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EA: PC Could Become the Leading Platform in our Business

How much does it actually cost to manufacture a decent video card? Publishers should form a consortium with hardware vendors and computer manufacturers to get decent video cards that are capable of playing modern games at, at least, medium settings into every new desktop and laptop. Every computer should then be marketed as being able to play the latest and greatest games at HD resolutions. Some subsidization might be required for the video cards, but in the end the PC user-base would end up much larger than that of any console. Publishers could sell games without bothering to go through retail stores, and they wouldn't have to worry about their sales being impacted by the second-hand market. More people would be introduced to PC gaming, which in turn would drive demand for higher end video cards.
 
plagiarize said:
i am aware of what their deal consists of (and the ins and outs of the partners program), but the fact that Valve choose to deal with EA surely says something in EA's favour does it not?
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Yeah, it says, "At least they aren't Activision!"
 
It's brilliant the way Valve have brainwashed people into thinking that other publishers are screwing the PC community if they're not willing to pay the Valve tax and compete with their own DD services.

You'd never see Half-Life on a competing platform so why do you expect others to bend over for them?

Steam is a wonderful service and I usually use it when it's an option but it's hardly the end of the world to get something from EADM, D2D or GG.
 
PC gaming is doing alright without you EA. Doesn't need your "help" to revive anything (
if Crysis 2 and Dragons Age 2 are your definitions of revival, i want PC gaming to stay dead
).

Still kinda bitter over westwood, origin and bullfrog

benita said:
It's brilliant the way Valve have brainwashed people into thinking that other publishers are screwing the PC community if they're not willing to pay the Valve tax and compete with their own DD services.

You'd never see Half-Life on a competing platform so why do you expect others to bend over for them?

Steam is a wonderful service and I usually use it when it's an option but it's hardly the end of the world to get something from EADM, D2D or GG.
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Valve has said that if their service goes bankrupt they would unlock all the games so they could be played without steam or online, i've seen no such assurance from any other provider (excluding Impulse because all their games are without DRM anyway).

Its also a single unified platform, buying from several DD platforms gets to be more of a pain as your game count increases.
 
EA's current strategy is treat PC like second class citizens for the majority of their products. (excluding Battlefield and Sims series). I don't buy their stuff often because of this.
BY2K said:
And people say PC Gaming is dead.
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in every thread about PC gaming.
 
Srsly said:
How much does it actually cost to manufacture a decent video card? Publishers should form a consortium with hardware vendors and computer manufacturers to get decent video cards that are capable of playing modern games at, at least, medium settings into every new desktop and laptop. Every computer should then be marketed as being able to play the latest and greatest games at HD resolutions. Some subsidization might be required for the video cards, but in the end the PC user-base would end up much larger than that of any console. Publishers could sell games without bothering to go through retail stores, and they wouldn't have to worry about their sales being impacted by the second-hand market. More people would be introduced to PC gaming, which in turn would drive demand for higher end video cards.
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No this wouldn't work and people wouldn't buy those HD games anyways even if they knew they could run them.
 
Trojita said:
http://news.cnet.com/8301-13506_3-20041084-17.html?tag=cnetRiver

Electronic Arts is finding quite a bit to like in the PC market, the company revealed in a recent interview.

Speaking with Gamasutra, EA Games Label president Frank Gibeau said PC titles are quickly becoming a key component in his company's strategy. And over time, he can see the PC become the leading platform in EA's business.

"The user base is gigantic," Gibeau told Gamasutra about the PC business, according to an interview posted today. "PC retail may be a big problem, but PC downloads are awesome. The margins are much better and we don't have any rules in terms of first party approvals. From our perspective, it's an extremely healthy platform. It's totally conceivable it will become our biggest platform."

It's an interesting comment, considering EA is so heavily invested in the console market. In fact, console games accounted for 72 percent of EA's net revenues during its last reported quarter, according to its filing. PC games made up just 14 percent of its net revenue.

