Free weekends is a concept most Steam users are familiar with. Games like Saints Row The Third, Payday 2, Counter-Strike: Global Offensive and more have benefitted from giving a full taste of the action. For some gamers, it’ll be what helps them decide whether to buy a game. For others, it’s the only way they’ll be able to play a game they otherwise couldn’t afford. Any game on a free weekend gets a boost in new players for multiplayer, and often times the game is on sale to help further incentivize grabbing the game permanently.
Part of EA’s Game Time Service
Today EA has announced that they’re going to be providing a similar service called Game Time, starting with it’s new flagship game Titanfall. The game will be fully playable for 48 hours over the weekend. Unlike it’s previous experiment with the 48 hour trial of Kingdoms of Amalur: Reckoning, you will apprently not be in charge of when you start the trial. The game will simply be free during the weekend, and afterwards you’ll have to pay to continue playing.
This all coincides with the new update coming out soon that will be adding two new modes to go along with the Expedition DLC that recently added three new maps. Marked for Death, (which will be very familiar and welcome to fans of Killlzone 3‘s Assassination mode), is a six versus six mode where one pilot on each team is marked for death. The other mode will be a new variant on Last Titan Standing with only two pilots for each side, named Wingman Last Titan Standing. Voiceover packs have also been announced. Similar to new voiceovers in DOTA 2, they’ll replace your Titan’s AI audio with a new voice.*
According to EA, the Game Time service will cover a variety of games and give different times for each. This could mean either that a game only has a smaller window of playtime or an even longer free to play span. Currently the service will only be for EA titles, but if they can sway gamers to give it a whirl and boost their profits, expect third party devs to be joining in.
With new features (and a number of bug and privacy improvements) do you think it’s worth it to try Origin now? Is EA really listening to what fans want or is it merely placating it’s audience? Let us know in the comments below.
*Being able to swap out the complaining Militia protagonists is still not possible.
