EA Boss: New Consoles Not Needed for InnovationWii U was just revealed at E3 last week, and now there's talk once again that Microsoft is secretly preparing its Xbox 360 successor for a likely reveal at E3 2012. This console generation has already gone on longer than the once typical five-year span, and Ubisoft CEO Yves Guillemot said back in April that this is hindering creativity and innovation.
In a special 'Better Know' feature with EA CEO John Riccitiello, we asked the executive if he agrees with Guillemot's sentiment that a new round of consoles is now needed to get creative juices flowing. Clearly, Riccitiello doesn't see it this way.
"Yves is right, there’s never 'enough' innovation and we should always be setting the bar higher. What I don't agree with is the implication that we're waiting for the hardware guys to transition to help us realize the innovation," he countered.
Riccitiello continued, "I think the greatest innovation in the history of gaming is occurring right now. It is happening in the cross-platform arena — where Publishers are linking the best IP from console to PC to mobile to social. This is hard to do, but it will change the way gamers interact with our IP. Five years ago, I said that the industry had been making the same five games over and over. That pissed some people off – but it was true. Since then we’ve seen an explosion of quality and creativity from publishers like Take Two, Ubi and EA. On top of that, we’ve got to acknowledge that platform partners like Nintendo, Facebook and Apple have given us enormous new canvases to work on."
Check out the full feature with Riccitiello for much more from the EA boss on his career, inspirations and thoughts on gaming.
