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Electronic Arts says its future lies in developing Games as a Platform...

Men_in_Boxes

Snake Oil Salesman



Electronic Arts says its future lies in developing "games as a platform," building on the success it has seen with live service models for titles such as FIFA, The Sims and Apex Legends."

Wilson said that some consumers rely more on familiar brands during such times, which puts EA in good stead, but that this current phase will pass and there will be opportunities to focus on new IP.

"But what we don't think that will outweigh is this movement to these broader social ecosystems that are games, games as platforms," he said, according to a transcript by Seeking Alpha. "What we are seeing is the evolution of the definition of a game."

"It's really not just about the complexity of games," he said. "It's really about the changing nature of what it is that we're building, but more importantly, the changing nature of how we derive value from that development over the long term.

"So where we once built games in one year or two years and then monetize them over five weeks or five months, now games as a platform are taking longer, but the benefits are exponentially greater."


Source:
https://www.gamesindustry.biz/ea-investing-in-building-games-as-a-platform

My take:
its-only-natural-natural.gif
 
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Spyxos

Gold Member
They just made 2 great SP games with good sales but they want to go back to gaas generic crap. This is so stupid!
Gaas games are much more profitable and that over the whole year and not just for a short time. Of course, I would also prefer to see a lot good sp games. Only unfortunately it will not happen at Ea.
 

Men_in_Boxes

Snake Oil Salesman
They'll soon learn that people don't play multiple games as a platform. That market is very cutthroat and they're lucky they have a few successful ones already especially sports ones.

That reality has existed for 15 years. You are 100% correct, but you need to continue your thought.

What has happened in those 15 years?

GAAP has exploded in popularity and profit. The long term trend hasn't even begun to slow either.
 

whyman

Member
How many times do they have to fail to see it’s a mistake? Anyway, EA has been shit for almost 15 years at this point.
 

Fafalada

Fafracer forever
Having a major IP like that can elevate your company for a long time.
Yea, and Fifa's annual revenue is comparable to what the entire Ubisoft makes. Or at least it was when they still had a name - no idea what happens this year.

Wilson is tryin to redefine "GAAS" as "GAAP" and is hoping nobody notices.
To be fair that was already started by Riccitello back in 2008 - it was just that most of the company was clueless how to go about it back then, so it took awhile.
 
Terrible company I can't play an EA game online was banned and I don't know what for as I rarely ever play an EA game no explanation contacted them and it's like taking to someone with a mouth full of shit
 

Fbh

Member
Not really unexpected, probably every single major publisher in the industry (except maybe Nintendo) is thinking the same.
As long as they still make the ocasional good normal game like Dead Space Remake, the Jedi games and It Takes Two I'll continue buying their stuff that appeals to me

How many times do they have to fail to see it’s a mistake? Anyway, EA has been shit for almost 15 years at this point.

The vast majority of their income comes from live service though: Apex Legends, The Sims, their sports games (which aren't fully live service but have a lot of live service elements), etc

Big companies like EA are willing to release a bunch of failed GAAS because each one that actually succeeds will make them way more money than any single player game.
If they release a single player game and it fails they loose money
If they release a GaaS and it fails they loose money
If they release a single player game and it's a hit and sells 15 million units, even if all of them were sold at full price (which they won't) and they were allowed to keep 100% of the profits (which they don't) they'll make a billion dollars
If they release a GAAS and it's a hit and gets a big steady audience they'll make a billion ...every year...for multiple years.
 

StueyDuck

Member
Makes sense for something like fifa.

People who aren't megafans aren't going to buy the new one every year. But if it's a platform they are likely to jump in a year later. See that season pass year 2 and grab it.

It's been doing wonders for games like siege and fortnite and so on... so why not
 

Belthazar

Member
Well, if they want the games to he platforms for a long time then how about they stop selling what are very incremental updates to their sport games as new full priced titles each year?
 

radewagon

Member
It's times like these that I find myself respecting, in some strange horrible way, that Konami at least has the guts to just go full pachinko.
 

ProtoByte

Member
What a huge surprise. /s
Seriously, Wilson's given the same line with different words for almost a decade at this point - in fact, it was more extreme before. 5 years ago, if you told me that EA would've abandoned single player games all together by now, I'd have believed you.

If people want to be idiotic with their money validating EA's pipeline and philosophy, that's their business. Other publishers will continue to take advantage if they're smart.

New, homegrown single-player IP from EA is practically impossible now, but what with the Jedi games, they seem to want to butter their bread with licenses. Fine by me. I don't like that they've got Iron Man, but we'll see how they do. All I'm worried about is whether or not the full game will be playable on disc(s).
 

feynoob

Banned
All I'm worried about is whether or not the full game will be playable on disc(s).
Give up on that one.
Unless discs have a higher storage, you wont be able to get full games on them.
We are now getting in to an age, which we will have more storage demanding games.
 

gothmog

Gold Member
It's easy to be pessimistic when you read about things like this. Gaming has a lot of predators at the gates, looking to treat you like a wallet.
 

CGNoire

Member
. "What we are seeing is the evolution of the definition of a game."
I have never fully agreed with the Hatred that EA recieved.... untill now.

I personally think they purposely didnt support JS at the end and shoved it out early so they could then just turn around and claim ........

...."See only service games are a viable solution going foward. This experiement with SP games has failed and its time to move on."
 
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hussar16

Member
Look at Rockstar. GTA online maintained their bank. Same with Minecraft and fortnite with epic.

Having a major IP like that can elevate your company for a long time.
Honestly we're living in awful time in gaming.we Wil never come back to awesome games every month like ps2
 

Men_in_Boxes

Snake Oil Salesman
I have never fully agreed with the Hatred that EA recieved.... untill now.

I personally think they purposely didnt support JS at the end and shoved it out early so they could then just turn around and claim ........

...."See only service games are viable solution going foward. This experiement with SP games has failed and its time to move on."

You post on NeoGAF (multiplayer). Eventually, there will be a GAAS title you embrace. The Live Service Borg has their eyes on you.
 
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