New EA boss says "Games are boring"

[ZippyDSMlee]

New EA CEO says video games are "boring"

9 July 2007 13:32 by vurbal
New EA CEO says video games are According to EA chief executive John Riccitiello, in a recent interview with the Wall Street Journal, "We're boring people to death and making games that are harder and harder to play."

Riccitiello became CEO at EA in April in his return to the game maker. EA's former chief operating officer had left the company in 2004 to help found Elevation Partners, a media and entertainment buyout firm.

The video game executive criticized the industry for rolling out sequels to new games that add little from the previous version.

"For the most part, the industry has been rinse-and-repeat," he was quoted as saying. "There's been lots of product that looked like last year's product, that looked a lot like the year before."

At a time when both the XBox 360 and PS3 are losing sales, apparently at the expense of the Nintendo Wii, Riccitiello's comments seem dead on. While the Microsoft and Sony consoles have the advantage in technology and established titles, the Wii seems to be thriving on something completely different. It's fun.

http://www.afterdawn.com/news/archive/10330.cfm
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...ZOMG!!! give the man a cookie...of coarse he/they will not put more effort into tittles and dev them better and polish them no they will still make short sighted cash in games but now...they will complain about it....take his cookies away NOA ZIPPYA DEMAND NOA TROLL RAGE NOA!!!!!!!

(BTW toll make a Game/media industry news sticky thread so all the music/movie/tech/game news can go there maybe? it would at least help with the clutter,or I can just post all my news crap there LOL )

[Tollwutig]

One of these days we're going to teach Zippy what is Off-Topic, and what isn't. Moved to Video Game Retailers & Publishers

[ZippyDSMlee]

brwains I needs them 0-o

how about I just take a look at the main forum site and see all the nice category's one can post in >>

ZOMG bwains!
<<
>>

anyway care to comment on his statement?

he dose make a valid point but the industry itself will not change so easily...

[V-22 Osprey]

One of these days we're going to teach Zippy what is Off-Topic, and what isn't.

Will the teaching involve the use of sharp pointy objects? :D

[kurisu7885]

Of course the games are boring since EA does such a ****ty job making them.

Granted there are exceptions, but those are the ones not done in house.

[ZippyDSMlee]

One of these days we're going to teach Zippy what is Off-Topic, and what isn't.

Will the teaching involve the use of sharp pointy objects? :D

no no no no tazers are much more fun :eek:

[Yukimura]

no no no no tazers are much more fun :eek:

Somebody get zippies meds, he's overstimulated again ::Gets the catch pole:

[ZippyDSMlee]

Somebody get zippies meds, he's overstimulated again ::Gets the catch pole:

*runs and hides, leaving a trial of nawed things behind*
:P

[Yukimura]

*runs and hides, leaving a trial of nawed things behind*
:P

*catchs zippy and gives him his meds, plus some string to play with*

[RadarX]

Since when did EA stop dominating the game market and care what people thought?

[Demontestament]

Since when did EA stop dominating the game market and care what people thought?

When they realised people thought their madden games were ****.

The video game executive criticized the industry for rolling out sequels to new games that add little from the previous version.

Lol and he speaks from first hand experience.

[Tollwutig]

One of these days we're going to teach Zippy what is Off-Topic, and what isn't.

Will the teaching involve the use of sharp pointy objects? :D

No we prefer large blunt ones around here.

When they realised people thought their madden games were ****.



Lol and he speaks from first hand experience.

Yes the irony of the entire thing made me laugh.

[ZippyDSMlee]

No we prefer large blunt ones around here.



Yes the irony of the entire thing made me laugh.

blunt electrified sticks work too :P


hes been on a few year vacation,but really...its like he just found out mainstreaming hurts games 0-o

[Yukimura]

I told you before if you just take your meds you'll be fine.

::Goes to fetch the meds again:: Stupid crazy hyper zippy with his not taking his meds.

Just kidding zippy, but I don't think blunt sticks and electricity are gonna do much to help your condition.

[ZippyDSMlee]

I told you before if you just take your meds you'll be fine.

::Goes to fetch the meds again:: Stupid crazy hyper zippy with his not taking his meds.

Just kidding zippy, but I don't think blunt sticks and electricity are gonna do much to help your condition.


uurrr no fun,I guess its back to metal poles and lighting storms for me :P

[Thefremen]

This is an example of the Emperor having no clothes. Who knows though, perhaps he's thinking of reforming his own company?

