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Every gamer out there should listen to EA's Q2 conference call and at the very least check out the slides presentation for an understanding of what's in the head of a major game developer and the direction they are going,
To sum it up for those that don't understand it or want to listen to it, I will lay it out for you.
In a nutshell,
EA does not like to pay a cut back to brick and mortar stores so they want to push all their focus into their new digital media delivery system ORIGIN.
EA's says their facebook games have taken over the market and are the future of online gaming and they want to make that a huge part of their future moving forward.
EA says DLC's and cash shops are nothing but profit oriented and want to make them more prevailant in the industry so that they can make them the standard in all their games.
EA wants to aquire more developer studios like bioware, and trim the fat by outsourcing the development costs to lower cost overseas coders.
The more I read through the slideshow and listened to the conference call the more grossed out and depressed I became.
Comments
OOOOOOMMMMMMMMMGGGGGGGG!!!!!!! Watch out!!!!!!!!!!
Hope TOR players will enjoy sub, + expanions + DLC + cash shop.
Hey nice constructive comment. Thanks for the taking time jerlot65 and providing some insight into this discussion.
Anyways....not suprised. EA has been about maximizing their profit, consumer be damned, for many years. They have been aquiring development studios and licenses for a long time and usually ruining them, or at least in my opinion that is what happens. it's unfortunate that EA sees things this way, but it's hard not to when every dumbass out there has a Facebook account and plays some lame games on that site. Zynga has shown us that even those with an IQ hovering around 50 can and will spend money on games.
You realize that GameStop B&M's are more console focused, right?
I miss the MMORPG genre. Will a developer ever make one again?
Explorer: 87%, Killer: 67%, Achiever: 27%, Socializer: 20%
If people weren't addicted to digital items... there wouldn't be cash shops.
https://i.imgur.com/Dc8dU3M.png
I am all for digital downloads, but shouldn't they be a little cheaper on average compared to box sales?
This is where game development is going, it's been heading this way for some time.
The cash shop bullet point is no surprise except to maybe the F2P fanbois who think that model is for developers who aren't "greedy", which just shows how easy it is to pull the wool over their eyes.
No packaging. No warehousing. No distribution. No B&M shelf space. No buy backs on unsold products. Fewer personnel - fewer salaries - benefits - etc, etc, etc, etc.
Yep, one would definitely think there would be a reduced cost with digital items.
However, the companies are charging the same without any reduction - realizing the greater profit to be had by doing so - since they have cut so many of the costs (some outlined above) out of the process.
Fewer jobs - less money being spent in the economy - more money in their pocket... the poster child for MSNBC's Businessman Boogeyman.
I miss the MMORPG genre. Will a developer ever make one again?
Explorer: 87%, Killer: 67%, Achiever: 27%, Socializer: 20%
Well outsourcing is always viewed as bad by the little guy (ie you or me). Basically, instead of giving you or me a nice contract for 70k a year to work on some code, it's going to some dude in India or China for 10k a year (pulled numbers out of behind, do no quote). Maybe that saves the company money, but looking at EA, they will not pass that savings on to the consumer. They will still chage $60 a games regardless. EA is about maximizing profit, the consumer is viewed as a walking money clip, nothing more. As far as quality, I have no idea.
They tirrrkk errrr JERRRBBSS!!
YOU realize that the thin line between consoles and PC's is quickly evaporating and each generation of consoles pushes them more towards PC's? Additionally, you can get better graphics and performance out of a PC vs. a console. The only thing that makes consoles better for the gaming market is a)ease of coding and b) price. The former is quickly being dissolved and the later is now only a small margin.
B&M game shops will have to evolve or end up like B&M movie rental businesses.
Agree with you there, but not MSNBC, more like Fox Corporate take over talk
Ye "ignored" that side of it. Was asking purley from a gamer's perspective.
EVERY for-profit company is about maximizing profit. Lets at least be honest with outselves and cut out the schoolyard finger pointing.
If it's worth it, money will be spent (and well-spent).
If not, it'll be another no-wind-in-sails release and fall by the wayside.
Gameplay is always king.
