Electronic Arts Chief: We’re Boring People To Death

Goes Ratner in the Wall Street Journal

Posted by Staff
Riccitiello: "Rinse and repeat..."
Riccitiello: "Rinse and repeat..."
Electronic Arts new chief executive, John Riccitiello, has told The Wall Street Journal, "We're boring people to death and making games that are harder and harder to play”.

Was this a fit of creative zeal? Probably not, it’s more likely related to the fact that EA’s most recent announcement regarding its net income showed that it had dropped for the third year in a row: this time by a massive 68% to $76 million (£38m).

Riccitiello who returned to EA in April replacing Larry Probst, also laid into the games industry’s penchant for shovelling out sequels, "For the most part, the industry has been rinse-and-repeat. There's been lots of product that looked like last year's product that looked a lot like the year before.”

As is now the norm with videogame industry luminaries, Riccitiello, is actually seeking to court the ‘casual gamer’. The WSJ explains that, “Mr. Riccitiello worries that competition puts the games business ‘at risk of being a little less interesting than Facebook and iPods and the next cool cellphone.’”

You’ve got to be impressed by the chief executive of the biggest software publisher and developer on the planet explaining to his consumers that, well, you’ve being buying product that you thought was imaginative but was in fact on a par with washing powder.

Of course, Riccitiello, can always turn to the ‘previous administration’ (remember, he left EA in 2004) and to the rest of the industry for blame. Let’s hope that his outburst of truth signals a change in the way that games are produced.

Source: The Wall Street Journal
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Comments

ultimateassmonkey 9 Jul 2007 10:22
1/3
Riccitiello who returned to EA in April replacing Larry Probst, also laid into the games industry’s penchant for shovelling out sequels, "For the most part, the industry has been rinse-and-repeat. There's been lots of product that looked like last year's product that looked a lot like the year before.”

Why is it that someone has to publicly say stuff like this to try and make developers think outside their normal lines of thought?!

I've recently got my hands on a 360... And don't get me wrong, I'm pleased with the games I have (yet I've loads to get) but I'm wanting something new... Something different! PGR3 looks ace even on a standard def 14" beast of a tv I use, but I'm just driving. PDZero is good... But that just makes me want to play the original on the N64 (I hope Rare and Nintendo strike a deal so that PD can be placed on the Virtual Console... Maybe add a lil online multi to it... Ace). Yes I do have the likes of Gears and am looking forward to GTA plus others (names don't come to mind)... But... They just feel a bit like a 'been there done that' kind of game.

... The industry still seem's to be... I don't know.. . It just seems a lil s**tty at the moment.

Those are my thoughts anyway.
Joji 9 Jul 2007 12:44
2/3
Ultimate, keep an eye out for Mirror's Edge. Read a feature on it in the latest Edge and its just the kind of game 360 needs. Something to tip the whole fps genre on its head again. Ask EA, they'll tell you about it.

Sequelitis will always be the bane child of development, as while they are supposed to improve on a formula they don't always. Anything else that might bore would be lack of chances taken to make something fresh.

This is all ironcially rich, coming from EA, who've lived of the FIFA license for ages.
realvictory 9 Jul 2007 21:33
3/3
Sheesh, it's not just EA. Sequels have been coming out for years - Final Fantasy A Million, most genre of sports game, including wrestling, and then there's spin-offs to go with them... Every well-known game these days has a sequel and/or spin-off (The Sims?). Films, too, this year. Everything is at least number 3 in the series.

How can people have only just noticed? The funny thing is, why do they even make sequels? Because people buy them! This could have happened, say, 5+ years ago* - then we may have seen some improvements, maybe even new stuff, a lot earlier. Then again, "quirky" is the new "sequel." Something about it seems like the people who make the games are a stage behind what people actually want, although people still buy it, because they are told they want it.

*i.e. don't buy them (so often), then they'll stop making them, or make superior versions.
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