[ZippyDSMlee]

This is an example of the Emperor having no clothes. Who knows though, perhaps he's thinking of reforming his own company?

who many times has a CEO "found reality" only to shoo it away when it became burdensome?

[Thefremen]

who many times has a CEO "found reality" only to shoo it away when it became burdensome?

True, but he could be making statements for Stockholders. They want to know that there are new innovative games on the way for the Wii instead of just Madden '08 since new experiences are now becoming a big thing in the industry.

[ZippyDSMlee]

True, but he could be making statements for Stockholders. They want to know that there are new innovative games on the way for the Wii instead of just Madden '08 since new experiences are now becoming a big thing in the industry.

oh joy gameplay is the new fad *headdesk* anyway ,I guess you are right, I see the WII taking up the PS2s throne this time round,I don't see devs going back to sony in any worth while amount for another 3 or 4 years,so theres no real reason to get a PS3 for the next couple of years, by then more games and a stable price drop would do well to make the system better than it is now.

The 360 has become a solid niche a bit more than the Xbox was,I still hate the "stealing PC games" feel of it, the fail rate has pretty much made me put it off a year with a price cut and the new cpus its all good I guess.

[Thefremen]

oh joy gameplay is the new fad *headdesk* anyway ,I guess you are right, I see the WII taking up the PS2s throne this time round,I don't see devs going back to sony in any worth while amount for another 3 or 4 years,so theres no real reason to get a PS3 for the next couple of years, by then more games and a stable price drop would do well to make the system better than it is now.

The 360 has become a solid niche a bit more than the Xbox was,I still hate the "stealing PC games" feel of it, the fail rate has pretty much made me put it off a year with a price cut and the new cpus its all good I guess.

Yeah now that I read in Wired about the PS3 removing hardware backwards compatibility I plan on getting an XB360 when the new CPUs hit.

Wii sales have been insane and the market has to look at the potential. It's like how we'll see ps2 games for years to come since there are millions out there and you simply can't ignore potential profits that size.

[ZippyDSMlee]

Yeah now that I read in Wired about the PS3 removing hardware backwards compatibility I plan on getting an XB360 when the new CPUs hit.

Wii sales have been insane and the market has to look at the potential. It's like how we'll see ps2 games for years to come since there are millions out there and you simply can't ignore potential profits that size.

If sony was not such a fickle company I could trust what they want to do with the BWC of the PS3 since the emulation can add lots more features to games, but Sony being sony they would drop the emu department the first chance they get and put them to work on micro sales for PSH, for now the PS3 rot,it might become a flower one day :P

the 360 has proven itself game wise however the WII is the one I want first and foremost.

once I get this years storage bill paid (800$) I will get a wii and MP3 ^0^

[Thefremen]

If sony was not such a fickle company I could trust what they want to do with the BWC of the PS3 since the emulation can add lots more features to games, but Sony being sony they would drop the emu department the first chance they get and put them to work on micro sales for PSH, for now the PS3 rot,it might become a flower one day :P

the 360 has proven itself game wise however the WII is the one I want first and foremost.

once I get this years storage bill paid (800$) I will get a wii and MP3 ^0^

I agree about sony, they will proabably not update the backwards compatibility and instead just say "emulation is for pirates lol".

[ZippyDSMlee]

I agree about sony, they will proabably not update the backwards compatibility and instead just say "emulation is for pirates lol".

Look at the VC its as basic as emulation can get,why is it that corporate emulation is so bland stale and tired yet free emulation has evolved, even sony tried to up the emulation game on the PS2,prehaps they will try harder with the PS3...altho currently they are to busy miss placing debt to give a crap about such things....

[MUTANT SPUD]

"For the most part, the industry has been rinse-and-repeat," he was quoted as saying. "There's been lots of product that looked like last year's product, that looked a lot like the year before."

Yeah so they take Burnout and turn it into Need For Speed, turn Need For Speed into..what?... a game length advert with some racing in it. Skate was a new direction but they managed to @rse that up as well, instead of putting that persistent online interface in Burnout Paradise it should have been in Skate..or even better, in both. I understand that the Madden and FIFA franchises are going from strength to strength though..go figure.. I bet this guy hardly ever has a controller in his hand anyway.

[ZippyDSMlee]

"For the most part, the industry has been rinse-and-repeat," he was quoted as saying. "There's been lots of product that looked like last year's product, that looked a lot like the year before."