As Gibeau noted, his company is looking to change that by capitalizing on the digital side of the PC games market, a space that delivers high margins and a large customer base to capitalize on. Best of all, it's larger than the traditional PC games retail channel.

In September, the NPD Group revealed that 11.2 million digital PC games were purchased online during the first six months of 2010. Just 8.2 million PC games were bought at retail outlets during the same period.

EA's focus on PCs might also have something to do with its declining console business. According to the company's fiscal third-quarter filing, console sales were down 13 percent year over year. Game sales for the Sony PSP and Nintendo DS were down 27 percent and 22 percent, respectively. All told, the company's net revenue slid 15 percent year over year.
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It's funny because they say the platform is huge, but just by the sheer fact that DD is going to overtake retail (if it hasn't already) on the PC, the size of the user base that PC needs to have to keep parity with the consoles dwindles thanks to Steam.

You need much fewer DD sales on PC (a platform that has already largely embraced DD) in order to reach the same revenue on consoles
 
I actually think they are talking about the smaller, cheaper games that you are seeing now on XBLA, PSN or WiiWare. Games that don't require high end specs and what not.
 
Xavien said:
Still kinda bitter over westwood, origin and bullfrog
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Yeah, that. Hell, I'm still upset that EA gave up on Deluxe Music Construction Set.

Let's bring back the Amiga gaming market while we're at it, EA.
 
benita said:
Valve tax
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Which is less than or identical to all other DD services, barring EA's own shitty store.

At least they don't have to deal with another entity taking a cut out of brick and mortar sales. Oh wait.
 
Xavien said:
Valve has said that if their service goes bankrupt they would unlock all the games so they could be played without steam or online, i've seen no such assurance from any other provider (excluding Impulse because all their games are without DRM anyway).
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Really? Care to provide a link proving this? And I believe EA download manager actually has less inherent DRM than Steam because it doesn't have to be running to play games downloaded from it. My version of Dragon Age Origins is 100% DRM free now that I downloaded it from EA Download manager (although if you want to use DLC I think you have to sign in to their servers.)
 
I haven't been a big fan of EA since they went too cool for school and stopped calling themselves Electronic Arts. Screw them, someone revive Epyx. I liked their games more when I was younger.
 
coopolon said:
Really? Care to provide a link proving this? And I believe EA download manager actually has less inherent DRM than Steam because it doesn't have to be running to play games downloaded from it. My version of Dragon Age Origins is 100% DRM free now that I downloaded it from EA Download manager (although if you want to use DLC I think you have to sign in to their servers.)
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Not sure what DRM DA:O uses on the EA Store version, but upon first load of the game (and whenever ive changed a single thing in my system, such as a graphics card), ive had to login to something before i could play it, sometimes having to provide my CD key.
 
Spookie said:
I swear I'm being trolled.

After the lack of DLC on Hot Persuit and Dead Space 2, the tech issues with Dragon Age 2 and well lets not even begin on Crysis 2. He's got to be trolling.
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This, seriously. Hot Pursuit? Unoptimized performance with multiple video cards. Dead Space? Mouse lag with v-sync. No controller support with either of the Mass Effect games.

Some releases have been okay (Mirror's Edge still looks fucking insane) but they've been too console focused for too long.

All will be forgiven if they re-release either NFS:SE or NFS:Porsche Unleashed on PC again, though.
 
MikeE21286 said:
It's funny because they say the platform is huge, but just by the sheer fact that DD is going to overtake retail (if it hasn't already) on the PC, the size of the user base that PC needs to have to keep parity with the consoles dwindles thanks to Steam.

You need much fewer DD sales on PC (a platform that has already largely embraced DD) in order to reach the same revenue on consoles
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If you buy their game through EA Store their only cost is bandwidth... and only once, as these scumbags won't let you redownload purchased games. :/
 
benita said:
It's brilliant the way Valve have brainwashed people into thinking that other publishers are screwing the PC community if they're not willing to pay the Valve tax and compete with their own DD services.

