EA CEO Says Company Is Changing to Become "Player-First"

[TalantM]

I'm guessing you haven't played ME3 or at the very least havent got past the fight on the quarian homeworld yet?

I have, several times. and the result is ending up sick. The result in a sanitized ship to protect the crew from disease (all ships in said unverse are) is still to end up sick. Now imagine it's not a bordreline sterile ship or the species home planet, but foregine soil and with and bullet wounds and/or exposure to something actually serious (a flu for example.) bad news.

[Anaesha]

I have, several times. and the result is ending up sick. The result in a sanitized ship to protect the crew from disease (all ships in said unverse are) is still to end up sick. Now imagine it's not a bordreline sterile ship or the species home planet, but foregine soil and with and bullet wounds and/or exposure to something actually serious (a flu for example.) bad news.

 

I wonder. did you choose to destroy the geth or save both races and if you chose to save both did you talk to Tali at all after the fight? If you choose to save both the quarians & Geth and talk to Tali afterwards she tells you that the Geth are helping them with strengthening their immune systems by uploading into their suits and simulating diseases which will make their dependence on the enviro suits a thing of the past.

Edited June 25, 2014 by Anaesha

[TalantM]

I wonder. did you choose to destroy the geth or save both races and if you chose to save both did you talk to Tali at all after the fight? If you choose to save both the quarians & Geth and talk to Tali afterwards she tells you that the Geth are helping them with strengthening their immune systems by uploading into their suits and simulating diseases which will make their dependence on the enviro suits a thing of the past.

 

Less "thing of the past" more "can live without sutis on home planet just like they used to." They also mention that it will take a long time to work. It that still wouldn't protect them against forigne diseases, which were always an especially nasty problem for them, which is one of the origional reasons they wore them iirc. Even if it's not fatal, can't afford to end up dizzy and nausiated while also in a gunfight.

[Andryah]

They managed to fail a franchise like StarWars. There is no way they will be successful with another.

 

Disney apparently disagrees with you... considering they have inked an exclusive multi-year license agreement for Star War IP.

 

Stop thinking in terms of just MMOs. MMOs are actually not a large part of the total game business. They are less then 10% of total market revenue and much less then that in terms of % of player base.

Edited June 25, 2014 by Andryah

[TravelersWay]

This could be said of any major holding company in the business. Why is EA singled out as more evil then NCsoft or Blizzard?

 

To speculate and answer to my own question: because the IP produced by EA has more draw and passion then other companies (not speaking just of MMOs here) ... and hence it receives more passion based flaming and prosecution on the internet.

 

Of course. SOE certainly can get as much hate as EA as well, especially this year. Of course, we all know what NC did to COH, and their kabosh on the Eastern influenced continent in Guild Wars 2. But as you point out, pound for pound, EA has their grasp upon probably two of the most notable studios in gaming, so the outcry will be the largest when they make their missteps. However, one shouldn't forget their successes as well - The Sims, anyone?

 

Won't happen, especially not an MMO. ME won't have the Star Wars fans behind it. They managed to fail a franchise like StarWars. There is no way they will be successful with another.

Success or failure aside, what many gamers fail to realize is that not every single-player IP can actually be translated into an enjoyable and successful MMO - just ask Zenimax. Some games and IPs are better as, and should always remain, single-player IPs.

 

Now, if you want to talk about what should be an MMO, then Tron and Logan's Run are probably the best two IPs to make that transition. There is some really good opportunity to make for some interesting immersion and gameplay with Tron, and Logan's Run is perfectly suited for a PvP focused MMO.

Edited June 25, 2014 by TravelersWay

[Beansoup]

EA representatives say lots of things. "Don't piss in to my ear and tell me it's raining".

[AelixVII]

"...I want them to come in and be part of a universe, immersed in an interactive experience they play for six months, eight months, ten months."

So... more DLCs?

Edited June 25, 2014 by AelixVII

[Vandicus]

So... more DLCs?

 

That's pretty much exactly it.

 

I don't know why people think the new strategy is outrageous. Longer life cycles with more dlcs and MTs. On the other hand, this'll probably mean more development time and resources per game(its more important to make a decent game because they won't be able to just try again next year, this represents a significant investment for the next two-three years).

[Andryah]

That's pretty much exactly it.

 

I don't know why people think the new strategy is outrageous. Longer life cycles with more dlcs and MTs. On the other hand, this'll probably mean more development time and resources per game(its more important to make a decent game because they won't be able to just try again next year, this represents a significant investment for the next two-three years).

 

^^

[Devrius]

"Words are wind!"

[Cuiwe]

LOL My Sith just got LS points higher than DS, I think he is an undercover Jedi. (I wish I could make him for real a Jedi, like Darth Veda at then end)

 

I just wish that I could make both of my Sith characters Gray. Independent. Beautiful.

