EA As The Next Disney

ducomputergeek writes "There is an article over at Business2.0.com about how EA may just surpass Disney as the number #1 media company in the world. Considering that EA has turned out some great games over the years, including Wing Commander, many sports games for consoles, and the SIMS, it wouldn't surprise me."

Competition makes things good.

[b0ycheese]

Maybe if Disney gets knocked from the top spot, they'd realize that they need to work harder on producing good media. It seems to me that the quality of their stuff has been dropping horribly. They did a great job of making things based off of classic material, but some of the stuff they relase that isn't is simply bad, in my opinion.

Incredible!

[Anonymous Coward]

For those of us that get out in the sun once and a while, what the hell is "EA"?

Wow,

[autopr0n]

Of course, the video game industry has been larger then the movie industry for a while, at least in terms of revenue. That probably has a lot to do with the fact that video games cost $50 or so for a new game, while movies cost a few dollars at the theater, and around $10-$15 for DVDs.

But still, it's interesting how the movie (and even the tiny music) industry seem to be much more newsworthy and important then the video game industry. Aside from game specific press... the game industry gets about as much ink as the logging industry or something. Its weird.

Re:Conglomeration

[TC (WC)]

Of course, all the Wing Commander games released after 1992 (read: almost all of them) were developed by an Origin Systems that belonged to EA. Without the monetary support provided by EA, there's no way the larger budgeted Wing Commander games could have been produced.

Not in the short term...

[Goonie]

From the article:

Of course, it's almost absurd to compare a $2 billion software maker with a $25 billion diversified media giant.

The rest of the article goes on to discuss the company and its lofty goals to *become* the next Disney.

EA can turn a dud out just as easily.

[Anonymous Coward]

Witness NASCAR Thunder 2003 for PC. The console version were found entertaining by their players, but the PC version we found by racing sim enthusiasts to be horrible in every way. It didn't hold a candle to the 1999 offering by their competitor, Papyrus.

Re:Competition makes things good.

[phong3d]

Well...

Disney only has a distribution agreement with Pixar. I believe they just recently extended it, but if Pixar chooses to go with someone else as a distributor, it's there prerogative.

I also think "Sleeping Beauty" is an excellent older Disney film. Compared to "Tarzan" or the execrable "Return to Neverland", it's golden.

I do agree with your speculation regarding the Studio Ghibli distribution, though. Disney animators hold Miyazaki in godlike stature, and maybe that has enough weight to at least get Disney to distribute his films (since it certainly doesn't make them want to market it with any vigor).

Huh?

[bleckywelcky]

Woa, that's really weird. Disney owns ABC, makes (er copies) tons of movies every year, releases so many old movies every year from the "Disney vaults", owns and operates several multi-million (billion on some?) theme parks and recreation centers, etc, etc, etc ... and yet EA can somehow get to their reaches by producing video games? Ming boggling. Yes, I did not read the article.

This is the future...media = interaction

[ACK!!]

I remember Archon. I remember saying that Activision and EA were the ones along with Sierra that could really go all the way. I liked the Atari computer too so I was not all right and everything.

The game industry is taking over. The media conglomerates are going to keep messing around and ticking off consumers and playing politics. One day the suckers will turn around and realize no one is just dumb watching anymore. They are all playing.

Most of the time I would rather play a good computer or console game than watch tv. There are still some good movies out there for sure, but I would rather play a good game than watch a bad movie. The media guys have to realize they are not the only game in town anymore. Yes, BTW, there are plenty of bad games too just the industry is growing by leaps and bounds.

Re:Conglomeration

[Cognitive Dissident]

You mean, some great games were turned out by companies that EA syphoned up...e.g. wing commander was produced _before_ EA bought Origin.

Hey, the article does say that EA is the Microsoft of the games industry. Well, that's the method of Microsoft. Sounds like they are describing EA correctly.

Re:Measuring stick

[lvdrproject]

No.

Re:So...

[mcc]

I hate EA already. I can't remember the last time they've produced a game i liked, but i can give you multiple recent instances where they bought a company that made games i really liked-- and then ran that company into the ground, preventing them from making more games i like.

