EA Labels president Frank Gibeau has been particularly vocal about the future of EA lately. The executive is adamant that the company’s new focus doesn’t mean EA will abandon the game console market in favor of mobile and PC. It’s all the same ecosystem after all.
“For all the investments we’ve made in mobile and social, we never abandoned consoles,” says Gibeau in a brochure distributed at the Cloud Gaming USA Conference and Exhibition, “We are working closely with the console manufacturers and we are VERY excited about the Gen4 consoles that will be launched in the months and years ahead.”
“Gen4” consoles are Microsoft’s Xbox 720 and Sony’s PlayStation 4 respectively, and possibly machines from other competitors as well, like Boxer8’s Ouya and Valve’s rumored Steam Box.
Fans of Electronic Arts single player games of the past five years don’t have much to look forward to on those platforms though. If anyone is waiting for the return of creative visions like the original Dead Space, DICE’s Mirror’s Edge, or classic BioWare efforts like Mass Effect 2 and Dragon Age: Origins, Gibeau’s got bad news: EA is done with single player-focused games.
“I have not green lit one game to be developed as a single player experience. Today, all of our games include online applications and digital services that make them live 24/7/365.”
That’s not to say that EA’s games will be devoid of single-player campaigns, only that they will all be augmented with multiplayer and social modes. Mass Effect 3 is a perfect example. The game can be played and enjoyed alone, but to get the complete story experience you have to buy additional DLC as well as play online with others.
In the wake of E3 2012, Electronic Arts’ executives have been preaching a new gospel. You’ve heard the goods news! The future is a place where we all play together, on every device simultaneously, and pay what we want for the privilege, forever and ever amen. EA’s future is free-to-play. It’s cross-platform play. It’s day one DLC for triple-A releases like Mass Effect. Is the pattern emerging for you? Do you see EA’s path forward?
Comedic drama aside, yes, Electronic Arts is aggressively redefining its entire business to accommodate for the new gaming market, a place where people expect to be able to play a game of Sim City on their mobile phone, then continue it on PC, and even on their living room console and each base level version of it is free. Grand! Shareholders should have faith in the new model.
EA is sacrificing a vital element of its business, though, in its mad dash to make every game appeal to every potential customer. Single player games still thrive when done right. Look at Bethesda’s Fallout and Elder Scrolls series, Mr. Gibeau. Something to keep in mind as you force studios like BioWare that specialize in single player games to change.
Looks like I wont be buying any EA games anymore… I am not a fan of multiplayer games. I am not about the experience of connecting with strangers. I want to sit on my couch and play a game in peace. What’s wrong with these companies?
Also, I don’t want to pay a company money to play a game I already paid to play! Another thing is, I don’t want to rely on that company to allow me to play that game in the future. Say 20 years from now, when I want to play a game, and I can’t because EA’s servers are no longer available for that game, guess I am SOL.
Then again, it does say “Single player ONLY”… ” Today, all of our games include online applications and digital services that make them live 24/7/365.”
I’m sorry, I stopped reading when I saw that the guy considers the Xbox 720/Playstation 4 the Fourth generation… We’re currently living the 6th lifecycle of gaming consoles- the next one will be the 7th… It hurts my head that this guy is considered the president of anything gaming related.
I sit corrected- Next one will be the 8th, I neglected the Magnovox Odyssey with my initial burst of nerd rage.
I’m all for the idea of having cross-platform/console gaming experiences, but to do away with the single player experience? It sounds to me like EA wants to make complex versions of Farmville. I want to have faith in the idea that they want to keep making money off of old properties, so they won’t trash all of the popular titles that were built on a foundation of single-player gaming… and I’ll leave it at that.
Calm down stupid people and learn to read, this is just EAs strategy many of the other publishers will be making games for single player.
my wallet will be much heavier next gen..
EA is getting too big of a head. Tsk tsk.
Guess i won’t be getting the next gem console.
Roberto, while I don’t disagree with any of your points, I do have to make an argument for EA being worse than Activision. I certainly agree that COD is a terrible franchise and is contributing to the death of quality gaming but on the same card we have to consider the endless madden and other sports iterations that have practically driven all competing sports games off the shelves. EA is solely responsible for their being no playable sports games. That coupled with their business model of absorbing, gutting, and dissolving smaller studios makes them a string contender for worst publisher. That being said, COD’s fan base probably edges Activision over the finish line
who cares about EA anyway..
This is the dumbest thing i have ever heard. Why does every game need to be online, gimme a break….
Technically Mirrors Edge already had online functionality with the time-trials leaderboards and ability to download ghost runs.
I just means that any game, even mirrors edge, will have some kind of online capability. Doesnt mean they are axing single player entirely. If they did that EA wouldnt survive. And I think that Activision is by far the worst thing to hapen to video games ever. Well with the annual installment of Cod with the same damn problems, issues, hack, glitches, a 5 year old engine, and virtually no difference in every installment. ANd the whole destruction of creativty in games mantra by its CEO and just down right shutting down or aborting studios, regardless whether they are successful or not. Relic Entertainment made prototype 2, a great game with solid sales! shutdown. Bizzarre Creations made james bond and Blur. Shutdown. They were working on another true crime but they shutdown luxoflux and cancelled the new project from united front games, which then in turn becames square enixs big win with Sleeping dogs!
NO FALLOUT? DAFUQ? NOOO!