Support NeoGAF

[AstroLad]

From today's WSJ (which had three gaming articles today; my mornings on the train get more and more GAish). With that staggering IP portfolio, though, I'd say the issue is more making quality games in some of the many big-name IPs that they've neglected of years rather than the non-gamish titles Riccitiello seems to be alluding to, but it's hard to resist the flavor of the year I suppose.

Electronic Arts Inc. became the world's biggest maker of videogames by relying on a formula now widespread in the industry: pumping out sequels of familiar game franchises, like Madden football, that consumers bought almost on cue. Now, its new chief executive says EA and other game makers must change their ways or risk losing audiences to more compelling forms of entertainment.

In his first in-depth comments since taking the job in April, John Riccitiello says he worries that the Redwood City, Calif., company and others in the industry make too many games that lack innovation. He says EA and others need both to push more aggressively beyond traditional audiences to court "casual" consumers and to experiment more with new sales approaches -- outside the norm of selling $50 to $60 discs with 40-hour games that he says few players ever finish.


"We're boring people to death and making games that are harder and harder to play," Mr. Riccitiello said in an interview.

. . . .

EA's sales in the fiscal year ended March 31 totaled $3.09 billion, up just 5% from a year earlier, while net income plummeted 68% to $76 million, continuing a three-year downtrend.

Mr. Riccitiello worries that competition puts the games business "at risk of being a little less interesting than Facebook and iPods and the next cool cellphone."

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB118387245259860156.html

 

[mckmas8808]

Worries that competition is the problem? So basically they will make way more Wii games and less PS3 and 360 games?

 

[Pikelet]

non games for everyone

 

[The Take Out Bandit]

I agree with this man.

Stop boring me to death with your long ass shitty games people! >:|

Final Fight FTW!

 

[Oldschoolgamer]

*sigh* Can't wait for EA party 09.

 

[karasu]

Ugh! As if EA needs to cater to casuals anymore than they already do. This is the beginning of the end!!

 

[MrPing1000]

I think it's more to do with the majority of your games being shit shit shitty shit shit Mr.Riccitiello

 

[Tobor]

He's not wrong.

 

[Vic]

Nintendo was right after all...

 

[X26]

Mr. Riccitiello worries that competition puts the games business "at risk of being a little less interesting than Facebook and iPods and the next cool cellphone."

...huh?

 

[mckmas8808]

He's not wrong.

Yeah games like Heavenly Sword, Gears, Uncharted, and Halo 3 are not getting people hyped at all. Nobody wants to play those games. We all want 20 minute party games instead.

Spoiler

right?

 

[ElectricBlue187]

more casual games! just what we need!

 

[Death_Born]

He's right. Games these days are so hard, I can't even beat them! Like Battlefield 2, man, that thing is impossible. The use of strategy alone, and there are so many guns I don't even know what they do!

Spoiler

As long as the non-games don't suck, I'm fine with that. It might stop EA from stealing the good stuff.

 

[Ryudo]

What they need more excuses to make their games more shallow :lol

 

[Bulla564]

Oh god... Wii Playground is only the beginning...

 

[[Nintex]]

I'm wondering how all this innovation turns out. The great thing about gaming is the many different genre's. Right now this so called innovation consists of copying Brain Training and Mingame fests...

 

[Razoric]

Translation: "Why spend money developing epic games when we can copy of Nintendo's mini-game style and rake in the dough. Who needs game designers? My wife can help design a cool knitting sim."

 

[DenogginizerOS]

I think creativity, innovation, and artistic excellence are things lacking in most of EA's efforts, in general. However, I do think the industry has done very little up to this point to deliver new experiences (Guitar Hero and the Wii being two of the few exceptions) and his comments are pretty spot on. I want richer, more involved online experiences. I want games with deeper stories AND great gameplay. Having said that, I don't want shallow mini-games in $50 packages. Some may, but this gamer doesn't.

 

[DarienA]

You know I keep imagining a world that has complex AND casual/easy to get in to games in it... silly me...

 

[Haunted]

Electronic Arts Inc. became the world's biggest maker of videogames by relying on a formula now widespread in the industry: pumping out sequels of familiar game franchises, like Madden football, that consumers bought almost on cue. Now, its new chief executive says EA and other game makers must change their ways or risk losing audiences to more compelling forms of entertainment.

I wholeheartedly agree with this assessment. 3 year downtrend while the industry is soaring and all that.

 

[AstroLad]

I think this part is actually kind of interesting as well:

Mr. Riccitiello praises some new games, including Activision Inc.'s Guitar Hero series and Vivendi SA's online World of Warcraft, as well as a music game by Viacom Inc.'s MTV called Rock Band, which EA will distribute. But he says there aren't enough titles that break new ground. He said he believes making sequels is still a sound strategy, as long as they are more innovative than in the recent past.

Seems to have possibly hit the nail on the head w/r/t sequelitis, but the issue is really what he envisions as "innovative."

 

[Vic]

Blaming the non-games is silly. The traditional gaming industry was getting unhealthy without them anyways.

