New Command & Conquer single-player confirmed
EA would like to bring the F2P game to consoles too.
The upcoming Command & Conquer reboot is confirmed to have a single-player mode, despite comments from developer Bioware Victory that the online only game would launch as a multiplayer-only affair when it comes out next year on PC.
The studio remained cagey on details regarding a story mode, but revealed in a recent interview with Polygon that there will indeed be a single-player campaign.
"That's [single-player] something we've obviously heard loud and clear that is important to people," said president of EA Labels Frank Gibeau. "The beauty of free-to-play, is that we can adjust and adapt to what we're hearing as opposed to, 'I'm sorry, it's two months from ship and it is what it is.' It's a very different model because you don't have to build as much. You build in response to your audience."
"We'll get the biggest market with free-to-play and we can evolve it over time based on what we see happening inside the service," he added.
Many were not happy with Generals 2's evolution into a free-to-play title, but Gibeau seemed sympathetic to the backlash and confident this new model would win over the disappointed fans. "I get why there is a two-edged sword for free-to-play in terms of why the audience thinks it's schlock," Gibeau said. "That's what we're trying to change with Command & Conquer and why we're trying to see other companies hopefully do the same thing."
Elsewhere in the interview Gibeau noted that EA is open to bringing the game to consoles if the free-to-play model could be implemented there. "If at some point in the future it makes sense to come over to Xbox Live because the platform allows us to enable it there, or PSN we'll definitely do it," he explained.