“EA is not making a single dollar out of this.”
Josef Fares — the unfiltered and candidly outspoken mastermind behind Brothers: A Tale of Two Sons and the upcoming co-op adventure game, A Way Out — recently spoke with The Sixth Axis while playing his latest game. There, he briefly discussed his relationship with EA, who is publishing the game under the EA Originals label.
While EA has been under fire as of late for various controversial business practices, what Josef Fares said about the company may surprise you:
“Here’s the thing, and you have to understand this: with this deal that I have for this game, EA is not making a single dollar out of this. Every single dollar is going to the developer. They’re not even making any money and all I’ve got is support from EA.
They’ve not questioned the vision – they can’t because I won’t allow it – so they’ve been super supportive all the way. Even with this buy one [Friend Pass] thing, no problem.”
That’s surprising, indeed! According to Fares, EA isn’t making a profit off the game and that every dollar made will go straight to Hazelight, the studio behind the game.
In case you hadn’t heard, the “Friend Pass” thing relates to one of A Way Out’s most attractive features. Since the game HAS to be played in co-op, the pass will allow a second player to play with you even if they don’t own the game.
Many of EA’s games in 2017, including Star Wars: Battlefront II and Need for Speed Payback, were criticized for their heavy-handed inclusion of microtransactions. Fares defended EA during the VGA’s in December, saying that publishers screw up sometimes (he may have used some other words) and that he won’t be implementing microtransactions in A Way Out.
A Way Out is, uh, out on March 23rd on Xbox One, PS4, and PC.