 

[Death_Born]

You know I keep imagining a world that has complex AND casual/easy to get in to games in it... silly me...

What!? That would be like Klingons and Humans, living in the same starship!

Spoiler

Worst. Analogy. Ever.

 

[Tobor]

Yeah games like Heavenly Sword, Gears, Uncharted, and Halo 3 are not getting people hyped at all. Nobody wants to play those games. We all want 20 minute party games instead.

Spoiler

right?

Drama queen much? You guys love talking in absolutes, like growing and expanding the industry means no more hardcore games at all! Oh the Humanity!

He's still not wrong.

 

[Krowley]

I didn't realize that blatantly copycatting wii sports was innovative.

But, to be fair, maybe he's talking about the music/rhythm game or madden.

 

[Pistolero]

Boring people ? Yes, you have been...but not for the reasons you seem to masticate...

 

[karasu]

I'm wondering how all this innovation turns out. The great thing about gaming is the many different genre's. Right now this so called innovation consists of copying Brain Training and Mingame fests...

 

[rakka]

The article bored me to death.

 

[ElectricBlue187]

Blaming the non-games is silly. The traditional gaming industry was getting unhealthy without them anyways.

like apple, traditional gaming has been dying since the 80's :lol

 

[wsippel]

I think he's right, but "non-games" aren't the solution. I'd really like to see more short, hard, arcade-like games with interesting stories and characters and high production values (for an arcade game). Something you can complete in one or two hours, with highscores, leaderboards, stats, unlockables and other extras to increase the replay value. Basically the videogame equivalent to movies like The Transporter, not Lord of the Rings.

 

[karasu]

I think he's right, but "non-games" aren't the solution. I'd really like to see more short, hard, arcade-like games with interesting stories and characters and high production values (for an arcade game). Something you can complete in one or two hours, with highscores, leaderboards, stats, unlockables and other extras to increase the replay value. Basically the videogame equivalent to movies like The Transporter, not Lord of the Rings.

I can't imagine paying $50-$70 bucks for that game.

 

[Campster]

like apple, traditional gaming has been dying since the 80's :lol

Apple doesn't have a broken-ass business model like we do.

 

[Oldschoolgamer]

I don't know. Maybe i could take this argument a bit more seriously, if this wasn't EA talking. They already make super casual games, and nothing else. Maybe if they would have diversified their portfolio a bit better, they would be seeing more profit, like...I dunno...Capcom? I mean, talking about sequels, yet, didn't they make Madden worse than it should have been this past year?

Yea, it would be nice if more titles broke new ground, but, they don't all need to. Just like they don't all need to be rhythm games, or minigame collections... "/

 

[Visualante]

Shows how out of touch this CEO is with the product.

Probably spends his days surrounded by analysts who haven't played a game since the NES era.

 

[sprsk]

Games need to start cutting the fat.

I remember when I loved playing Madden games back on the Genesis. Now I turn the damn thing on and I'm like, what the **** is all this shit.


That's what I loved so much about Wii Sports. I don't give a shit about pixel perfect pitch boxes and shit, just let me swing the bat and hit a home run. Games are constantly getting custom fashioned to meet the demands on the hardcore fans, and the hardcore fans want nothing but more more more more. This kind of thinking is going to kill the industry. This might be my new overused talking point, but at this rate they will turn into the comic book industry. If they keep going further and further into this hole that they are creating, there will come a time where they reach the point of no return.


EA dude is right. Games are too ****ing complex.


See, you guys take it to the extreme, it's not about more dog sims or brain games, it's about taking things a step back and making games fun for everyone again.

 

[clav]

Maybe EA should stop all the franchises they have...

However, the casual gamers continue to purchase their titles, so they see no need to stop them.

 

[Crisis]

EA is certainly boring me to death and expanding their repertoire of casual games isn't going to help that issue.

 

[mckmas8808]

Drama queen much? You guys love talking in absolutes, like growing and expanding the industry means no more hardcore games at all! Oh the Humanity!

He's still not wrong.

He's wrong in saying competition is hurting the industry.

 

[Death_Born]

Games need to start cutting the fat.

I remember when I loved playing Madden games back on the Genesis. Now I turn the damn thing on and I'm like, what the **** is all this shit.


That's what I loved so much about Wii Sports. I don't give a shit about pixel perfect pitch boxes and shit, just let me swing the bat and hit a home run. Games are constantly getting custom fashioned to meet the demands on the hardcore fans, and the hardcore fans want nothing but more more more more. This kind of thinking is going to kill the industry. This might be my new overused talking point, but at this rate they will turn into the comic book industry. If they keep going further and further into this hole that they are creating, there will come a time where they reach the point of no return.


EA dude is right. Games are too ****ing complex.


See, you guys take it to the extreme, it's not about more dog sims or brain games, it's about taking things a step back and making games fun for everyone again.

If the games are well-designed, being complex shoudn't be a problem. If anything, it heightens the realism. The problem is when complex games are also hard to navigate.

