EA Games Business Plans and Making Mo' Money

[SparklePlenty]

Here is a 2005 BBC article about EA Games, their business plans, adult players, making mo' money, and where celebrities come in. ( Complete article: http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/pr/fr/-/1/hi/technology/4180453.stm )

Thought it might be of interest.

 
" EA to take on film and TV giants
Video game giant Electronic Arts (EA) says it wants to become the biggest entertainment firm in the world.
The US firm says it wants to compete with companies such as Disney and will only achieve this by making games appeal to mainstream audiences.

EA publishes blockbuster titles such as Fifa and John Madden, as well as video game versions of movies such as Harry Potter and the James Bond films.

Its revenues were $3bn (£1.65bn) in 2004, which EA hoped to double by 2009.

EA is the biggest games publisher in the world and in 2004 had 27 titles which sold in excess of one million copies each.

Nine of the 20 biggest-selling games in the UK last year were published by EA.

Gerhard Florin, EA's managing director for European publishing, said: "Doubling our industry in five years is not rocket science."

He said it would take many years before EA could challenge Disney - which in 2004 reported revenues of $30bn (£16bn) - but it remained a goal for the company.

Mr Florin said that more than 50% of all EA's games were sold to adults and played by adults, but the perception remained that the video game industry was for children.

"You can't ignore an industry when people queue to buy a game at midnight because they are so desperate to play it," he said, referring to demand for titles for such as Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas and Halo 2.

Jan Bolz, EA's vice president of sales and marketing in Europe, said the firm was working to give video games a more central role in popular culture. He said the company was in advanced stages of discussions over a reality TV show in which viewers could control the actions of the characters as in its popular game The Sims.

"One idea could be that you're controlling a family, telling them when to go to the kitchen and when to go to the bedroom, and with this mechanism you have gamers all over the world 'playing the show'," said Mr Bolz.

Celebrities

He also said EA was planning an international awards show "similar to the Oscars and the Grammys" which would combine video games, music and movies.

Mr Bolz said video games firm had to work more closely with celebrities.
"People will want to play video games if their heroes like Robbie Williams or Christina Aguilera are in them."

Mr Florin said the challenge was to keep people playing in their 30s, 40s and 50s. "There's an indication that a 30 year old comes home from work and still wants to play games.

Story from BBC NEWS:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/pr/fr/-/1/hi/technology/4180453.stm
Published: 2005/01/17 10:44:32 GMT
© BBC MMVI"

[AW]

Interesting.  The main theme is - money, money, mo' money and how can we make money

[Bigtruckgirl]

In the corporate world, it is ALWAYS about the money... always.

[JFederated]

In the corporate world, it is ALWAYS about the money... always.

See, now I thought there was some rocket science involved, but according to Mr. Florin there isn't, so...

Damn you, EA!  Crushing my reality again!   :cry:

Saints preserve us, they make ungodly sums of money, don't they?

[blackmars]

Oh EA has always been like that. If they are assimilating...I mean taking...I mean buying smaller game companies, they're abusing their staff members. It's always about the money for them and if the "little guy" gets stepped on they could care less.

[SparklePlenty]

In the other thread about their profits, I read last year's total profits...At least a BILLION dollars from U.S.A. a billion from Europe. A billion from South America...etc. BILLIONS. Yes, that's right.

[idtaminger]

"heroes like Robin Williams and Christina Aguilera"....

Yeah right, in what world?

And did these pple never get the memo? Even Hollywood can't bank on big stars doing big box office anymore.

[Saraswati]

I am seriously depressed this week because EA is trying to take over one of my favourite game companies, Ubisoft... I don't know what was worse, that or finding out that Microsoft now owns Firaxis the company that produces Civilisation 4.. Hubby said "what are you going to do if you're left with just EA and Microsoft producing PC games".. And all I could say was, find a different hobby.. It's a seriously depressing thought. Hate EA, wish they weren't producing The Sims.

[Office Rules]

Oh no,not Ubisoft or Firaxis..........I hope EA doesn't take Firaxis and cannabalize Civilization,it's one of the best games out there and I really am afraid of what EA will do to this fab franchise.

[mando]

I am seriously depressed this week because EA is trying to take over one of my favourite game companies, Ubisoft...

The operative word there is trying. Keep in mind that Ubisoft is a huge company as well, and isn't likely to take a hostile takeover by a rival company lying down (Ubisoft has much more power and money to deal with actions like this than say Maxis, for example). Plus, if it is possible for two corporations to hate each other, then Ubisoft and EA loathe each other, and actually oftentimes seem like they do things specifically to piss the other side off. As an example, in my home town of Vancouver, EA (which is the largest developer and publisher in the city at the moment) managed to block Ubisoft from opening a development studio here (to which all I can say is thanks a lot, EA, you're awesome. /sarcasm).

[Saraswati]

Office Rules.. It was Microsoft that took over Firaxis as far as I can see, cos emblazoned across the top of my Civilisation 4 Beyond the Sword was the legend "Games for Windows".. which as far as I remember they only do when they own the company.. Correct me if I'm wrong here.

I just hope to god Ubi doesn't get swallowed.. I have several of their games on my shelf and they're always terrific. They're like the anti-EA in my book.

[mistersassypants]

Interesting.  The main theme is - money, money, mo' money and how can we make money

Why else do companies go corporate and create huge conglomorates?  To adopt kittens?

Of course it's the money.

As for companies buying up other developers and what not, it'll never just be Microsoft and EA, there will always be a little up and coming firm that the people who design games will want to work for because they will have more freedom.

[mando]

Office Rules.. It was Microsoft that took over Firaxis as far as I can see, cos emblazoned across the top of my Civilisation 4 Beyond the Sword was the legend "Games for Windows".. which as far as I remember they only do when they own the company.. Correct me if I'm wrong here.

I just hope to god Ubi doesn't get swallowed.. I have several of their games on my shelf and they're always terrific. They're like the anti-EA in my book.

If you're really interested in reading up a bit more on games industry corporate shenanigans (including more fun between EA and Ubisoft :lol: ), I recommend the sites Gamesindustry.biz (this page specifically for an article about the recent share "transfer") and Gamasutra (I think I might have mentioned them before somewhere). A lot of interesting info on both sites on all sorts of games industry stuff (I'm in both places reading all of the time).

[Lourdes]

2 of my favorite games are put out by the worst money grubbin gaming companies out there. SOE and EA. I've found EA to be the lesser of the 2 evils and I don't mind them so much.

[HawkGirl]

2 of my favorite games are put out by the worst money grubbin gaming companies out there. SOE and EA. I've found EA to be the lesser of the 2 evils and I don't mind them so much.

I play on Pogo, order games through Pogo. Pogo is also owned by EA the games are from third party vendors. Most come from Oberon. Or else I order them from BigFish, so I get the discounts on games. I buy a lot of games, so when they sell me games that cost 19.99 for 6.99, or for being a member I get them for 13.99 instead of 19.99 they get my vote. I think the one for 6.99 is a different game each month you can choose to get for being a member for that special price. Then all the other games are 13.99. They have never given me any problems at all, so far.

PS I did want to say this, when my PC completely crashed in December and my power supply melted all over everything. EA/Pogo went to everyone they had records of me ordering games from, and made sure I got all those games back as well as the codes for them. There were more than 50 of those games. So they did a lot of work for me, going through their records, contacting the makers/vendors of the games, etc. Oberon was fantasic about working with me. They stayed right with me a representative of their company to make sure I got them all back. So EA isn't all bad, although I think they're messing up with the Sims games.