httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kjZEInQZA0c

We’ve known for quite a while that Electronic Arts was gunning to bring back the Command & Conquer franchise but it wasn’t until December of last year during the Spike Video Game Awards where it was confirmed via an announcement trailer. There we got our very first look at the Frostbite 2-powered Command & Conquer: Generals 2, developed by BioWare Victory.

The game would be set 10 years after the most successful installment in the franchise, featuring destructible environments, in-game cinematics and “huge, massive armies.” Most importantly, it would offer a serious tone, dropping the camp factor seen in the Red Alert titles. As we’ve learned today, the game is no longer being titled Generals 2 and it’s going free-to-play.

Only days after the C&C: Generals 2 trailer reveal, EA announced another franchise installment in Command & Conquer: Tiberium Alliances, and online-only free-to-play game and another piece of content for EA’s growing library of Play4Free titles. For that reason, we’re surprised by today’s announcement that they have decided to transform and re-brand Command & Conquer: Generals 2 into Command & Conquer, a franchise relaunch of sorts not unlike 2010’s simply named Medal of Honor.

Jon Van Caneghem, VP/GM at EA:

When Generals 2 was making headlines last year we quickly listed eight features we wanted to see in the next Command &  Conquer and outside of the online only requirement, the game appears to be following most of our tenants - and judging from the latest gameplay trailer seen above, it looks great. On the one hand, moving to free-to-play should bolster the player base to get more gamers online at launch and this would theoretically encourage a larger percentage of fans to try out multiplayer. On the other hand, free-to-play titles tend to offer less in-depth experiences and may not have the lasting appeal. The game will be heavily reliant on the continuous additions of content and the microtransaction model will be a large factor in keeping players.

Will microtransactions add more units, building-types and upgrades to some players and will that cause unbalances in multiplayer? For now we’ll have to wait and see, but the idea of a triple-A game using Frostbite 2 being entirely free is very promising. Let’s hope the campaign and gameplay live up to expectations!

For a chance to get in on the action early via the beta, sign up on the official C&C site:

www.CommandandConquer.com/free

Command & Conquer releases on PC in 2013.

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Follow Rob on Twitter @rob_keyes.