I have never played a "play4free" game. Are they just riddled with ads to make profit or something?
Most times its when you 1st load the game/maps you will see adds. But the biggest thing they do, the people that play for so called free get standard type weapons, but then you can "buy" better stuff. So sure play for free, but you are going to get owned by the dumb asses that "pay" to own you for those better weapons. I would think being EA, they are going to do at least 3 things to make money, 1, Adds when you start the game, 2, buy/pay for better stuff and "maybe" 3, but those dumb ass billboards in game like they did with BF2142.
The biggest profit makers are going to be the hack sites. These play for free games are hacked to death, the hack makers know they can get $20 a month from most players instead of the player paying for better weapons.