Yeah so they take Burnout and turn it into Need For Speed, turn Need For Speed into..what?... a game length advert with some racing in it. Skate was a new direction but they managed to @rse that up as well, instead of putting that persistent online interface in Burnout Paradise it should have been in Skate..or even better, in both. I understand that the Madden and FIFA franchises are going from strength to strength though..go figure.. I bet this guy hardly ever has a controller in his hand anyway.

Its like hollywood only you have the talent they just can not take the extra year or 2 to finish the project, the publishers demand the game be released early bioshock is a good exsample of this..the PC version was and still is a mess..

[MUTANT SPUD]

Its like hollywood only you have the talent they just can not take the extra year or 2 to finish the project, the publishers demand the game be released early bioshock is a good exsample of this..the PC version was and still is a mess..

Eggs-Ackley...I wonder what is the greatest proportion of development cost though, building the game or testing it? Graphics or content? I'm sure someone on this board can tell me. I'm amazed at the turnaround rate for sequels these days, Call Of Duty being a notable example, whatever happened to expansion sets? Instead of releasing a new game every 18 months and splitting the community, how about another set of multiplayer maps and some cool skins and weapons.I'm not a huge Final Fantasy fan but its usually worth the 3 year or so wait, same with GTA and Splinter cell, and those games usually go off without a hitch.

[beemoh]

Eggs-Ackley...I wonder what is the greatest proportion of development cost though, building the game or testing it? Graphics or content? I'm sure someone on this board can tell me. I'm amazed at the turnaround rate for sequels these days, Call Of Duty being a notable example, whatever happened to expansion sets? Instead of releasing a new game every 18 months and splitting the community, how about another set of multiplayer maps and some cool skins and weapons.I'm not a huge Final Fantasy fan but its usually worth the 3 year or so wait, same with GTA and Splinter cell, and those games usually go off without a hitch.

Graphics, at least if the justifications for higher game prices this gen are to be believed, considering the extra time that needs to be spent on creating hige detailed textures and poly models.

[ZippyDSMlee]

Eggs-Ackley...I wonder what is the greatest proportion of development cost though, building the game or testing it? Graphics or content? I'm sure someone on this board can tell me. I'm amazed at the turnaround rate for sequels these days, Call Of Duty being a notable example, whatever happened to expansion sets? Instead of releasing a new game every 18 months and splitting the community, how about another set of multiplayer maps and some cool skins and weapons.I'm not a huge Final Fantasy fan but its usually worth the 3 year or so wait, same with GTA and Splinter cell, and those games usually go off without a hitch.

If I can remember its building and polishing content that takes the most time bug testing comes next and with the limits and impatiences of publishers.....its almost a lost cause unless the pub gets the whole elts wait and not release a fcked up game....

COmapraing D3 andBIoshock BS HAS good designs but they feel unfinished were as D3.... feels tossed together around the theme of the setting...

*edit* I am thinkingtim and cost, graphics are a big part of it because they have to maintain the look despite reason and logic.....

[na3d]

I love the part where he is talking about the company he is running now, haha.

So anyone else get a kick out of the fact that the biggest wash and repeat company in the world is ran by someone who says games like that are boring and the current downfall of the industry? Maybe of EA focused on making good games instead of buying every company they can they would do better.

Wait wait, or bring back the theory of treating employees well and listening to their ideas since almost all of them are gamers themselves to make the games better!

Oh, even better, trash the executive members that are so paranoid that SecuROM is on the games, when pirates are cracking the games just as fast, cutting out SecuROM and only the legal buyers are suffering! (Anyone else accidently drop the e and switch places of u and c in SecuROM other than me?)

Anyways, on G4 they interviewed this guy if I remember right, and they said some people say that about EA's games, and the dude totally avoided what was said after quickly acting like, no we dont... (looks both ways, changes topic). I guess he wont be on G4 ever again, haha.

[ZippyDSMlee]

I love the part where he is talking about the company he is running now, haha.

So anyone else get a kick out of the fact that the biggest wash and repeat company in the world is ran by someone who says games like that are boring and the current downfall of the industry? Maybe of EA focused on making good games instead of buying every company they can they would do better.

Wait wait, or bring back the theory of treating employees well and listening to their ideas since almost all of them are gamers themselves to make the games better!