The only concern (as usual) is the box purchase. Box purchases only have to worry about looking pretty from outside the game, whereas a F2P model has to be fun or no sale is made.
"What is truly revealing is his implication that believing something to be true is the same as it being true. [continue]" -John Oliver
What I stated had nothing to do with the quality of the games... consoles vs. PC... or the like.
Do you trade-in PC games? Do you trade-in console games? You trade-in console games.
That is what comes to mind with GameStop. Trading in console games and even consoles themselves. Buying used console games and even used consoles themselves.
Has nothing to do with PC vs. Console in the least.
I miss the MMORPG genre. Will a developer ever make one again?
Explorer: 87%, Killer: 67%, Achiever: 27%, Socializer: 20%
I had a bunch of stuf writen about how I feel but its kinda bias and mean I guess. Its there business afterall, making changes in the way a large corporate monopoly works in there sector of the biz shouldnt mean one cent to the average gamer.
I didn't say that. Of course every company is about maximizing profits, I did not imply otherwise.
There is a difference however, between maximizing profits and trying make the most money you can while making the consumer happy. I think it's been a long time since EA cared making people happy. Maybe I am jaded, I don't know, just not a big fan of what EA has done to gaming.
The context of your quote made it seem like B&M gamer shops don't have anything to worry about losing PC titles. I say they do in 2 ways. The thin and dissapearing line between Console and PC's as well as the ever evolving digitial distribution networks seemingly being thrown up every month.
B&M's are on their way out.
"Reason for Concern, EA's Q2 reports"... *audience yawns**
"In other news...
Battlefield 3 Breaks EA Records With 5M Sold Week One
"TO MICHAEL!"
It's the same everywhere. You may have a smaller-mid sized company developing games that may like your credo but in the end a big publisher will come along with lots of cash and buy them. The smaller company didn't sell it because they thought a big publisher would take care of the customers, they sold it because they were offered a buttload of money to do it.
It all comes down to money and customer happiness is always secondary to money. The minute you think otherwise, they've got you by the balls.
EA has not learned many lessons in their "rise to the top". First of all, if they are planning on getting more by cutting out the "brick and mortar" stores by pushing their games through ORIGIN, they had better make ORIGIN a far better delivery system then it is today. ORIGIN is still in BETA and has yet to reach anywhere near as stable a delivery system mode as STEAM. In fact, if ORIGIN and STEAM were to be going head-to-head, STEAM would win the battle easily. ORIGIN at the moment has a very pitiful reputation amongst customers for support and out and out service. If there is one leg in EA's plan for success that is the weakest it will be ORIGIN. All of this was really highlighted by the recent launch of Battlefield 3. Not only can you not play BF3 without ORIGIN, you can not update the game. Many players were left in the lurch due to the pained method of purchase and then not recieving said purchase. Or, of not being able to even install or run ORIGIN.
And don't get me started on EA's plan's to use "online stores" for games.
Let's party like it is 1863!
The context of my quote? You stated that you will be happy when everything is digital and GameStops will be a distant memory. I stated that GameStops are currently more console focused than PC focused. That's pretty straightforward...
It basically states that it does not matter if PC titles disappear from them - that is not the primary focus of their business. That GameStops will not disappear if all PC games go digital.
The digital market (outside of DLCs and minor games) for consoles is minor compared to PCs.
http://www.gamestop.com/collection/assassins-creed-revelations
Digital option for 360? Nope.
Digital option for PS3? Nope.
While one can definitely make the argument that for PC games that to an extent B&M's are on their way out - the same argument cannot be made for console games.
With GameStop primarily being a console store...the PC change would not affect them in the same way that a store focused on PC games might... which one should obviously note, there really is no longer any such store. Go into a Best Buy and look at how much shelf-space PC games have compared to console games. Hell, go into a CompUSA if you still have one and see how little space PC games have compared to console games.
It was simply a case of stating that PC games going completely digital would not remove GameStops (regardless of whatever dislike you may have for them)...
I miss the MMORPG genre. Will a developer ever make one again?
Explorer: 87%, Killer: 67%, Achiever: 27%, Socializer: 20%
EA: where games go to die?