Electronic Arts dis Sega’s new strategy

Electronic Arts has publicy criticised Sega because all of a sudden Sega is a massive threat to them.

Posted by Staff
Electronic Arts dis Sega’s new strategy
Electronic Arts does not believe Sega knows how to make games, “…The company would be handicapped by unfamiliarity with the programming requirements of rival consoles and the long development cycle for video games.” Stated John Riccitiello chief operating officer of Electronic Arts. He blundered on, “It's not quite as though this is GM saying ‘We'll make BMWs’, but it's the same kind of proposition. They may look like BMWs, but I doubt if they'll drive like BMWs.”

Fighting talk! But why would EA, the world’s biggest third party software publisher (and number eight on PS2 in Japan), come out with such embittered rhetoric? It would seem that they do not want to share their market with Sega. In fact, they see Sega as a very serious threat to their market dominance and are taking an early pot shot to undermine public confidence in Sega.

Sega’s reputation has never rested on their hardware, good though it was, but on their fantastic software. Whereas previously, EA could ignore Sega because they were not in direct competition, now the two companies will compete head to head, and Sega could conceivably take a sizable part of EA’s market. Still EA’s comments seem barely credible, Sega have as much development experience as any company. And all developers have to face the learning curve of a new platform from time to time, whether it's their own hardware or someone elses.

A Sega’s UK spokesperson stated today “There is no official comment from Sega and I doubt they will lower themselves to make one. It is obvious that Electronic Arts is worried about losing their market share and Sega’s range of sports titles will cause them great concern.”
Electronic ‘if it ain’t broke, why fix it?’ Arts are famous for releasing annual re-hashes of their sports titles, often resulting in practically the same game over and over. There is even a case of them releasing three FIFA titles in one year!

We want games with originality, graphics and gameplay. Now divested of their loss-making hardware activities, Sega can begin to bring their games to all available platforms and they could become massively successful again. In an industry that is worth 50billion dollars a year, we’re sure there is enough room for both companies to prosper. Competition is the touchstone of the industry, helping reduce prices and increase quality.
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