EA drops new IP

[Thyroid]

http://www.mcvuk.com/news/36431/EA-falls-out-of-love-with-new-IP

Commitment to innovation is cast to the wind as big question marks hang over Mirror’s Edge

Rapidly changing publisher EA has revealed that as well as shedding a huge 1,500 jobs, the company has also ditched a dozen announced projects to focus on its established and successful franchises.

The admission flies in the face of statements made by CEO John Riccitiello earlier this year where the outspoken exec claimed that EA had previously been too reliant on licenses and franchises and intended in future to focus on create its own new IP.

The result has been a string of new franchises such as Dead Space, Mirror’s Edge, Spore, Zubo, Brutal Legend and Henry Hatsworth. The critical and commercial success of these new ventures has been mixed to say the least, though there have been notable successes.

However, question marks now hang over every non-established EA series.

“Electronic Arts has a core slate of games label and sports franchises that we will iterate on a either annual or bi-annual basis,” Riccitiello stated. “And I think you know what those major titles are – all of them are selling or have sold in their most recent edition 2m units or more.

“After that, we’ve got The Sims and Hasbro, and frankly anything that doesn’t measure up to looking like it can pencil out to be in very high profit contributor and high unit seller got cut from our title slate from this point going forward.

We can only speculate as to what series are currently safe from the EA knife – Battlefield, FIFA, Madden, The Sims, Need for Speed, Command & Conquer, Mass Effect, Harry Potter and Mercenaries.

But can we take the news as confirmation that Mirror’s Edge 2 is no more? Has the future of Brutal Legend and Saboteur been curtailed? Can we call this a very significant strategic u-turn?

[Rawru]

I feel like is appropriate for this thread. http://www.idleballad.com/

[Patters]

I feel like is appropriate for this thread. http://www.idleballad.com/

Seconded.

[Irishjohn]

I was completely stunned by this news. 1,500 jobs?

That is absolutely terrifying. Yes, it sucks that original IPs are dropped, but it has to be bad news for games in general when one of the biggest names in the business is laying off that many people. I can't imagine that all of the people holding the creative positions among those 1,500 are going to find work in the industry any time soon.

[Tobli]

I want to see that list of projects that they cut. To see if there was any games worth brooding over. Like when they gave up on that LOTR RPG.

I feel sorry for the people who were cut.

[Moelman]

FFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFF-

I fucking love Mirror's Edge, and this almost guarantees there won't be a sequel unless someone else acquires the rights (which won't happen since DICE is an EA company). There were so many flaws with the first that a sequel could have improved upon or added features (multiplayer races, map editor, better combat) that I couldn't wait to hear news about it...this is not the news I was looking forward to.

[Thyroid]

I was completely stunned by this news. 1,500 jobs?

That is absolutely terrifying. Yes, it sucks that original IPs are dropped, but it has to be bad news for games in general when one of the biggest names in the business is laying off that many people. I can't imagine that all of the people holding the creative positions among those 1,500 are going to find work in the industry any time soon.

That too. For some reason I thought someone had already posted that on the forums, and I decided to just mention the scrapped IP.

This makes it oh-so-much-more delicious.

Edited November 10, 2009 by Kroms

[Murdoc]

Couple of my friends were hit by this, and really Mirrors Edge? Could we trade a good sequel of that for any version of Dantes Inferno and whatever Jack the Ripper game they cook up?

[Garple]

FFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFF-

I fucking love Mirror's Edge, and this almost guarantees there won't be a sequel unless someone else acquires the rights (which won't happen since DICE is an EA company). There were so many flaws with the first that a sequel could have improved upon or added features (multiplayer races, map editor, better combat) that I couldn't wait to hear news about it...this is not the news I was looking forward to.

Yeah, I think it'd be awesome if Capcom made Mirror's Edge 2...but, then again, they don't have a first-person background

[MrHoatzin]

Is this a sound business strategy? Running for the hills, abandoning the young and reviving the lumbering, monstrous old for a few more rounds? Is this something that big companies do?

Killing Mirror's Edge 2 seems like the exact opposite of what makes for good strategy. The first game got a lot of positive buzz of the I-can't-wait-for-them-to-fix-all-this-broken-weirdness-in-the-sequel variety.

[Murdoc]

Is this something that big companies do?

Was this rhetorical? Look at movies, books, childrens cartoons, toys, and cereal and you'll get the answer of what they do and what actually makes money.

[Patters]

Was this rhetorical? Look at movies, books, childrens cartoons, toys, and cereal and you'll get the answer of what they do and what actually makes money.

Remakes?

[MrHoatzin]

Was this rhetorical? Look at movies, books, childrens cartoons, toys, and cereal and you'll get the answer of what they do and what actually makes money.

Ack, I guess so. Part of it seems counter intuitive, tho. It is not like they are dropping huge and unproven creative risks, they are shelving young but promising properties that are already half-established.

[lobotomy42]

Why is anyone surprised by this? This was completely predictable.

Ubisoft, 2003: "We're going to release original games! Beyond Good & Evil! Far Cry! XIII! A new take on Prince of Persia!"

*Ubisoft gets burned financially*

Ubisoft, 2005: "That was a bad idea."

Majesco, 2005: "We're doing the 'original IP' dance now! Check out Psychonauts and Advent Rising! Not to mention Nanostray, Infected, and Raze's Hell."

