IG: With PSP Go focusing on all digital content, will EA Sports look to do more digital distribution on PSP/PSN?
PM: We did a tremendous amount of digital distribution already this past year when you look at 3-on-3 NHL Arcade, the NCAA bracket we downloaded, more recently FIFA Ultimate Team is a monster, we announced the team builder... digital distribution is huge for us and will continue to be.
IG: But are you tailoring stuff specifically for PSP Go?
PM: Well any PSP game that we've published, that we still have the rights to publish, if we're going to do it on PSP, of course you'd do it for the Go. We just need to watch the platform to see how many apps are on there, what the price points start to be, if we have to do something specific for it, which I don't think we do... it's just another channel for distribution, so if you do it on PSP you might as well do it on the Go.
IG: What's your take on the rise of digital distribution? It seems like everything's going to be online, and then there's the server-side streaming stuff too. How do you see it all playing out?
PM: Well, as you see from NPD figures, retailers continue to be incredibly strong. Nobody's worried about retail right now, least of all us. We have some very strong retail partners we're relying on for this year and many years to come to continue to help us grow our business. At the same time, we think there are some incremental opportunities through digital distribution as providing more value for the consumer. FIFA Ultimate Team is a great example. By the time we're done with a FIFA title usually it's sold 10 million units, and six months in we were able to download a new mode for consumers where they could buy that mode and start doing digital trading cards. That was a digital add-on that provided us with digital revenue, but more importantly got people playing the game again. The ability to refresh the game, bring new experiences throughout the season is important in sports, so the connected state of our consumer becomes very important to us. Retail remains incredibly important though, and will be for many, many years to come.
IG: On the baseball side, I believe 2K's third-party exclusive MLB license expires in a few years. I personally loved the old MVP games. Is EA eager to get back into the baseball category?
PM: There are a lot of baseball fans at EA Sports. When the MLB and MLBPA are ready to sit and talk baseball with EA Sports, EA Sports is on the next plane. There are licenses in place that we respect right now with Sony and Take-Two, but we're ready when the time comes.
IG: What do you see as the major challenges today, not just for EA Sports, but the sports category as a whole?
PM: We've got to continue to build new value propositions into our games; we deliver our games ever year and my team needs to prove to the consumer why they need to buy it again. That's the simple premise we have to work upon. Thank goodness we almost always have the answers. From that point of view, that's the treadmill we're on. Madden's always the best example. Madden 09 was a great game, but do I really need Madden 10?
IG: Right, why not just give me a roster update?
PM: The cynic would say that, but you're getting a brand-new pro-tackling engine where you fight for every yard, online franchise mode, which is huge, and a bunch of other stuff. There's a lot more stuff we'll be talking about between now and when Madden ships.
IG: Peter, great talking with you as always. Thanks.