You'd never see Half-Life on a competing platform so why do you expect others to bend over for them?

Steam is a wonderful service and I usually use it when it's an option but it's hardly the end of the world to get something from EADM, D2D or GG.
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The two aren't mutual.

EA actively paying money to Gamespy and Punkbuster when Steamworks offers identical and superior services for free isn't paying any Steam tax. It's a win-win. There's no royalty involved. It's just that the gamer gets a server browser and friend's list that shits all over EA's offering and the game is vastly superior for it.

As for Half-Life being on a competing platform? What do you think EA is? They're a publisher. In the traditional sense. Valve's games being published by EA for B&M is your classic parasitic relationship. Valve is doing exactly that.
 
coopolon said:
Really? Care to provide a link proving this? And I believe EA download manager actually has less inherent DRM than Steam because it doesn't have to be running to play games downloaded from it. My version of Dragon Age Origins is 100% DRM free now that I downloaded it from EA Download manager (although if you want to use DLC I think you have to sign in to their servers.)
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http://forums.steampowered.com/forums/showthread.php?p=10038470#post10038470

Granted not directly from Gabe himself.
 
Oneiroscope said:
It would be nice if they started to release the sports games for PC again. I wouldn't mind getting the latest NHL or Tiger.
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Would love to see an actual console port with high res textures of Madden on PC. The graphics are really showing its age on consoles.
 
NeoGAFava.jpg
 
As Gibeau noted, his company is looking to change that by capitalizing on the digital side of the PC games market, a space that delivers high margins and a large customer base to capitalize on. Best of all, it's larger than the traditional PC games retail channel.
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I hope this means better support of Steam and not we want to only sell our EA games through our online store for $60 with no depreciation in value.
 
GillianSeed79 said:
I hope this means better support of Steam and not we want to only sell our EA games through our online store for $60 with no depreciation in value.
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ea store's pretty good actually. as people have said in this thread their prices fall quickly and i've always gotten good download speeds from them.

that is, with the hopes that they will never take advantage of the clause in their tos that means you really only have games with them for a year after purchase. but that's never been brought up as far as i know.
 
Srsly said:
How much does it actually cost to manufacture a decent video card? Publishers should form a consortium with hardware vendors and computer manufacturers to get decent video cards that are capable of playing modern games at, at least, medium settings into every new desktop and laptop. Every computer should then be marketed as being able to play the latest and greatest games at HD resolutions. Some subsidization might be required for the video cards, but in the end the PC user-base would end up much larger than that of any console. Publishers could sell games without bothering to go through retail stores, and they wouldn't have to worry about their sales being impacted by the second-hand market. More people would be introduced to PC gaming, which in turn would drive demand for higher end video cards.
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I think this post about sums up what I think the future should look like. Instead of losing money to console royalties, publishers should push technology and move to DD. The more demand for faster, cheaper GPU's the better they will be. And the better the games will be. The console model is old and tired, and clearly it is showing in both the health of the industry and the quality of the games themselves. Just give better gamepad support like Steam is trying to do so genres don't get neglected as much. Problem solved.
 
Can someone confirm/deny the 6 month download limit for the EA store. I've been googling it and from what I've seen you only get to download the game for 6 months, then you'll need to backup the game or repurchase it after those 6 months passed if you need to reinstall it? And there's a $6 3 year extension fee if you want to be able to download it 2 years later? Am I getting this right? It seems to bizarre.

EDIT:Finally found some info. It was stopped. That's good to know.
 
Exuro said:
Can someone confirm/deny the 6 month download limit for the EA store. I've been googling it and from what I've seen you only get to download the game for 6 months, then you'll need to backup the game or repurchase it after those 6 months passed if you need to reinstall it? And there's a $6 3 year extension fee if you want to be able to download it 2 years later? Am I getting this right? It seems to bizarre.

