EA - Peter Moore on Health of the Gaming Industry

Gamesindustri.biz has talked with Peter Moore, COO of EA, about the health of the gaming industry. Here's his general take:

"I think we're going into almost a golden age of gaming, where it doesn't matter where you are, at any time, any place, any price point, any amount of time, there's a game available to you," Moore said. "And our job as a company is to provide those game experiences. And then on our big franchises, tie them all together."

He also adresses the fact that some core gamers don't like change:

"I think the challenge sometimes is that the growth of gaming… there's a core that doesn't quite feel comfortable with that," Moore said. "Your readers, the industry in particular. I don't get frustrated, but I scratch my head at times and say, 'Look. These are different times.' And different times usually evoke different business models. Different consumers come in. They've got different expectations. And we can either ignore them or embrace them, and at EA, we've chosen to embrace them."

Here's a rather interesting quote about how the public reacted to EA's media briefing
at E3 2014:

As an example, Moore said he spent the first night of E3 pouring over Twitter reactions to the EA media briefing, where it showed off very early looks at its new Star Wars, Mirror's Edge, and Mass Effect games, as well as glimpses of untitled Bioware and Criterion projects. "Half the people loved the fact that we were showing well into the future," Moore said. "And then the other 50 percent were basically calling BS because it was conceptual prototypes (which is how we build games, by the way). So you're kind of damned if you do and damned if you don't.

More information.

"I think the challenge sometimes is that the growth of gaming… there's a core that doesn't quite feel comfortable with that," Moore said. "Your readers, the industry in particular. I don't get frustrated, but I scratch my head at times and say, 'Look. These are different times.' And different times usually evoke different business models. Different consumers come in. They've got different expectations. And we can either ignore them or embrace them, and at EA, we've chosen to embrace them."

LOL !

Sure proof that gaming is about nothing but business models !

If that interview was longer, they could rename it in "scams for dummies".

"I think the challenge sometimes is that the growth of gaming… there's a core that doesn't quite feel comfortable with that," Moore said. "Your readers, the industry in particular. I don't get frustrated, but I scratch my head at times and say, 'Look. These are different times.' And different times usually evoke different business models. Different consumers come in. They've got different expectations. And we can either ignore them or embrace them, and at EA, we've chosen to embrace them."

Sorry I don't fit with your business model. I like how he blames it on "new customers" as if they are to blame somehow. Of course solution is simple: I just don't buy anything anymore except once in a blue moon.

Now, there's a guy that I'd definitely trust and follow when it comes to how I should feel about games.

I mean, is there any reason to be sceptical about his motivation or his passion for gaming?

Surely not!

"we're going into almost a golden age of gaming… at any time, any place, any price point, any amount of time, there's a game available to you… And then on our big franchises, tie them all together."

This business model is one of the symbols of decline in gaming industry. Its based on mega brands covering all platforms, nothing more. The goal is clear - to spend less money on ideas, game content and quality and still generate profits like the most excellent but expensive games can do. Quality wont count anymore.

"These are different times. And different times usually evoke different business models. Different consumers come in. They've got different expectations. And we can either ignore them or embrace them, and at EA, we've chosen to embrace them"

Warning, bad smelling heap of claptrap detected. They try to persuade people that they do nothing except giving customers what they want. Its one of the biggest PR LIES. Who have the most abundant advertising and biggest marketing campaigns? Who dominate gamind trends and hustle players into some kind of unnecessary crap like "always online", community services, micro-transations etc.? The same companies which claims they just fulfill customers' dreams.

"I think we're going into almost a golden age of gaming, where it doesn't matter where you are, at any time, any place, any price point, any amount of time, there's a game available to you,"

'Price Point' should really be re-stated as, 'Price Points' since you need to keep on paying to make meaningful progression within a reasonable amount of time with most of their games be they traditional, mobile or browser based and when they're not doing that they're releasing the latest annual Madden game with barely anything new and arguably even going backward with features and design.

I've never really liked EA and in my view they were at their best way back in the 1980s and early 90s publishing games like Seven Cities of Gold, Bard's Tale, and the Chuck Yeager flying games.

But when they started getting really big, acquiring studios just to bleed them and eventually shut them down, the writing was on the wall that the EA animal and I were going to part ways. No point really in bitching about them anymore. It's easy for me to vote with my wallet and avoid their games as they rarely publish anything I'm interested in.

This guy, as a personification of large corporations, will take your original Monet off your wall, shit on it and hand it back with a smile, telling you this is what you really wanted in the first place. Sadly, once this happens often enough, people start believing it.

"we're going into almost a golden age of gaming… at any time, any place, any price point, any amount of time, there's a game available to you… And then on our big franchises, tie them all together.

OK, so according to this guy, it is a golden age as long as you have access to product regardless of the quality… right. Good to know.

Originally Posted by DArtagnan
Now, there's a guy that I'd definitely trust and follow when it comes to how I should feel about games.

I mean, is there any reason to be sceptical about his motivation or his passion for gaming?

Surely not!

Oh come on i bet he has alot of passion for gaming as long as the $$$ keep flowing.

Interviewing EA about the health of the gaming industry is like inteviewing an european politician if he thinks the forced cost cuts are good for the greece people .

And always with the they just don't like change accusation.

I don't see much difference between what he is saying and how other entertainment businesses operate. For example, the film industry usually targets what draws in the audience; not what receives critical acclaim. They all want to commoditize the product by reducing it to an easily reproduced formula. Unfortunately, commercial business and the arts don't mix together well.

Originally Posted by rjshae
I don't see much difference between what he is saying and how other entertainment businesses operate. For example, the film industry usually targets what draws in the audience; not what receives critical acclaim. They all want to commoditize the product by reducing it to an easily reproduced formula. Unfortunately, commercial business and the arts don't mix together well.

I think that does nicely sum up what problem the older generation of gamers from the time when it was more of a niche market have with the current gaming industry.
It's become pure business.
At least with the big publishers, there's still some love and art in the smaller ones and Indies.
Not all but quite some.

It was always business for the publishers, but it used to be smaller budgets with limited financial risks for the most part. Also, they had less experience with "what sells" - so the creative people were calling more of the shots back then.

These days, you don't really need a publisher. It's refreshing to see so many artists and creative people wake up to that reality and move away from them.

Eventually, mostly people who're in the industry as a regular job will be the ones left to develop "AAA" titles.

Which will be just fine, because their audience will be gamers who're into gaming as a regular passtime.

That said, a lot of artists and creative people suck at what they do - which is why so many kickstarters are meh at best.