For god's sake!....

[_ph1ux_]

I hope not. I recently came back from disneyland - and I must say - what a rip-off farce that place is. It is nothing but corporate marketing and a store with the very thin veil of a theme park.

Space Mountain - Brought to you by FedEX.
Star Tours - brought to you by Energizer.
and many many others. (problem is that Disneyland has very few actual rides - go to great america, far far far better place)

The place was terrible - an army of strollers and every ride practically exits you into a store of some sort.

I bought a single piece of Pizza and a water - and that was $10.00 - I had to get a sweatshirt because it was freezing, and my wife really wanted to see the parade, $60.00. A disney cup, $10.00. The same Lego Pieces you can buy at lego.com were literally twice the price. 9.99 for a 3 man starwars set rather than the 4.99 I paid for the same set online. All of this on top of the $45.00 per person we paid to get in (and mind you that this is only for the TRADITIONAL disney SIDE of the park - if you wanted to go to both California Adventure AND Disneyland, well that'll be $90.00 Buddy, thats per ticket.)

If EA turns out to be anything like Disney - I will certainly boycott them. The only reason we went was because my wife had never been there before.

Once a lifetime is enough, go when you are 5 or 6 and never again (unless you are forced to take your kids - which I would recommend against)

Fuck Disney - they dont represent anything but corporate greed and the fact that the consumer is justa number with a pocketbook full of money that the arebent on liberating you from.....

Re:Wow,

[softsign]

I was watching ESPN the other day at a bar and a commercial came on for Hitman 2. EA has boatloads of TV spots on for their sports games - particularly during sports telecasts. Who-da-thunkit?

As for the thinly-veiled advertisements like Entertainment Tonight... it's a tough comparison. ET and its ilk spend most of their time delivering gossip about the stars of movies and only occasionally toss in info about upcoming movies. Since game developers have yet to reach moviestar status (how many people - outside of the geek community - do you know that would recognize John Carmack?), you're going to have a tough time filling 22 minutes each day with game gossip/news.

Not only that, but why would gamers sit around the tube if they can just hit a website with all the news they want and even playable demos?

Gaming is a huge business, but it's a distant cousin of television - unlike movies.

If Bono Act hits tree like politician did...

[yerricde]

Even if Disney's Treasure Planet does rake in some dough late into its theatrical release, or if it sells exceptionally well on DVD and VHS, DisneyCo is in danger [eldred.cc] of losing two of its cash cows: the copyright on Mickey Mouse (© 1928 Disney) and the USA copyright on Winnie the Pooh (© 1925 Milne, licensed exclusively to Disney).

While you're waiting for the Supreme Court to decide on whether or not to free the mouse, you can civil disobey [pineight.com] right now.

Re:For god's sake!....

[Anonymous Coward]

If EA turns out to be anything like Disney - I will certainly boycott them.

all the complaining about the prices at Disneyworld (which, mind you, should not have come as a shock to you, unless you live in a cave at the bottom of the ocean), and yet, you still paid them.

if you paid 10 bucks for a slice of pizza and a watter, and 60 bucks for a sweatshirt, the only person you can be mad at is yourself.

no offense, but if disney represents corporate greed, you represent the mindless lemmings that allow them to continue their business.

Games, not "interactive movies"

[Rui del-Negro]

Wing Commander means the original game, plus Wing Commander 2 and the first Privateer game. All the rest were just endless video sequences with some short and repetitive gameplay between them. They weren't even described as games, the box said "interactive CD-ROM movie".

For a couple of years before being bought by EA, Origin really did create worlds. They made some of the best games of all times (Ultima 7, Wing Commander, Privateer, Underworld). Same goes for Bullfrog, and many other companies swallowed up by EA (I doubt Maxis will ever make another original game; they will just keep releasing Sims add-ons with more and more advertising). EA seems to have the Midas touch with a twist: all the gold it touches turns into crap.

Oh well, as long as they make some gold out of companies' last breaths, I guess the shareholders will be happy.

RMN
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