Does anyone else get suspicious when Electronic Arts releases something for free?

I have nothing really against EA, they have many creative and successful studios who have released literally several exceptional games over the years. EA are really the torque behind the game development business - they're consistently capable of driving creativity forward much like a wave battering against a beach. Every now and again they spit out a whale that needs to be removed with explosives after it starts to decay, but at least as a circling seagull you know exactly what you're getting.

But EA is a corporate. They're in the business of making money, as all corporates are. They could have chosen magazines, novels, country music or thousands of classified military reports, however it just so happens they chose to publish games. Publishing games generally involves some kind of monetary transaction - so considering Need for Speed World is free, alarm bells are ringing.

 

EA has announced that Need for Speed World has entered closed beta testing today.

The MMO racer will take place in a world that sprawls for 241 square kilometres (150 miles for those living in backwards countries), wherein players will compete for ranks against 12 others at any one time on servers that can accommodate 10 million users.

“Need for Speed World is the world’s first MMO racer – a completely new entertainment experience for speed junkies all over the world,” said John Doyle, the game’s Senior Producer. “We have expanded Need for Speed’s classic adrenaline-fuelled racing with an all-new power up system and deep RPG style progression to create a truly massive, socially-connected white-knuckle Need for Speed experience.”