Still holding out on that Xbox Live subscription? Haven't set up a PlayStation Network account? If you're a fan of Electronic Arts games, it might be time to get online.

Speaking to Develop, EA Games label president Frank Gibeau discussed the company's new business model, which includes shying away from offline, single-player games.

"[We're] very comfortable moving the discussion towards how we make connected gameplay – be it cooperative or multiplayer or online services – as opposed to fire-and-forget, packaged goods only, single-player, 25-hours-and you're out," Gibeau said. "I think that model is finished. Online is where the innovation, and the action, is at."

This comes after recent news that Electronic Arts will be cutting its game release schedule in half over the next few years. The company has also suffered recent financial blows, canceling NBA Elite 11 and laying off employees at two of its Canadian studios.

We can see the beginnings of EA's game plan in Dead Space 2, which will be released for PlayStation 3, Xbox360, and PC in January. Unlike its predecessor, Dead Space 2 will feature a multiplayer mode.

"I firmly believe that the way the products we have are going, they need to be connected online," Gibeau said, adding that multiplayer gameplay is just "one form" of that.

"Connected online" could mean a lot of things. Expanded downloadable content and different pricing models for smaller games are also big parts of EA's new business plan, Gibeau said.

"We’re going to try out new price-points, and we’re going to try free-to-play models within my group -– things like we did with Battlefield 1943, which was a $10 XBLA game that did extremely well," he said.

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