*Masjesco gets burned financially*

Majesco, 2006: "Wow, that was really, really dumb. We're never doing that again."

EA, 2007: "New IPs! Dead Space, Mirror's Edge, Brutal Legend, Bloom Blox and more! Don't worry, we won't make the mistakes of those other guys."

*EA makes the mistakes of those other guys, gets burned financially.*

EA, 2009: "Uh, hey guys, remember Madden?"

The idea of "original IP" being the basis for a sustained business model at a large video game publisher is a nice one, but ultimately a false one.

[elmuerte]

ooh... remakes... EA has quite some great stuff in the closet that they could remake, like Crusader: No Remorse/No Regret, or Syndicate Wars

[Irishjohn]

That too. For some reason I thought someone had already posted that on the forums, and I decided to just mention the scrapped IP.

This makes it oh-so-much-more delicious.

I assumed as much, and also assumed you were equally upset by the jobs lost. That was just my reaction.

Moelman, the first Mirror's Edge drives me a bit mad but I would have been intrigued to see what they could have improved for the sequel. Don't lose hope, I wouldn't be shocked if Mirrors Edge 2 emerged eventually. It seems fairly marketable to me.

[miffy495]

People are being kinda harsh on EA here. If they're screwed enough to take that big a hit in jobs, they really do need to refocus. The article that I read (not the one posted, I don't know what that one says) had a quote saying they dropped a third of their production schedule, the third that they deemed to have the least potential. As much as that sucks for those specific projects or those specific teams, that still leaves a lot of games for EA to put out. Most of the canceled projects weren't even announced. Who knows what they're still working on and what they dropped. Point is, they're still working on 2/3s of their stuff, and their derivative stuff is less than 2/3s of their output. We're still going to get good games from them, just maybe not quite so risky. Hard to blame them when they got burned so bad.

I dunno. We're doubtlessly missing out on some potentially cool stuff because of this, but I completely understand where EA is coming from on this one, and it's not all doom and gloom anyway.

[syntheticgerbil]

I didn't really have much confidence in the first place for EA continuously making the effort to introduce new IP, but it's nice when they do back something new whether it's their marketing, publishing, or development dollars.

What really sucks here is that up to 1,500 people are out of a job, but I can only hope maybe they end up starting new or joining smaller companies that will introduce new IP and innovative ways to make games.

Egh, I really don't want the game industry to start becoming a money hole though.

[Erkki]

I wouldn't be shocked if Mirrors Edge 2 emerged eventually. It seems fairly marketable to me.

[pessimist]Yeah, as an FPS that drops the parkour element.[/pessimist]

[Murdoc]

ooh... remakes... EA has quite some great stuff in the closet that they could remake, like Crusader: No Remorse/No Regret, or Syndicate Wars

EA has something bigger then a closet of awesome/dead IPs in their company, I'd probably call it a lair.

I do have an outstanding notice for them to put me in charge of a Populous or Dungeon keeper sequel.. but they have yet to comment... its been about ten years since I asked the internet, they haven't taken notice, I should have made a petition.

[juv3nal]

A neat look at EA's track record with breaking into non-core markets by Greg Costikyan over at Play This Thing:

http://playthisthing.com/ea-bends-over-wall-street

[OssK]

People are being kinda harsh on EA here. If they're screwed enough to take that big a hit in jobs, they really do need to refocus. The article that I read (not the one posted, I don't know what that one says) had a quote saying they dropped a third of their production schedule, the third that they deemed to have the least potential. As much as that sucks for those specific projects or those specific teams, that still leaves a lot of games for EA to put out. Most of the canceled projects weren't even announced. Who knows what they're still working on and what they dropped. Point is, they're still working on 2/3s of their stuff, and their derivative stuff is less than 2/3s of their output. We're still going to get good games from them, just maybe not quite so risky. Hard to blame them when they got burned so bad.

I dunno. We're doubtlessly missing out on some potentially cool stuff because of this, but I completely understand where EA is coming from on this one, and it's not all doom and gloom anyway.

That makes me really pissed :

Riccitiello ADMITED it was just a business move. That means they are NOT in danger in any way, the video gaming world went pretty much untouched through the financial debacle and is still fucking huge. They just go into "we will make movie adaptations, sims and Sports, that is fucking as cheap as it gets to make and gives off piles of money so hey, that is what we do."

They are firing people in the intent of saving money

"We have a lot of compassion for those impacted but these cuts are essential for transforming our company. Our operating expenses will be reduced by at least USD 100 million compared to our current run rate."

Translation : We don't give a fuck.

[n0wak]

[Tobli]

the video gaming world went pretty much untouched through the financial debacle and is still fucking huge.

Translation : We don't give a fuck.

I would disagree with you. Many of the major companies seem to have done major cuts this year, and i think you are underestimating the impact of the financial situation. The industry as a whole is doing fine. You can't broaden that to all gaming related endeavors though.

*Looks at dead space extraction sales*

[Thrik]

I'm sure I saw numbers a week or so ago putting EA's losses this quarter at well in excess of $300 million, so I think it's fair to say EA probably is having genuine issues and aren't just being dicks.

Maybe they bit off more than they can chew by going crazy with the original IP. It did seem almost surreal how much EA was going in that direction, and a better balance of established and new is bound to be more sustainable.

I just hope getting their fingers burnt doesn't make them completely retreat from supporting original IP. Returning to sequel churning would be very sad.