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Prove me wrong: okay
Vake Xeacons
Registered User regular
Registered User regular
It's sad that hundreds of hardworking people got dumped, right as the rest of the industry is celebrating. EA is going through some hard times right as it starts putting out decent games. What's up with that?
I'll tell you:
1. First off, keep in mind EA is a publisher, not a developer. They don't make the games themselves, and have little control over the content. They can send a game back if it's not good enough, but too many delays make for bigger losses.
2. EA needs to get it's priorities straight. EA has had a major crush on the 360 lately. Now that's not to say that's bad; I've got a 360, and aside from a couple RRODs, it's a fine system. But there's no denying the leader of industry right now is Nintendo. That's where the money is, but EA's been treating it like a last resort. RB1 nearly passed it by completely, and even then, the Wii only ended up with a half-ass PS2 port. RB2 is being delayed a full month behind its competitors. When EA quits giving Nintendo the cold shoulder, they'll start doing better.
3. Securom: DRM was what hit EA the hardest. Attacking their own customers to stop piracy? The right to install more than thrice? Suspended! The right to burn DVD-Rs and CD-Rs? Suspended! The right to uninstall DRM? Suspended! And the right to privacy? Suspended! Of course, none of this did anything to stop piracy; Spore was pirated the day after it's release, without DRM or a price. Although, I would have paid top dollar for a non-DRM version. DRM just encourages piracy. Drink up, me hearties, Yo ho!
4. NFL: This one is probably the only one that's NOT EA's fault. The NFL is suing the developer of the Madden series, claiming their players didn't get paid enough for their likenesses to be used in the game. Yeah, how else are they going to pay for their second mansions? That diamond studded pool isn't going to pay for itself.
I'll tell you:
1. First off, keep in mind EA is a publisher, not a developer. They don't make the games themselves, and have little control over the content. They can send a game back if it's not good enough, but too many delays make for bigger losses.
2. EA needs to get it's priorities straight. EA has had a major crush on the 360 lately. Now that's not to say that's bad; I've got a 360, and aside from a couple RRODs, it's a fine system. But there's no denying the leader of industry right now is Nintendo. That's where the money is, but EA's been treating it like a last resort. RB1 nearly passed it by completely, and even then, the Wii only ended up with a half-ass PS2 port. RB2 is being delayed a full month behind its competitors. When EA quits giving Nintendo the cold shoulder, they'll start doing better.
3. Securom: DRM was what hit EA the hardest. Attacking their own customers to stop piracy? The right to install more than thrice? Suspended! The right to burn DVD-Rs and CD-Rs? Suspended! The right to uninstall DRM? Suspended! And the right to privacy? Suspended! Of course, none of this did anything to stop piracy; Spore was pirated the day after it's release, without DRM or a price. Although, I would have paid top dollar for a non-DRM version. DRM just encourages piracy. Drink up, me hearties, Yo ho!
4. NFL: This one is probably the only one that's NOT EA's fault. The NFL is suing the developer of the Madden series, claiming their players didn't get paid enough for their likenesses to be used in the game. Yeah, how else are they going to pay for their second mansions? That diamond studded pool isn't going to pay for itself.
Vake Xeacons on
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Happen
I'm not saying that over-intrusive DRM is the way to go. Though I think that the current DRM schemes get blown waaay out of proportion when people don't read things and talk about how they have to throw away their copy of x game after they installed it 3 times, or how in 50 years EA will shut down their servers and despite saying otherwise and historically having it always be the case when developers go out of business refusing to patch the online verification out of a game.
But saying "BECAUSE OF DRM I'M GOING TO STEAL" is about the height of stupidity. DRM may be a good reason to crack the game, once you've legally purchased it, but if you're going to play and enjoy the game, buy the fucking game.
Platinum FC: 2880 3245 5111
You really think the PC (which has become such an inisignificant platform it makes me want to cry) has really effected the fate of EA that well? Even if they were publshing all their games on Steam completely DRM free it wouldn't make any real difference.
XBL/PSN/Steam: APZonerunner
EA ain't got time to bleed...
Err. you know that EA generally has higher sales revenue off of PC titles than the 360 right?
Platinum FC: 2880 3245 5111
No. Curious; which games?
They obviously have the C&C series, Crysis, and The Sims...
Which I'm imagining a lot of that comes from The Sims. And now Spore. But do we really think the DRM has effected the Sims (or indeed Spore as far as the mass market is concerned) any? Maybe slightly, but not significantly, I shouldn't think.
XBL/PSN/Steam: APZonerunner
Apart from all those EA-developed games, sure.
Not to mention the bottom line. The comic suggests this is a new issue, but EA's profits have been declining over the past five years and shifted into losses a couple years ago. And the losses are deepening. This is why they tried their policy of dumping licensed shovelware and encouraging new IPs... not out of artistic altruism, but to try to reverse their decline.
True, the current downturn has made things worse, but EA's been bleeding for quite some time. The OP might be onto something, since HD development is insanely expensive and has been squeezing a lot of devs. EA has been doing a decent job in spreading out to the portable systems, but they'd do well to develop more for the Wii (where even well-made games have a fraction of the budget of the HD systems).