Oh, even better, trash the executive members that are so paranoid that SecuROM is on the games, when pirates are cracking the games just as fast, cutting out SecuROM and only the legal buyers are suffering! (Anyone else accidently drop the e and switch places of u and c in SecuROM other than me?)

Anyways, on G4 they interviewed this guy if I remember right, and they said some people say that about EA's games, and the dude totally avoided what was said after quickly acting like, no we dont... (looks both ways, changes topic). I guess he wont be on G4 ever again, haha.

Thats the mentality of the corporate machine to start projects on the cheap to ensure they go to market ASAP to ensure the next batch of projects starts its all about steady influx of money not so much about building decent products.

[na3d]

But by making bad products it will almost always result in a revolt. Then consumers start digging into the fact that you make bad products, and then ones the people who are interested in the industry stir up enough dust, it gets on the news.

Once it is on the news, everyone knows and second guesses buying your products, then you start making a lot less money....

It is a way to run a company, but it isn't the smart way to do so, and it isn't the right way to do so. I saw revolt now, revolt now and everyone stop buying EA games, or limit how many they buy. After the SecuROM, TakeTwo take over, and reving up the Ubisoft take over again, I am not buying any EA games at all where EA will be able to make profit. I will buy used games from EB if I find them, but otherwise I will not.

If the employees of EA wont protest, the FTC wont stop it, and investors wont stop it, then the gamers need to do what is right so they wont get ripped off in the end. It hurts the industry with EA having power at all with how they run their company. We need companies that are role models to other companies at the top. Companies that will develop games for gamers, not money, and treat their employees right.

[ZippyDSMlee]

But by making bad products it will almost always result in a revolt. Then consumers start digging into the fact that you make bad products, and then ones the people who are interested in the industry stir up enough dust, it gets on the news.

Once it is on the news, everyone knows and second guesses buying your products, then you start making a lot less money....

It is a way to run a company, but it isn't the smart way to do so, and it isn't the right way to do so. I saw revolt now, revolt now and everyone stop buying EA games, or limit how many they buy. After the SecuROM, TakeTwo take over, and reving up the Ubisoft take over again, I am not buying any EA games at all where EA will be able to make profit. I will buy used games from EB if I find them, but otherwise I will not.

If the employees of EA wont protest, the FTC wont stop it, and investors wont stop it, then the gamers need to do what is right so they wont get ripped off in the end. It hurts the industry with EA having power at all with how they run their company. We need companies that are role models to other companies at the top. Companies that will develop games for gamers, not money, and treat their employees right.
Look at government and business it dose not mater what the consuemr thinks they are to low on the food chain and to distracted by life to stand up and when they do its a rarity and when they try to its wrote off as an evil plot by fringes groups*coughpiratescough*, but my point is its the way humans manage humans it goes through cycles of breaking down and revitilizaing the business dose not care about the future its stuck in today, its like politicians making things go away my friend is confused and annoyed about the possible back story of Half life when the government sent the army into kill everything that moves he dosent under stand why the scientists and freeman must be destoried, and he also hates the idea of the army being used as killing machines and quotes their good deeds and quagmires around the world and I say the army is not police they don't have to not shoot.

Its merely the way of human nature if you can save yourself by risking the world human governments will do it in a heart beat so the army is tainted as a tool(of coarse this dose not mean its evil it just means its not meant for police work and urban warfare).

What I am getting at the mindless machine like tendencies in business is freighting we make a business model to run it into the ground to try and do it again....the very definition of stupidity..

[na3d]

Well, what if I was to make quality video games at a very low price? Starting out with Flash games for free, build up to ones for very low prices. (All under or at $10 [depending on gameplay value and duration]) Then games like Diner Dash would be $5, while games like chess with animated pieces would be $3, then games like prison tycoon for $10.

Move on to console games for half the price of what most of these developers/publishers charge, or at least 25% less. (Only thing to raise to 25% less would be to pay employees if things get tight.)

Profits would be taken to pay people accordingly. (aka fairly in relation to payscale.com) Then additional income would be put back into the company.

[ZippyDSMlee]

Well, what if I was to make quality video games at a very low price? Starting out with Flash games for free, build up to ones for very low prices. (All under or at $10 [depending on gameplay value and duration]) Then games like Diner Dash would be $5, while games like chess with animated pieces would be $3, then games like prison tycoon for $10.

