EA has secretly made some its most popular games more expensive on Steam, it has been revealed. The decision to increase prices comes less than a week after a briefing with investors revealed thatEA made $1.59 billionin Q4 of 2019.
Gamers who try to buyEAgames on Steam today may get a shock as several games have nearly doubled in price overnight. A Reddit user named MCJunior9 was the first to put together data that compared the price of these games before February 5 and after. Using Steam Database, it seems that every region that has regional pricing now has to pay more for EA games.
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TheMass EffectCollection now costs £29.99 compared to £22.99,Dragon Age: OriginsUltimate Edition costs £24.99 compared to £19.99, andMirror’s Edgecosts £17.99 compared to £9.99. The only game that doesn’t seem to be affected by the price changes isStar Wars: Jedi Fallen Order. That game hassold incredibly welland it didn’t have regional pricing when it launched which may be why EA hasn’t changed anything.
One likely reason why EA has changed the prices of these games is so that fewer gamers will buy the games through Steam. Steam takes a huge cut of revenue from each game sold and this is one reason why Epic Games created theEpic Games Store. EA also sells its own games at far cheaper prices.Mirror’s Edgecosts £4.25 from EA. It may be hoping that this is where gamers will go now.
Subscription services are also a good way for EA to make money as it faces growing criticism about the microtransactions and loot boxes in its games. The controversy aroundStar Wars Battlefront 2’s loot boxes and theanti-loot box lawsthat followed has threatened EA’s revenue, but making games more expensive and offering a subscription service helps to protect it.
