So I'm probably the last one to know that EA picked up Brutal Legend and did a heavy PR thing at the Spike videogame awards. Wow - Spore, Dead Space, Mirror's Edge, Brutal Legend. EA is betting big bucks on new IP! Unlike certain play-it-safe #1 publishers who elected not to pick up Brutal Legend and don't spend money on a franchise unless it is nigh-guaranteed to make money. Frankly, EA may be nuts, throwing all this money at new games. But you've got to love them for it. Their loss is our gain.
« Anecdotal benefit of videogames, volume 2 | Main | Industry Broadcast Hits 50 »
December 18, 2008
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Stuff I've Done
-
Got a minute? The first 3d Chrome Native Client game. 
A very, very co-op game for Xbox Live Arcade, developed with Richard Garfield and James Chao, among others.
Many say the best Spider-Man game ever. Even Zero Punctuation liked it.
My critically acclaimed, honorable-mention winning, self-published novel.
Stuff I'm Working On
- Prototypes
Various in-progress games, digital and not.
Recent Comments
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- martin on Test-Driven Development, A Year Later
Frankly I don't know what all the hubub has been about. When I look down at my shelves of current games, most of my favorites are EAs.
I've been doing this for more than 30 years and they've consistently been bringing engaging creative top quality product to market.
Posted by: Mike Wilson | December 18, 2008 at 07:25 PM
It does seem a little weird that Activision and EA seem to have had some sort of meeting in the late 80s where they both agreed that at any given time there would be only one of them actually taking risks... Just imagine if gaming publishers had real competition... :P
Posted by: Max Battcher | December 18, 2008 at 09:53 PM
If you analyze the TRST data you'll see that while using licenses is the safest bet (more likely to make money than original ip), all the big money is in original IP or sequels to original IP (you can't make sequels unless you have original IP to make them from)
I guess you could say with big risks some big rewards.
Posted by: gman | December 19, 2008 at 12:17 AM
Also, they're probably one of the more able publishers to do such a thing. I mean, they're fairly stable by being so big so it only makes sense to put some more money into riskier projects with possibly bigger rewards.
I say it makes financial sense to be more risky the bigger you are.
And also, to not put all your eggs in the same basket.
Posted by: Adam | December 20, 2008 at 01:35 AM
Indeed they have become the good guys, and I, like most people, have been lauding John Riccitiello for the leadership here.
Of course, gamers require a target for their rage, and that role was quickly filled by another insanely huge company that will remain nameless. Though, Max is on to something.
Posted by: Jeffool | December 24, 2008 at 05:23 AM