Move on to console games for half the price of what most of these developers/publishers charge, or at least 25% less. (Only thing to raise to 25% less would be to pay employees if things get tight.)

Profits would be taken to pay people accordingly. (aka fairly in relation to payscale.com) Then additional income would be put back into the company.

In short you cannot the publishers hold so much power you simply cannot, you can make a digidistro game but the price will by 50% more than what you'd like it to be because of their cut, also byte time you spend 3+ years into a project you just want to get paid and forget about it in most cases.

If you can control the publication portion of game dev as well you could do it but it would be impossible to do without a couple dozen people thinking wit the same focus.

[na3d]

Lets say I dont have to worry about a publisher or retailer at all.

That cuts down my production time because approval would be fully in house, instead of having to worry about a publisher.

Who else would I have to worry about being in the same focus?

[ZippyDSMlee]

Lets say I dont have to worry about a publisher or retailer at all.

That cuts down my production time because approval would be fully in house, instead of having to worry about a publisher.

Who else would I have to worry about being in the same focus?

Um no if its a "normal" game thats going to be sold traditionally (retail package or digi distro) even if you are the publisher tis going to cost money, you also have to take into consideration what markets it can penetrate, your running a hopefully decent normal genre game on the consoles that will cost a few 10K just to get the licenses and equipment to make it on, lets say you have the equipment its still going to cost a good bit to get through the approval process for the main 3 consoles this dose not include time taken and costs that go along with deving and we are talking about the low end of what they will allow on their console, I have heard story's of lower grade content being snubbed and turned away, that might have been more from publishers but anyway heres the saviors of the wreckage of my train of thought.

You put 5-50K into game and get it onto the main 3 consoles, at 35 a pop with retail addon and say 20-25 profit off each game it would take 25-30K worth of software sales to just start breaking even, take into consideration the price is about10$ in the newer used title range and low low end title range , word of mouth and price will only get you so much leg into the market.

I am not saying its impossible just imposable, then again looking at cheap ways of marketing today any entrapunare(sp) worth his salt could pull it off.

but in the end you'll need capitol (under 100-200K easily) and connections(saves alot of time,money and effort) to pull it off, a small mod team can do great things in a year or 3s time, the main hurdle to home deving is the engine you make and I do not think unreal/doom/quake engine licenses run on how much profit but how much upfront and whatever they can milk off you.....

Oh ya I forgot this one, there also something the big boys do not think about and thats making money past the first 2 years, if you can stretch your budget to encompass 3 or 5 titles over a 6-10 year stretch you would only need to sale a minimum number of each title to stay out of debt if you don;t want to run on credit ALOT more start up money and hope sales start making as much as you put into them IE twice as much into them as the cost of making it, you must remember you spen 50K to make a game tis first 50 even 70K can be ate up just by the exspencnes incurred dealing with all the facets of selling the game.

[na3d]

Thanks for the idea bouncing. You brought up some points I didn't think about before. Due to connections though, I believe that will not be as much of a problem as it could be. Since I refuse to have anyone else own part of the company, capital will have to be grown at the rate of the studio. (There are a lot of reasons behind this, but due to my studies that has been a huge fail point for many of them.)

At the same time this is good because it gives a solid chance to grow a reputation, fan base, and a chance at stable growth instead of instant growth that capital would give. I believe this will give the company as a whole more stability.

[ZippyDSMlee]

Thanks for the idea bouncing. You brought up some points I didn't think about before. Due to connections though, I believe that will not be as much of a problem as it could be. Since I refuse to have anyone else own part of the company, capital will have to be grown at the rate of the studio. (There are a lot of reasons behind this, but due to my studies that has been a huge fail point for many of them.)

At the same time this is good because it gives a solid chance to grow a reputation, fan base, and a chance at stable growth instead of instant growth that capital would give. I believe this will give the company as a whole more stability.

I iz good with idea bouncing, mew brains are soft and rubbery.... 0-o

also the whole "my company" thing you have to be careful on because it only takes losing 30% of stock or controlling interests(reason I say it because what else do you have to sell for large sums of money of bits of the company) for you no longer have control over it.

Also once it goes public its doomed to be an undead parasite for the stock holders, while these are worries to think on the best you can do is run the company to the best of your ability and keeping to the ethics you hold dear while trying to have some fun then down the road be it death,bankruptcy or inheritance that separates you from it let the next guy worry about it, you can only control so much in life :X.