I think EA is depending on the 360 to be the PS2 of this generation. Last time around both the Xbox and Gamecube had their strong periods, but the PS2 was the winner in the end. If think the fact that the 2 best selling games on the Wii are still Wii Sports and Wii Play says a lot. A ton of people bought Wii's but not all of them are actually gamers who will spend money regularly on games, they are perfectly content playing tennis in their living room once in a while and leaving it at that.
I'm not being a fanboy either, I don't even own a 360.
Platinum FC: 2880 3245 5111
Battlefield Series is a huge seller on PC, they've got the boxed retail of Half-Life 2 and Orange Box, I don't know how Mass Effect PC did but Dragon Age will probably rack 1 million units given the pedigree of both Bioware and recent PC RPGs. This year there's been Warhammer Online and next year Sims 3 will probably kick off a lot of new sales as well. And most of EAs work is multiplatform so I'm sure the there's a fair few sales on things like Need for Speed etc.
But yeah, I'm fairly sure it's probably like 90% Sims (it's something like 100million total sales for the sims franchise which is absolutely insane), and it's probably a low dev cost high revenue environment on PC especially with no license holders fees so I'm sure it's a massively profitable devision within EA.
Although honestly, I think DRM for EA will probably do more good than harm. I'm pretty satisfied that they've handled it probably about as best as they could aside from no DRM.
My bad. I just went by the Wii owners I know. One guy who buys games all the time and like 3 others who bought 1 or 2 games and forgot about the thing.
Nah, that's fair enough. It's true for most systems -- perhaps the Wii especially, thanks to the number of previously non-gamers buying the system -- that there is a small subset that buys a large portion of games, while the majority own only a few key games. We've got someone here who owns like 40 wii games -- you take that one person, average him together with 9 other Wii owners who own 2 games, and the average "attach rate" is 5.8. Yet the median is only 2.
Which makes sense -- not every game that comes out becomes a multi-million seller, despite the idea that different games attract different players. Largely, I'd imagine that most hardcore gamers buy the most games, meaning that they focus on big name games and the occasional sleeper hit, while those less involved in a system stick with their handful of games.
I think almost every number tally for games sold or attach rates are based on averages, not medians. I'd imagine if you looked for the median of owned games per console, it would be much closer to a small number.
Which is, in my opinion, EAs problem currently -- by developing new IP, they're going out on a limb. They can probably reap rewards in the future, but despite the good reviews for Mirrors Edge, Dead Space, etc., they're not going to sell on the order of a Halo 3 -- too new, too untested. People will probably buy them down the road, and look forward to sequels, but I'd be surprised if they sold crazy numbers. Hardcore gamers are going to pick them up excitedly, and people less tuned-in to gaming news will eventually hear about them (likely from those hardcore gamers).
I do not purchase any software that has any DRM attached software that comes with it. I don't care how awesome it is. I want to play Spore so bad, but I'm not about to compromise the stability and security of my gaming rig, just so they can trust that the software I PURCHASED is being used how THEY want it to be. (Which is frankly none of their business.) So this is a valid point, in that there are customers out there, like me, that just won't touch it with a ten foot pole, unless we stumble across a version that has the DRM software stripped of it. Which is usually pirated.
If they offer a console version in this situation, much like Dead Space & Fallout 3, I pick up the console versions. If they do not offer an alternative, I simply don't purchase it, and maybe play a stripped, pirated version way later if I still have the itch to play it.
DRM is the greatest downfall of the game & music industry coupled with DMCA laws in general. It is only pushing people away from the publishing industry and to alternative, DRM free solutions. (Such as direct downloads from musicians / developers.)
And attach rates are near useless.
The Gamecube had an astounding attach rate.
"Per console" means jack all when the raw numbers are higher.
I would rather sell to 50% of 1,000,000 people than 100% of 250,000 people.
5.3...
and the PS3 has sold fewer consoles...
oops.
But as Khavall said, attach rates are pretty useless.
As for EA, they're being hit by the financial crisis just like everyone else.
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So is "okay" the subtitle to the thread or your response to being proven wrong?
Anyways, why does the OP always step out of the thread. I would love to see some responses from his very insightful arguments.
Final Fantasy XI -> Carbuncle - Samash
Flat-out wrong. Securom stopped me buying Spore and it may well stop me buying RA3. (Aside: I am a gigantic C&C fan and hated EA when they bought out Westwood and destroyed the series. I REALLY want to get back in and like it again now that they're FINALLY making decent products again.) It has also stopped several of my friends. I know that anecdotes aren't data, but judging by the amount of uproar over Securom, it's stopped more than a few people buying EA games.
I will agree that the bigger problem is dev costs spiralling out of control. The clear solution for that is to focus more on Wii and DS, consoles with wider user-bases. Ignoring a market of millions is just stupid.
Did you pirate Spore and RA3?
Because if you didn't, then good job, that's sticking to your convictions against DRM and voting with your wallet.
If you did then you're just being a douche, playing the game and pretending that you care enough about an issue to not pay for it.
Saying that "DRM encourages piracy" is stupid. It just encourages people claiming that they're pirating because of the DRM.
Going by the post history this is some useless fuck that spouts some nonsense and then isn't seen for six months.
So let's not feed the trolls.