Summary
EA attempts to bring a successful Asian model stateside. Success is almost guaranteed given the penetration of internet play in US homes.
Analysis
It should be known that EA is not offering anything new here. This model of free game play funded by in game advertising and micro-transactions has been successful in Asia for quite some time. With that being said the fact that a player as significant as EA has opted to participate in this space shows the power of internet games. This model is sure to garner a lot more attention and more and more publishers will be participating in the not too distant future. The casual game space will continue to grow at a rapid speed and become a bigger piece of the total game pie this year. It will be interesting to see the larger publishers and their activity in this space. They will continue to broaden their offerings from a title/sku basis and they will be aggressive in acquiring smaller casual game publishers. Expect to see a flurry of activity in this area. So to answer your question.........Yes, EA has a good idea here but it is not an original idea and many others will have the same idea very soon.
