Layoffs at EA Today

Re:Layoffs at EA Today by ChikkaChiChi on Thursday April 25, 2013 @03:35PM (#5609361)

"EA's most high-profile projects on the horizon are this fall's DICE-developed Battlefield 4 and the BioWare-developed Dragon Age III."

EA continues to go to the well of existing properties all the while dangling a slightly new feature in one hand while choking us with DLC/IAP in the other. Their CDN is a joke compared to Steam and they earned their rating in pop culture with their routine disdain for their customer base.

Gaming is still in its infancy as an art form. The faster the EA/Activision oligopoly is broken up, the more power we as consumers will have in the future.

[ Parent | on HN ]

Re:Layoffs at EA Today by rdl on Thursday April 25, 2013 @03:47PM (#5609434)

I still think Battlefield is probably the best of its genre, and am looking forward to BF4.

[ Parent | on HN ]

Re:Layoffs at EA Today by socialist_coder on Thursday April 25, 2013 @06:08PM (#5610245)

Yup, same for Mass Effect / Dragon Age. Those are all killer games and I will keep playing them even if Satan himself is the publisher.

[ Parent | on HN ]

Re:Layoffs at EA Today by munificent on Thursday April 25, 2013 @04:31PM (#5609671)

> EA continues to go to the well of existing properties

That's because consumers continue to prefer the waters drawn from that well. If people want new IP, they need to show that with their money.

[ Parent | on HN ]

Re:Layoffs at EA Today by ryguytilidie on Thursday April 25, 2013 @04:44PM (#5609734)

You mean like making Minecraft insanely popular? Or Kerbal Space Program the game of the year in many magazines? Or DayZ being the game of the year in most other magazines? Theres only so much we can blame the consumer for companies producing shit.

[ Parent | on HN ]

Re:Layoffs at EA Today by arrrg on Thursday April 25, 2013 @05:26PM (#5609989)

You can't make AAA games with the money those games are making.

[ Parent | on HN ]

Re:Layoffs at EA Today by J_Darnley on Thursday April 25, 2013 @07:05PM (#5610536)

Really? How many people have bought Minecraft? More than 10 million (on PC alone) [1]. Assume everyone paid the beta price of €14.95 [2] and we get €150 million! That sounds like triple-A money to me.

Okay, that could be wildly inaccurate if everyone buys it cheap through deals like Steam. 75% off and similar.

Wikipedia says the Notch estimated €25M in purchases a few months after the beta [3]. By the end of the beta that was 4 million purchases which has now risen to 10 million. As far as I can tell, that doesn't include any figures from Apple, Google, or Microsoft.

[1] https://minecraft.net/ [2] http://web.archive.org/web/20110114022633/http://www.minecra... [3] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Minecraft#Commercial

[ Parent | on HN ]

Re:Layoffs at EA Today by arrrg on Saturday April 27, 2013 @11:38AM (#5618054)

Minecraft is a fluke. It cannot be imitated.

[ Parent | on HN ]

Re:Layoffs at EA Today by nnnnni on Thursday April 25, 2013 @06:15PM (#5610285)

I'd rather play a fun non-"AAA" game than a boring "AAA" game.

[ Parent | on HN ]

Re:Layoffs at EA Today by arrrg on Saturday April 27, 2013 @11:39AM (#5618059)

Obviously. Everyone would.

But I do not want AAA games to not exist. They can do things that indie games cannot. It’s as simple as that.

[ Parent | on HN ]

Re:Layoffs at EA Today by nnnnni on Saturday April 27, 2013 @10:23PM (#5619905)

Oh, that is true. Ideally a fun "AAA" would be the best option...

[ Parent | on HN ]

Re:Layoffs at EA Today by talmand on Thursday April 25, 2013 @04:45PM (#5609741)

If EA tries to avoid creating new IPs then there is little opportunity to show them with our money. Plus they seem keen on ignoring the successes of other companies that do create new IPs.

[ Parent | on HN ]

Re:Layoffs at EA Today by warfangle on Thursday April 25, 2013 @05:08PM (#5609881)

Game publishers stab in the dark as to what people want from a game.

That's why it's a blockbuster mentality (not an artform mentality).

[ Parent | on HN ]