EDIT:Finally found some info. It was stopped. That's good to know.
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This used to be the case. They finally stopped messing with Digital River (Ubistore...). Horrible, horrible service.
 
Xavien said:
Gabe has also said it, but i cant find a link to it.
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Then prove it. Show me a link that is at least a little bit reliable showing where Gabe said they were going to patch out all the DRM if Steam goes down.

I've really looked for it. The best I've ever found is people claiming they've seen an email from I believe it was Doug, not Gabe, saying it would happen. But no one can actually produce the email, or even a post claiming to have received said email.

Anyway, I actually don't think any of this is relevant to this conversation, and I don't blame you for believing this, it's a popular rumor. No one can actually show it's true, and it's actually incredibly unlikely all those publishers will let Valve remove the DRM from games Valve doesn't own. Community cracks, on the other, will probably do the job.

And Volunteer Moderators are just that, volunteer moderators. They don't work for Valve. They're just people Valve trusts to ban trolls and enforce forum rules.
 
Exuro said:
Can someone confirm/deny the 6 month download limit for the EA store. I've been googling it and from what I've seen you only get to download the game for 6 months, then you'll need to backup the game or repurchase it after those 6 months passed if you need to reinstall it? And there's a $6 3 year extension fee if you want to be able to download it 2 years later? Am I getting this right? It seems to bizarre.

EDIT:Finally found some info. It was stopped. That's good to know.
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I just recently downloaded a game I bought 14 months ago on the EA store. I did not pay for any redownload service.
 
Exuro said:
Can someone confirm/deny the 6 month download limit for the EA store. I've been googling it and from what I've seen you only get to download the game for 6 months, then you'll need to backup the game or repurchase it after those 6 months passed if you need to reinstall it? And there's a $6 3 year extension fee if you want to be able to download it 2 years later? Am I getting this right? It seems to bizarre.

EDIT:Finally found some info. It was stopped. That's good to know.
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They only stopped charging the redownload fee because next to Steam's unlimited downloads, they looked like dirty thieves.
 
This sounds like a dude that just wants to please everyone and start some buzz for The Old Republic. After someone reminds him how much money they lose on PC piracy, I'm sure he'll change his tone.
 
What is this I'm hearing, does EA's DD service not suck balls anymore? Unlimited, perpetual downloads? No always-on client required? Decent sales? When did this happen?
 
Massa said:
But then they're back to paying royalties. Why would any publisher do that?
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There's a difference between royalties and the retailer taking a cut.

EA are more than welcome to create their own online digital download store. If they offered good prices, non-intrusive DRM, sales, unlimited downloads, etc, I'm sure people would be willing to buy from them.

Steam takes care of all of that. That's why they take 30% of a sale (and make a profit, obviously). I'm betting as it becomes easier to host large files and digital downloads become more acceptable in the mainstream, that 30% goes down, as publishers will just threaten to sell things on their own.
 
faceless007 said:
What is this I'm hearing, does EA's DD service not suck balls anymore? Unlimited, perpetual downloads? No always-on client required? Decent sales? When did this happen?
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It's pretty good in these regards. It's got nothing on Steam in regards to social features obviously, and no achievements, steamcloud, etc.
 
I love these paradigm shifts in industry. CEO's and garbled marketing speak attempting to backpedal on a decade of development. Mmmmmmmm, smells like money.
 
Trojita said:
In September, the NPD Group revealed that 11.2 million digital PC games were purchased online during the first six months of 2010. Just 8.2 million PC games were bought at retail outlets during the same period.[/B]
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Is that really impressive compared to consoles? Don't CoD's on 360 sell at that rate?

PC gaming is large..but gaming is questionable here, whether it means macromedia/flash/facebook which is pretty large "Gaming" market or the big budget games where consoles are the bigger market.
 
more good games > fewer good games.

DD threatens the traditional publishing model with extinction, and there are already more good games than there is time for a reasonable person to play.

Let EA try to make more games. If they try to be dicks, the market will punish them. We don't need them the way we used to.
 
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