 

Tbh, I don't like Jedi nor Sith much. But to walk freely. Freely like the Exile. That would be quite an experience.

(as you can see I love Gray "Jedi").

 

OT: I'll believe it when I see it. No more "1 playthrough -> finished" cr@p pl0x. ktnxbai!

[DisIzMe]

Hopefully it will not mean turning every game into long grind needed to advance and get all the shineys with real money needed to speed/boost things up (looking at you,plants and zombies 2 and Battlfields N).

Dragon Age : Inquisition sounds like EA actually added open worldish elements into game with rich story which sounds like another,much nicer way to make players invest more time into the game , though cynic in me expects real money speeding things trick as well - maybe via crafting limitations.

Anyway, only time will show what will change and what will remain ,but EA management at least seems to grasp the fact that some kind of change is needed,and it is good news in itself.

[DarthOvertone]

"I want to move us away from just a straight hit-driven business," Wilson said. "I want to move us into the live services business. If you think about Star Wars, I don't want them to come in and play a Star Wars game two weeks or three weeks or four weeks, I want them to come in and be part of a universe, immersed in an interactive experience they play for six months, eight months, ten months."

 

I play two EA titles on a regular basis (that I'm aware of)...SWTOR and BF4. I am a Sub for SWTOR. I am a Premium for BF4. From my own personal perspective, I feel like I'm part of something much bigger and more active when I play BF4. Now I know that BF4 isn't an MMO in the traditional sense, but it sure feels more like it than SWTOR does.

 

Point being, if EA is going to really fix things, they should start with Star Wars first and just copy what DICE is doing. lol

 

Oh wait...they are...in the upcoming SW Battlefront.

[JasonThDi]

This sounds interesting, but what does "Player-First" mean exactly?

 

<a href="http://www.enjin.com/" alt="swtor guild hosting"><img src="http://sigs.enjin.com/sig-swtor/c5e85df45735fda6.png"></a>

 

http://www.swtor.com/r/BydDVX

[Preston_Violent]

I play two EA titles on a regular basis (that I'm aware of)...SWTOR and BF4. I am a Sub for SWTOR. I am a Premium for BF4. From my own personal perspective, I feel like I'm part of something much bigger and more active when I play BF4. Now I know that BF4 isn't an MMO in the traditional sense, but it sure feels more like it than SWTOR does.

 

Point being, if EA is going to really fix things, they should start with Star Wars first and just copy what DICE is doing. lol

 

Oh wait...they are...in the upcoming SW Battlefront.

 

Starting with class balance which is a non-existing issue in BF4 (only case of "disbalnce" in BF4 one might feel is attention / skill level or obvious hacks) and in swtor...well...

[Bstr]

They were always "Can't Even Organize" in my book of experience. They are figure heads for the most part, over paid for what they actually do.... unable to influence any sort of radical shift in a company. In fact, most do more harm then good. But this is to be expected as the entire CEO system in the US is a complete fabrication, designed to maintain the status quo and balance of power in board rooms.

 

In my experience, this is the case with all businesses. It is the rest of the executive that runs the business and jostles with each other for power and their department's success.

 

Corporations in America are very similar to the Sith Empire of SWTOR: "Led" by an apathetic and disconnected figurehead C. Emperor O. The ones really in charge are the power hungry and power jockeying Dark Executive Council / Team. The only difference is that you cannot literally assassinate others to move up in the company.

[Vinak]

To sum it all up: EA hasn't learned anything.

 

We will see F2P titles full of micro transactions and pay walls to artificially extend the life of the game.

 

More titles with half the content stripped out to be sold as DLC, and more micro transactions (see: Sims 4)

 

Some more Single player games with poorly conceived and tacked on multiplayer that nobody wanted or asked for. Only serving to waste resources on an already rushed to release title.

 

 

Just for good measure, EA will make sure to buy out some more well respected development companies and drive them into the ground. (See: every company they've ever bought)

[TravelersWay]

To sum it all up: EA hasn't learned anything.

 

We will see F2P titles full of micro transactions and pay walls to artificially extend the life of the game.

 

More titles with half the content stripped out to be sold as DLC, and more micro transactions (see: Sims 4)

 

Some more Single player games with poorly conceived and tacked on multiplayer that nobody wanted or asked for. Only serving to waste resources on an already rushed to release title.

 

 

Just for good measure, EA will make sure to buy out some more well respected development companies and drive them into the ground. (See: every company they've ever bought)

 

Exactly. Because when they say "Players-First" they mean the players that none of us know and have never played a game with. They are the same "Shadow Players" that demanded an always-online-multiplayer focus for SimCity.

[ZionHalcyon]

WORST TO FIRST!!!! This is going to be the best turn around of ALL TIME!!!

