EA Making Bullets for Sony and Microsoft
Nothing like an analogy gone wild as Gibeau opens fire
EA Labels president Frank Gibeau has switched on to this "I am a long time gamer" profile - a tactic last seen corporately by Zynga CEO and ex-Microsoft man Don Mattrick during his Xbox One launch debacle.
"Guys like you and I who grew up with games are getting older, having families and then playing games with our children. That natural changeover is happening now – and that's why everyone wants to own the living room; gamers want to spend more time there, and not alone, but with their families," he tells an interviewer this week before going onto really get into the upcoming console war.
"Sony and Microsoft are clearly thinking, we want to be the set-top box. Meanwhile, T-Mobile, Comcast, etc, all want the cable box to be it, and the television manufacturers want the smart TV to be it. Apple and Google approaching it, too. I think what's cool is that there's going to be a massive amount of R&D and innovation going in to the living room entertainment experience. We don't see a wall that we can't get past, we just see a lot of new innovation and possibility," he tells the Guardian.
So, what is EA doing in this battle, nay this war? According to Frank:
"The way to think about it is, we make the bullets for the hardware war, but we want both competitors to be successful. Some have suggested that EA tilted toward Xbox One and that's actually not correct. We are agnostic, we're supporting both equally. What you're seeing are tactical marketing programmes that we did throughout all the last cycle – we did them with Sony, with Microsoft, it was a mix and match. That's the nature of first parties and third parties, whether that's EA, Activision or Ubisoft."
"Guys like you and I who grew up with games are getting older, having families and then playing games with our children. That natural changeover is happening now – and that's why everyone wants to own the living room; gamers want to spend more time there, and not alone, but with their families," he tells an interviewer this week before going onto really get into the upcoming console war.
"Sony and Microsoft are clearly thinking, we want to be the set-top box. Meanwhile, T-Mobile, Comcast, etc, all want the cable box to be it, and the television manufacturers want the smart TV to be it. Apple and Google approaching it, too. I think what's cool is that there's going to be a massive amount of R&D and innovation going in to the living room entertainment experience. We don't see a wall that we can't get past, we just see a lot of new innovation and possibility," he tells the Guardian.
So, what is EA doing in this battle, nay this war? According to Frank:
"The way to think about it is, we make the bullets for the hardware war, but we want both competitors to be successful. Some have suggested that EA tilted toward Xbox One and that's actually not correct. We are agnostic, we're supporting both equally. What you're seeing are tactical marketing programmes that we did throughout all the last cycle – we did them with Sony, with Microsoft, it was a mix and match. That's the nature of first parties and third parties, whether that's EA, Activision or Ubisoft."
Companies:
Electronic Arts
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