How does the saying go? Quality not quantity. That’s it.
Amid declining revenues, Electronic Arts today said it will scale back the number of games it releases every year, from 50 to 40 next year, in an effort to focus on high concentrate titles. “Thirty wouldn’t shock me at some point in the future,” CEO John Riccitiello told Reuters, adding that his company will release more downloadable games to offset increasing retail risks.
How do I feel about the news? I’m with David. I’ve got plenty of games to play, so this doesn’t bother me one bit.
As long as this does actually improve the quality and not just give us less games to choose from, all is good.
50 down to 40 is a 20% decrease – sorry, I'm a nerd
Yo, I'm still on that kick, y'all. New game get? More like don't get any new games till I finish the others!
Also: I cut my GameFly account back to 1 at a time .. I was getting overwhelmed with 2!
I have plenty of games- but why would I want less choice in the future?
And a company taking fewer risks means fewer riskier innovations in gameplay. So this sounds bad to me. (Where's my Mirror's Edge 2? Or Mirror's Edge Wii?)
Even though I too have a game backlog (just finished gta4!), when I pick up my next game I'd prefer to stare down aisles of creative AAA titles, not just EA's next 'sure thing.'
@richufc I think Blake used the potential 30 games to get 40%. Don't know if that's an accident or just makes a better headline.
Someone tell Activision that quality > quantity.
Good call, Rich. I was thinking the same thing!
Confession: Used 50 down to the "future" 30 of 40% for the better headline.
This would be great if they were taking more time on each game. But considering their recent layoffs, it does not appear this is the case.
I'm concerned that the games they do put out will be the result of intense focus group sessions and whatnot, with very "safe" titles, and very little in the way of the company taking any chances.
Bad blake – Bad maths!
I foresee an impending future where EA goes down for the count. In the last three years they've grown a knack for making all the wrong moves. Afik, they have about 4 billion dollars in total assets, are losing a billion/year and the losses are accelerating. They might pull up, and they could continue to operate in the negative, but EA are soo far from the industry Goliath they were just 4 years ago.
'Coincidentally' for the last three or so years they kept stating they'd underinvested in the Wii resulting in their losses, and promised investment. I guess now that they've decided the Wii is dead to them for failing to turn their fortunes around, they must have been expecting the underinvested unwanted unadvertised DOA franchised rail shooter Dead Space Extraction to single handedly earn a billion dollars.
I really think the biggest joke was them announcing $400 million losses in the last quarter and laying the blame at the Wii's feet. I feel confident in stating that I think $400 million is more money than all 3rd party Wii investment combined in history. i.e. If EA had made every single 3rd party Wii game to date, released them all in the last 3 months, and then seen zero sales, they still wouldn't be able to say it was all the Wii's fault.
Very seriously, if they cut on Wii development and concentrate on big budget HD games – they'll fail even faster. Cutting on loser franchises will help but their original intention that diversification will stave off stagnation still stands. If they go back to being just the Madden company they can't last much longer. And I so badly want Mirror's Edge 2. Or as Deepthought says, Mirror's Edge Wii.
Unfortunately the percentage cut will probably be new IPs that would be considered "risky"; Mirror's Edge and Dead Space (in particular Extraction) didn't perform as well as hoped – meaning that we might be seeing more sequels of established franchises than anything really original.
I really hope this is not the case, but seems to me to be most likely.
What this reduction really means is "no Wii games."
So 60% less crapware from EA, I can go for that! 😉
It's hard to imagine what a reduction to Wii development by the industry actually means. What's below drivel? Scum?
mmmmmmm,
Maybe EA should combine their best selling franchises to compensate?? `Tiger Wood's Need For Speed' anyone???