 

It better be.

 

3.0 will mark the last major content the old team worked on. Up until this point, this new crew has just been updating or modifying content already in the pipleline from the original crew, minus strongholds, which is the first major update this team created solely on their own.

 

You have the president of EA saying they want to be player first, and yet we've had no significant new Player story content that doesn't involve a flashpoint or daily area since Makeb, and nothing really immersive and meaningful to your player's story since the class stories of the original release, DESPITE more class story being #1 on the wishlists of SWTOR's current and former players in polls, cantina crawls, and just about every other metric EAWare tries to bury.

 

The game has a solid enough core and CAN be turned around. However, it needs MORE staff to work out bugs and increase release timing, and quite frankly, needs a new vision and direction than what the current producer got put here to do, which was anything BUT what the game was based on - STORY.

 

They need new leadership - one that can marry the story-driven vision of the old team with the business sensibilities of the current producer. There needs to be a middle ground.

 

My fear is this isn't going to happen. I have a feeling 3.0 will be the last major story release of this game, and then, they will simply be exactly what they have been to this point - a game borrowing against the work of the people that originally made it, releasing half-baked features over months instead a solid release date, and milking every last thing knowing they don't have anything else of significance or relevance to fall back on anymore now that 3.0 is done and the original material has been bled dry.

 

EAware has done NOTHING to dissuade me of this opinion, and people white-knighting for the game against my criticisms have proven themselves naïve as the game has continued down this path to irrelevance.

 

I don't say all these unkind words to troll. I say them because I care about this game, what it was on release, and that it has gone astray in the core story department it was sold on, and that's what makes it different than any MMO out there. I care because there's still time to right the ship, and it doesn't change if you blow smoke up the devs' rear ends over mundane changes, buggy and grossly drawn out releases and unimaginative updates.

 

I want EA to make me eat these words. But to any white knights out there - EA is the ONLY ones who can - them and Bioware. You championing them is just you fanboi-ing. You don't work for the game. You don't produce results.

 

I love this game and want it to work. But there's been enough blown chances and missed opportunities that Bioware and EA doesn't get my faith any more. They need to step up and prove it FIRST. They need to EARN my loyalty and dollars back. Because its their mismanagement that has driven them off in the first place.

Edited June 26, 2014 by ZionHalcyon

[Arkerus]

It better be.

 

3.0 will mark the last major content the old team worked on. Up until this point, this new crew has just been updating or modifying content already in the pipleline from the original crew, minus strongholds, which is the first major update this team created solely on their own.

 

You have the president of EA saying they want to be player first, and yet we've had no significant new Player story content that doesn't involve a flashpoint or daily area since Makeb, and nothing really immersive and meaningful to your player's story since the class stories of the original release, DESPITE more class story being #1 on the wishlists of SWTOR's current and former players in polls, cantina crawls, and just about every other metric EAWare tries to bury.

 

The game has a solid enough core and CAN be turned around. However, it needs MORE staff to work out bugs and increase release timing, and quite frankly, needs a new vision and direction than what the current producer got put here to do, which was anything BUT what the game was based on - STORY.

 

They need new leadership - one that can marry the story-driven vision of the old team with the business sensibilities of the current producer. There needs to be a middle ground.

 

My fear is this isn't going to happen. I have a feeling 3.0 will be the last major story release of this game, and then, they will simply be exactly what they have been to this point - a game borrowing against the work of the people that originally made it, releasing half-baked features over months instead a solid release date, and milking every last thing knowing they don't have anything else of significance or relevance to fall back on anymore now that 3.0 is done and the original material has been bled dry.

 

EAware has done NOTHING to dissuade me of this opinion, and people white-knighting for the game against my criticisms have proven themselves naïve as the game has continued down this path to irrelevance.

 

I don't say all these unkind words to troll. I say them because I care about this game, what it was on release, and that it has gone astray in the core story department it was sold on, and that's what makes it different than any MMO out there. I care because there's still time to right the ship, and it doesn't change if you blow smoke up the devs' rear ends over mundane changes, buggy and grossly drawn out releases and unimaginative updates.

 

I want EA to make me eat these words. But to any white knights out there - EA is the ONLY ones who can - them and Bioware. You championing them is just you fanboi-ing. You don't work for the game. You don't produce results.

 

I love this game and want it to work. But there's been enough blown chances and missed opportunities that Bioware and EA doesn't get my faith any more. They need to step up and prove it FIRST. They need to EARN my loyalty and dollars back. Because its their mismanagement that has driven them off in the first place.

 

They already earned it. You are here paying and playing. You can complain all you want but you are paying cold hard cash to be here.

[ZionHalcyon]

They already earned it. You are here paying and playing. You can complain all you want but you are paying cold hard cash to be here.

