EA Earnings Down, Talks Next-Gen Issues 22
Gamasutra reporst that EA is reporting lower than expected earnings for the third quarter and fourth quarters. They also discuss some of the problems related to next-gen consoles PS3 and Xbox 360. From the article: "Probst noted that EA seemed to be keeping its 25% game market share for 2005 on current-gen game platforms, and was looking at closer to a 30% market share on both the Xbox 360 and PSP, meaning that, though the company was doing relatively well, it was still down on expectations. Finally, the EA execs mentioned specifically: 'Our expectation is that both the PlayStation 3 and Revolution will launch in calendar '06... our expectation would be the second half of calendar '06', meaning that the next-gen installed base can start to be built up starting next year."
Makes sense (Score:4, Interesting)
But in reality, EA is another company deluded into finding a scapegoat for loss of sales instead of pointing directly to themselves. Like Hollywood, Television, and Music, video games are becoming more boring and derivative. Even with the anticipation of new game consoles, offering impressive new graphics, are we really motivated to drop $1000 on a new system and games just for improved graphics?
Look at the PC gaming industry, one where a new video card offering impressive new graphics performance comes out every 6 months. Games like Quake 4 and Doom 3 have bombed simply because they are just current updates to old game ideas.
EA is one of those companies heavy into developing derivative franchises. All they do is make a few graphics tweaks and update the graphics engines and release the same games over and over again, especially in their Sports division. Has any new gameplay feature been added to their sports games? Last I checked, Tiger Woods Golf features a new character generation system to create a custom looking character, and you can win clothes for your character. Nice to see EA using The Sims' character engine in other games, but they have done nothing to really improve upon the golf game genre.
Like the rest of the entertainment industry, stop finding blame in the consumers for loss of sales. Start offering us stuff we want to spend money on, and you will eventually see your pockets grow with profit again.