Broken Toys

Which came first? Chicken, egg, or Egg 2: Bird Vengence

Clearly he means “With the exception of my own fantabulous company …”

Anyone else think his comment about mobile phones and iPhones is silly? I might want to play games on an iPhone or cell phone, but not if I’m sitting on my couch next to my unused computer or console.

I dare him to contact Tim Schafer and offer him a big contract to come up with a fresh IP.

You guys did catch that the guy just started in April, right?

Right. He used to be EA’s COO, then bailed to form Elevation Partners which led to the merger of Bioware and Pandemic, then went back to EA. So he’s basically the white knight agent of change, maybe, if he can weather the storm of bad-mouthing the long-standing company culture of sequels and more sequels.

I thought this was interesting:

“We’re boring people to death and making games that are harder and harder to play,” he added.

Does he mean that the games are harder to play because they are sequels, or that they are hard to play because each generation of sequel is designed to be harder? Because I don’t think either is necessarily true.

Also he looks very tired in his picture. He might want to go with “lack of sleep” when Madden’s people call.

Hypocrisy? In my games industry?

It’s more likely than you think.

Leaders make changes first and talk about the changes success or failure later.
Any idiot can walk in like a cowboy and proclaim the wondrous changes they are going to bring about.
Anyone who has actually lead people know not to put the cart before the horse because doing what you say is the number one thing in leadership.

I call shenaigens on you guys who say that was hypocrisy with respect to sports games. A new very similar sports game comes out every year because many gamers want the changes in teams reflected as much as they want a new and improved game.
A good argument could also be made that some game genres are just simulations and the changes to the games are primary just ways to make them more realistic – but this quickly goes into grey areas making it a weak position.

Im no EA fan, and EA doesnt have room to preach on this subject anyway with respect to more creative type games. And they may be wrong , perhaps sequals are exctly what does make people happy.

I read something very similar to this, if not exact(!), months ago. I did a quick search but didn’t find it. This move was anounced back in February, and that sounds about right on the timeframe, but I’m not sure. My point is that, since his words are so similar, and I repeat, sounding exactly the same, it lends to either a serious attitude change or an official line of bull.

Since he took over, he has iniciated changes in the structure at EA. This would be a must for any corp that wants to change directions. So I’m in the “wait and see” camp on this, since these things take time.

p.s. in doing my search, I’m reminded of just how much these CEOs make, especially in stock options. This really doesn’t belong here, but it pisses me off when thinking about the ever widening spance between what they make and the average worker.
link

In other news, pot calls kettle black.

What’s funny is that it’s EA’s business practices that truly do crush any possibility of exciting, new products faster than anything else. Part of the standard publisher contract with a developer is that the publisher can buy said developer for peanuts in the future if they want to. So, the publisher signs the company, lets them develop some hot new game, then acquires them for a song if the game actually does well. The team is gutted in most cases, the people that poured their soul into the game get a few nice dinners paid for by the publisher, and the IP is ruthlessly exploited by for-hire teams that get paid a pittance. Any fan of the Battlefield games knows what this looks like from the fan’s perspective. In the end, the people that came up with the now-successful IP get little out of it, so they’re probably not eager to jump back into the meat grinder to repeat the process. Thus, innovation is successfully driven out!

This is one of the reasons I’m a vocal supporter of indie development. It’s the people that aren’t risking multi-millions that can bring a real change. Of course, indies have their own problems trying to get attention for their game.