 

Yet a lot of others took their cold hard cash somewhere else, and I also stopped subbing for a time. You have people who routinely stop subbing for this game and leave for months at a time until there is enough new content accumulated to sustain them resubbing for a couple months, and then leaving again.

 

That is not a solid business model, and no matter how cute you try to sound, there is nothing you can say that makes it a sound business model, nor anything you can say, snide or otherwise, to refute what I said prior.

Edited June 26, 2014 by ZionHalcyon

[JediMasterSLC]

It better be.

 

3.0 will mark the last major content the old team worked on. Up until this point, this new crew has just been updating or modifying content already in the pipleline from the original crew, minus strongholds, which is the first major update this team created solely on their own.

 

You have the president of EA saying they want to be player first, and yet we've had no significant new Player story content that doesn't involve a flashpoint or daily area since Makeb, and nothing really immersive and meaningful to your player's story since the class stories of the original release, DESPITE more class story being #1 on the wishlists of SWTOR's current and former players in polls, cantina crawls, and just about every other metric EAWare tries to bury.

 

The game has a solid enough core and CAN be turned around. However, it needs MORE staff to work out bugs and increase release timing, and quite frankly, needs a new vision and direction than what the current producer got put here to do, which was anything BUT what the game was based on - STORY.

 

They need new leadership - one that can marry the story-driven vision of the old team with the business sensibilities of the current producer. There needs to be a middle ground.

 

My fear is this isn't going to happen. I have a feeling 3.0 will be the last major story release of this game, and then, they will simply be exactly what they have been to this point - a game borrowing against the work of the people that originally made it, releasing half-baked features over months instead a solid release date, and milking every last thing knowing they don't have anything else of significance or relevance to fall back on anymore now that 3.0 is done and the original material has been bled dry.

 

EAware has done NOTHING to dissuade me of this opinion, and people white-knighting for the game against my criticisms have proven themselves naïve as the game has continued down this path to irrelevance.

 

I don't say all these unkind words to troll. I say them because I care about this game, what it was on release, and that it has gone astray in the core story department it was sold on, and that's what makes it different than any MMO out there. I care because there's still time to right the ship, and it doesn't change if you blow smoke up the devs' rear ends over mundane changes, buggy and grossly drawn out releases and unimaginative updates.

 

I want EA to make me eat these words. But to any white knights out there - EA is the ONLY ones who can - them and Bioware. You championing them is just you fanboi-ing. You don't work for the game. You don't produce results.

 

I love this game and want it to work. But there's been enough blown chances and missed opportunities that Bioware and EA doesn't get my faith any more. They need to step up and prove it FIRST. They need to EARN my loyalty and dollars back. Because its their mismanagement that has driven them off in the first place.

 

Well said.

[Savej]

From today's press

 

Under the new direction of CEO Andrew Wilson, Electronic Arts is shifting its mentality to become a more "player-first" company.

 

Also in the interview, Wilson revealed a broader EA strategy where the company will now move away from one-off releases, and instead focus on building games that people can play for months and months.

 

"I want to move us away from just a straight hit-driven business," Wilson said. "I want to move us into the live services business. If you think about Star Wars, I don't want them to come in and play a Star Wars game two weeks or three weeks or four weeks, I want them to come in and be part of a universe, immersed in an interactive experience they play for six months, eight months, ten months."

 

So, basically: "no more class stories" ;>

[Reno_Tarshil]

Yet a lot of others took their cold hard cash somewhere else, and I also stopped subbing for a time. You have people who routinely stop subbing for this game and leave for months at a time until there is enough new content accumulated to sustain them resubbing for a couple months, and then leaving again.

 

That is not a solid business model, and no matter how cute you try to sound, there is nothing you can say that makes it a sound business model, nor anything you can say, snide or otherwise, to refute what I said prior.

 

Blizzard begs to differ.

[Arkerus]

Yet a lot of others took their cold hard cash somewhere else, and I also stopped subbing for a time. You have people who routinely stop subbing for this game and leave for months at a time until there is enough new content accumulated to sustain them resubbing for a couple months, and then leaving again.

 

That is not a solid business model, and no matter how cute you try to sound, there is nothing you can say that makes it a sound business model, nor anything you can say, snide or otherwise, to refute what I said prior.

 

You tell em! While paying them! Sounds like a sustainable business model to me. People keep coming back even after they "quit"? Sounds sustainable. That's what game developer want.

 

Its not perfect. I have a handful of issues with SWTOR that I think they need to fix but here I am, sustaining their bottom line.

 

I don't think you know what a sustainable business model is. If SWTOR wasn't sustainable, it would have closed. SInce its open (and making money year over year), its very "sustainable". I think you need to change your argument.

Edited June 26, 2014 by Arkerus