EA "not satisfied" with 2007 performance News
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Robert Purchese
Electronic Arts is unhappy it did not produce enough highly-rated new games in 2007, despite having managed to line its pockets with record amounts of money.
"While we are the third-party quality leader, we are not satisfied with where we are; we did not have any internally developed breakaway titles, and no one of EA's internally developed titles hit a Metacritic rating of 90 or greater," said boss John Riccitello in an earnings conference call.
However, he believes 2008 (or fiscal year 2009, which ends next April) will be a different story, with a fresh RPG from BioWare and new LOTR game among the stand out titles.
"The FY 09 or, if you will, the calendar 08 title plan feels very good to me. Titles out of our partners at BioWare like Dragon Age feel very strong," said Riccitello.
"People are very keen on a title we're developing through our DiCE group in Sweden called Mirror's Edge. Anything with Sims written on it feels always feels good, and we're coming up with a very innovative new title called Sim Animals - that's very strong," he added.
He went on to tell analysts that a fresh take on Peter Jackson's Lord of The Rings was on the way, although it was not clear whether this was existing game White Council or a new one altogether.
We also heard that Rock Band will now not ship in Europe until Q1 2009 (which begins in April), and EA confirmed delays for Battlefield: Bad Company and Mercenaries 2.
Fresh boxing title FaceBreaker was another picked out as having lots of "breakaway" potential.
Star performers for EA to date are FIFA 08, Need For Speed ProStreet, The Simpsons, Madden 08 and NBA Live. Riccitello believed the publisher was sitting on top of another big seller with Burnout Paradise, too.
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Comments: 1-30 of 30 in total
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Kazzahdrane
04/02/08 @ 09:40
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Phew, thought that actually meant Q1 2009 calendar year for Rock Band! Was about to go ballistic!
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McBradders
04/02/08 @ 09:53
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Skate didn't metacritic over 90?
What the fuck are reviewers smoking these days?! |
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Ignatius_Cheese
04/02/08 @ 09:56
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How are the sales stacking up for Burnout Paradise at the moment? I've been recommending it to everyone I know. Love it!
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McBradders
04/02/08 @ 09:59
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@Darren
There was news on this last week with suitable outrage. Please join us, perhaps EA might pull their finger out. I CAN DREAM |
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Eighthours
04/02/08 @ 10:07
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no one of EA's internally developed titles hit a Metacritic rating of 90 or greater,
Have they ever had an internal title that averages over 90? :) |
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NthSimulachum
04/02/08 @ 10:20
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Zomoniac: Only two of those were internally developed by EA's development arm, and Mass Effect was published by Microsoft.
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Eighthours
04/02/08 @ 10:22
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Zomoniac: Only two of those were internally developed by EA's development arm, and Mass Effect was published by Microsoft.
Yep, EA's internal offerings are often mediocre. Good to see that the top brass wants to do something about this, though. |
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squarejawhero
04/02/08 @ 10:22
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They've got a few original titles this year, far better than they used to be at it now. There's that Dead Space thing too, isn't there?
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The_Aardvark
04/02/08 @ 10:23
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DRAGON AGE! DRAGON AGE! DRAGON AGE! I demand more information at once!
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Triggerhappytel
04/02/08 @ 10:42
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Does anyone really give a shit about the LotR games-of-movies any more? It's been, what, coming up six years since the last film was released.
Anyway, I'd really like to see a new Black this year, although it probably won't happen so soon after Paradise. |
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0
Erm, Burnout is made by Criterion and that is as internal a development team as it gets. It was bought up around Burnout 3, since then it has been internal.
The fact is, EA have internal studios, some are bought others have been there a while. It doesn't make business sense to go re-organising successful teams, but unless EA is only the publisher of a title, any studio it buys is basically an internal studio. These studios are allowed to have their own internal cultures, but of course have business goals oriented to their new situation. As such, these studios, particularly Criterion Games, have retained a strong sense of the culture, as well as the leadership, that made them so purchasable. |
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Royal Fool
04/02/08 @ 11:51
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"Sim Animals"
Oh man. As for the LOTR game, I hope it's the White Council project resurrected. |
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kangarootoo
04/02/08 @ 13:14
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@swisstony
"As such, these studios, particularly Criterion Games, have retained a strong sense of the culture, as well as the leadership, that made them so purchasable." I agree with your general points, but the reason EA bought Criterion was Renderware rather than Burnout. A good game series is no bad thing to be buying into mind, but it wasn't the core reason for the purchase. |
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NegativeZero
05/02/08 @ 00:53
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I thought that all signs were pointing to Dragon Age not appearing until 2009?
Not that I'll complain if it appears earlier than that, mind you, Been looking forward to it for a long time. |
Comments: 1-30 of 30 in total
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