a clerical error.

Isn't this what ninety percent of Early Access is?

EA seems late to the party, if anything.

Also this, although I'd say it's 100% of what Early Access is.

 

[Total LOLige]

Isn't this what ninety percent of Early Access is?

EA seems late to the party, if anything.

I believe they already have an early access program for FIFA games. It's called "Season Ticket" or something. I'm not sure of the ins and outs of it but I know that in the past it enabled you to play parts of the game a week or two before release.