EA Says Games Are Boring?
Is it possible that Electronic Arts have finally seen the truth? Have they finally realised that churning out endless sequels and movie licenses no longer sparks people’s interest? Or are they simply making as much of their move towards new IP as possible?
In an interview for the Wall Street Journal EA’s CEO, John Riccitiello, vioces concerns regarding the future of the industry saying “We’re boring people to death and making games that are harder and harder to play.” I have to say that this is a bit rich coming from the man who heads a company which became extremely successful doing just what he is now criticising, though hats off to him for saying it. He even goes as far as to admit that EA is just as guilty as the rest of the industry of “rinse and repeat” development.
Its been said by analysts and the press for years that as videogames have become a mass market the drive to innovate and take risks has diminished. So much money goes into developing a game these days that publishers and developers have been unwilling to take chances on new ideas which may not give them a return on their investment. Mr. Riccitiello’s comments seem to indicate that this is changing.
With new competition from the plethora of marvellous innovations that have risen from the Web 2.0 phenomenon and other technologies Mr. Riccitiello is worried that videogames are becoming “at risk of being a little less interesting than Facebook and iPods and the next cool cellphone.” His comments seem aimed to encourage the industry to shift their focus from their more traditional markets to appeal to casual gamers and try out new sales approaches and get away from selling only 40-hour games which few players finish.
When it comes down to it these comments are about sales, EA’s sales growth has been gradually slowing for a couple of years now, with last years sales being up only 5% the year before. Their net income was down a massive 68%, due in part to the slower uptake of the new generation of consoles. If EA is willing to take some risks and try out new and interesting ways of playing games then the rest of the industry may well be forced to follow them or miss out on something which could lift gaming from being seen as a niche activity and bring it truly into the mainstream. (From Kotaku and The Wall Street Journal.)
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Posted on July 10, 2007 by Mandrill | Filed Under News
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