 

[maxmars]

Games are constantly getting custom fashioned to meet the demands on the hardcore fans, and the hardcore fans want nothing but more more more more. This kind of thinking is going to kill the industry.

They don't want simply more, they want more of what they think it's "hardcore", i.e. more detailed stuff at all levels. Sometimes less is more!

 

[B!TCH]

I think if you are one of those NeoGAFfers that has a huge backlog of games, and disagree with what he is saying, you need to shut the **** up.

 

[wsippel]

I can't imagine paying $50-$70 bucks for that game.

You shouldn't have to. Games are expensive to produce because content is expensive to produce. A two hour game with even the highest production values would only requite a fraction of the content and be quite a bit less expensive to produce than a 20 - 50 hour AAA-game.

 

[AstroLad]

Games need to start cutting the fat.

I remember when I loved playing Madden games back on the Genesis. Now I turn the damn thing on and I'm like, what the **** is all this shit.


That's what I loved so much about Wii Sports. I don't give a shit about pixel perfect pitch boxes and shit, just let me swing the bat and hit a home run. Games are constantly getting custom fashioned to meet the demands on the hardcore fans, and the hardcore fans want nothing but more more more more. This kind of thinking is going to kill the industry. This might be my new overused talking point, but at this rate they will turn into the comic book industry. If they keep going further and further into this hole that they are creating, there will come a time where they reach the point of no return.


EA dude is right. Games are too ****ing complex.

It's all about this elusive concept of "quality" isn't it? Like porn, one of those "I know it when I see it" things; and ironically EA in the 90s absolutely epitomized this kind of simple quality (although it mostly seems simple now, at the time they were always among the best in the graphics and sound departments) with Madden, NHL, Lakers v. Celtics, Road Rash, Desert Strike, etc. Now, frustratingly, they still have all of these great IPs, several of which they acquired, but for a variety of reasons, most of which I'm sure EA insiders aren't even aware of, they're the apparent opposite from a quality perspective.

I really don't think the answer is a quick-fix "let's make simple games" or anything like that, because no matter what your approach if the quality stays the same, EA will likely continue to face problems.

 

[mckmas8808]

Games need to start cutting the fat.

I remember when I loved playing Madden games back on the Genesis. Now I turn the damn thing on and I'm like, what the **** is all this shit.


That's what I loved so much about Wii Sports. I don't give a shit about pixel perfect pitch boxes and shit, just let me swing the bat and hit a home run. Games are constantly getting custom fashioned to meet the demands on the hardcore fans, and the hardcore fans want nothing but more more more more. This kind of thinking is going to kill the industry. This might be my new overused talking point, but at this rate they will turn into the comic book industry. If they keep going further and further into this hole that they are creating, there will come a time where they reach the point of no return.


EA dude is right. Games are too ****ing complex.


See, you guys take it to the extreme, it's not about more dog sims or brain games, it's about taking things a step back and making games fun for everyone again.

So go buy NFL Street, The Bigs baseball, etc. It just sounds like to me you want an arcade sports game.

Believe it or not, Madden has sold more now than it ever has in history.

 

[sprsk]

It's all about this elusive concept of "quality" isn't it? Like porn, one of those "I know it when I see it" things; and ironically EA in the 90s absolutely epitomized this kind of simple quality (although it mostly seems simple now, at the time they were always among the best in the graphics and sound departments) with Madden, NHL, Lakers v. Celtics, Road Rash, Desert Strike, etc. Now, frustratingly, they still have all of these great IPs, several of which they acquired, but for a variety of reasons, most of which I'm sure EA insiders aren't even aware of, they're the apparent opposite from a quality perspective.

I really don't think the answer is a quick-fix "let's make simple games" or anything like that, because no matter what your approach if the quality stays the same, EA will likely continue to face problems.

Well if you don't have talent, you don't have talent. That's an entirely different issue though.

 

[KidGalactus]

This might be my new overused talking point, but at this rate they will turn into the comic book industry.

Sporks is right for once.

I'm a comic artist, and this is a pretty good analogy, for catering only to enthusiasts and becoming niches within an already shrinking niche.

 

[mcgarrett]

Believe it or not, Madden has sold more now than it ever has in history.

LOL... considering they have a lock on the NFL license now, I believe it.

 

[sprsk]

So go buy NFL Street, The Bigs baseball, etc. It just sounds like to me you want an arcade sports game.

Believe it or not, Madden has sold more now than it ever has in history.

I didn't say I wanted to jump off the walls and get respekt points and all sorts of shit not related to sports.

 

[Bulla564]

I think if you are one of those NeoGAFfers that has a huge backlog of games, and disagree with what he is saying, you need to shut the **** up.

Sorry. I would not trade looking forward great stories and games, to having no backlog because I get bored of mini-games, or raking up points after 2 day (SSHD is the exception).

 

[karasu]

All of this 'good ol days' talk is so annoying. They don't exist! When were most games fun for everyone/causals? The reason "everyone" enjoyed gaming a long time ago is because we all were kids.