Electronic Arts has already made it clear that they are not interested in publishing new IPs for the remainder of this generation, but the logic behind that thought has finally been made clear. EA CEO John Riccitielo stated on the firm’s last mailing call that new IPs are not a priority for the company, and that the company is much more interested in producing mobile content. They will only be publishing sequels for three of their major IPs—Army of Two, Dragon Age, and Dead Space, while the others will be left to languish (at least, for the rest of this gaming generation). This attitude towards development and new IPs enforces an ongoing trend for EA—they are losing sight of their priorities and focusing on making packages of money rather than packages of content.
It might be silly developing new IP to be hosted on the Wii, but the XBOX 360 and PS3 still have a few years left in them and would appreciate a new IP from EA. Sony and Microsoft are currently pushing for new content either through their XBLA service or through the PS Vita, and refusing to publish new IPs for the system means that EA is missing out on an opportunity. There are plenty of other companies still publishing new IP, and EA’s absence means less competition and more success for them.
The more troubling matter is that because EA is now prioritizing small applications rather than blockbuster games, the companies that would normally invite EA to develop for their launch titles (in other words, Nintendo, Sony, and Microsoft) become less inclined to keep them in the loop. Since EA doesn’t trust them enough to have enough customers to land a successful game, why should they trust EA in the future? This won’t bode well for the properties that EA already owns, let alone any IPs they may want to publish in the future.
New IPs have the added bonus of drawing in new customers and expanding a company’s fanbase. Since EA has had a tumultuous customer service history, some brand new and impressive IPs would do well to heal the company’s reputation and assuage the gamers who voted it the worst company of the year (its competition was Bank of America, in case you were wondering what kind of scale it had). Reusing engines and graphics through sequels might help the company financially, but ultimately if they intend to remain in the core part of video gaming’s industry, they need to do better than iPad games and sequels.
Admittedly, the company is making a smart financial choice by switching over to mobile and low-content games. With mobile gaming, you could spend a couple thousand making a crappy game that makes a million dollars. With the core gaming industry, investing tens of millions of dollars into a higher quality game is much more likely to land you in financial trouble. However, it’s those huge blockbuster games that catch the attention and hearts of gamers worldwide, not the cheap and uncreative commercial success that is the Simpsons: Tapped Out.
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