EA will open its cartoony shooter Battlefield Heroes in a few months as a free to play game, with some monetization options tossed into the mix.

As we are watching the demise of the subscription model in the online media realm, the latest example being public affairs magazine The Atlantic jettisoning its sub-only firewall, a similar nascent effort could be keyed by Electronic Arts and its summer 2008 release of Battlefield Heroes.

EA announced some details about Battlefield Heroes in Munich, at the  Digital, Life, Design Conference:

Battlefield Heroes is leading EA’s new web-focused free to download, free to play business model which generates revenue through advertising and micro-transactions. With zero barriers to entry, now anyone can be a hero on the battlefield!

Contrast that to Disney’s broken promise to open its Toontown MMORPG to players as a free, ad-supported game last fall.  EA’s plan to augment ad revenue with little customization transactions may make the Disneys and Blizzards of the world stop and think if Battlefield Heroes picks up momentum, and a profit.