With the loss of nearly 1,500 jobs at Electronic Arts, inevitably some game projects were going to be cut as well. Indeed, during a conference call EA CEO John Riccitiello confirmed that "over a dozen" titles got the ax and that the company is looking to reduce its overall game pipeline considerably.
"Mid-60s would have been the way to think of it last year," said Riccitiello of the number of game releases, according to GameSpot. "The way we are looking at it now, there are approximately 50 there this year, and something in the high 30s next year. So when you consolidate this thing, it is about a 50 percent cut over two years."
On the bright side, the company pointed to the 3.9 million sales of Madden 10, the 2.5 million shipped for Need for Speed Shift and the positive early reception to Dragon Age Origins. EA Games label president Frank Gibeau also added, "In the months ahead, you'll hear more about our plans to revitalize core IP, including the Medal of Honor franchise."
Riccitiello concurred, giving a vote of confidence to established, iterative franchises. “Electronic Arts has a core slate of games label and sports franchises that we will iterate on a either annual or bi-annual basis, and I think you know what those major titles are – all of them are selling or have sold in their most recent edition two million units or more," said the CEO. “After that, we’ve got The Sims and Hasbro, and frankly anything that doesn’t measure up to looking like it can pencil out to be in very high profit contributor and high unit seller got cut from our title slate from this point going forward."
As MCV rightfully points out, these comments seem to fly in the face of Riccitiello's previously stated commitment to innovation and new IPs. If this really is a company-wide downshift towards established franchises, it casts serious doubts on the future of more recent properties with more modest success, like Mirror's Edge.
4 Comments
November 10, 2009
It makes sense to cut back on uproven titles when the cost to develop them is so high. EA needs to change its entire business model to fit the rise of digital distribution. Why spend 3-4 years and tens of millions developing a title before you know if it's going to sell well, when you can spend a year and put something out digitally for a much lower price point? If it sells well, then provide downloadable add-ons... this requires rethinking the whole structure of the game and the development process. It's going to be a wrenching transition for all of the large companies.
November 10, 2009
I agree Steve. It's sad though because it was nice to see EA at least put some effort into new IP, but the traditional business models make that very difficult.
November 10, 2009
EA's suffered through serious growing pains the generation - I hate to see so many people let go, but focusing on more successful titles will probably make EA a more profitable company in the long run.
November 10, 2009
What an enormous opportunity for indie-game dev houses that can more risks w/less capital investment.