Electronic Arts Launches New Strategies For Sports Games
Posted on: Wednesday, 7 May 2008, 00:25 CDT
Interactive software maker Electronic Arts Inc announced on Tuesday two new strategies to reinvigorate its sports business.The initiatives involve making its video games easier to play and customizing them for Nintendo’s Wii console, which has become the top-selling game system by winning over female and older players with its user-friendly controls and graphics. Popular games such as “NBA Live”, “FIFA” soccer and “Madden” football will be released in special versions for the Wii.
Attention to detail and crisp graphics are a signature of EA’s sports video games, which are consistently among the industry’s best selling titles. However, critics have said the games rarely include new features and often implement complex controls that make the games difficult to play.
The company also announced the launch of a new sub-brand called Freestyle that will include games not affiliated with existing sports leagues, and therefore free of the costly licensing requirements. Freestyle’s first release, a boxing game called “Facebreaker”, is due out this September.
"We can't be blind to the fact that different consumers are coming into games now and shame on us if we can't evolve and develop something for that crowd," Peter Moore, head of EA’s sports division, told Reuters, adding that the company had not forsaken hardcore fans who want the most realistic gaming experience.
"While we have no intention whatsoever of dumbing down the experience that we all love and that drives this multibillion dollar business .. . we need to make sports games more approachable," said Moore, who joined EA last September from Microsoft Corp's games division.
Surprised at the widespread popularity and success of Nintendo’s Wii following its launch in 2006, EA took steps to adapt its sports games to the popular console. However, Moore acknowledged the effort amounted to essentially tacking on motion controls without altering the core game. Moore said the new Wii initiative represented a substantial rethinking of what Wii players wanted from a game.
The company used “Wii Sports” as a model, a Nintendo title included with every Wii that took bowling, baseball, golf, tennis and boxing and reduced them to a handful of basic motions.
"We learned some hard lessons. That was the type of sports experience they were looking for and we saw that and decided we needed to redefine what our sports games were about," said Moore.
EA’s top sports games for the Wii this year will include "All-Play" in their titles.
Versions for Sony Corp's PlayStation 3 and Microsoft's Xbox 360 will be similar to previous years, but the "All-Play" titles will have additional options for more user-friendly controls and faster games.
"It's like how swimming pools have a deep end and a shallow end. EA Sports has really only built a swimming pool with a deep end. It's intimidating for a lot of people to jump right in the deep end. With All-Play, we're building a shallow end," added Moore.
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Source: redOrbit Staff and Wire Reports
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