DICE: EA Gets "Too Much Crap for Not Being Innovative"

The Wooster

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Jul 15, 2008
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DICE: EA Gets "Too Much Crap for Not Being Innovative"


DICE general manager, Karl-Magnus Troedsson, thinks EA's reputation for churning out sequels is ill deserved.

Like most of its big publisher peers, EA is often accused of shying away from innovation in favor of sequels and guaranteed money-spinners. Many argue that the company actually hampers the creativity of the developers it acquires. Not so, according to DICE general manager, Karl-Magnus Troedsson.

"There are those examples that have gone into big products that people don't really know about, but they actually came from smaller, other, more innovative test experiments inside of DICE," he told Gamasutra when asked if DICE gets to experiment with new titles. "In the background of everything, we run a business, of course. But with the success we have had, there are opportunities. It's quite easy for us to explain to upper management that, 'We want to do this. We want to try this out.'"

Since 2002, DICE has released twelve Battlefield titles if you include the various F2P spin-offs. The only non-Battlefield games released in that period were the adventurous Mirror's Edge, Need for Speed: Hot Pursuit and a modern reboot of Medal of Honor.

"And EA is actually very prone to try out new things, and I have to say that sometimes I think we get too much crap for not being innovative," Troedsson continued. "We do release new IPs, and we do take care of IPs that have been out there. And perhaps not so successful, but we try to get new things out there as well."

Troedsson also argues that some players expect an unreasonable degree of change from established franchises, and that effective changes may not always be apparent to non-players.

"Innovation is something that actually changes something for the better, renews something -- and I think we do that all the time," he added. "But some of them are big and some of them are small, and some people disagree, saying, 'That's not an innovation!' and it's like, 'No, maybe not for you, but for the people playing the game it's a big thing,'"

Troedsson does have a point there. Franchises like Pokemon are often accused of being stagnant or lacking in innovation by non-players. However, fans of the series will insist, at great length, that there are huge differences between each installment. Likewise, 2D fighting fans often argue against similar criticism leveled against their favored titles.

While EA has been putting out new IPs as part of its push to break into the "indie" market, the publisher has been mainly sticking with "safe" titles when it comes to traditional retail products. According to EA Labels president, Frank Gibeau, the company intends to rely on its current properties until Microsoft and Sony get around to releasing next gen consoles. [http://www.escapistmagazine.com/news/view/119430-EA-Saving-New-IPs-for-Next-Hardware-Cycle]

Source: Gamasutra [http://gamasutra.com/view/feature/177366/how_dice_does_it.php]



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chstens

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Apr 14, 2009
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I reckon he has a point. There are still a lot of other reasons to give EA crap, though.
 

PureIrony

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Aug 12, 2010
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Of course every game they release is innovative. Just about every game that gets released these days has something that could be seen as new. People take offense because of EA's perspective; they don't care about innovation, or even putting out a good product. If they had the ability to repackage literally the same game every year and charge full retail price for it, they would.
 

FEichinger

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Aug 7, 2011
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While he is fully right - there are changes - he misses an important point: Releasing a game every year with a tiny weebit changed as opposed to a fully refined game with grand changes every two or three years is the problem. Milking a franchise by getting people to pay full release price for what is essentially a patch, is what people complain about, not the lack of innovation itself.
 

Zaik

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Jul 20, 2009
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KBT seems to think that the history of the last 10 years is apparently inaccurate.

Tbh I dunno why Nintendo gets away with it as much as they do though. That is a pretty good point. Wiimote radiation or something.
 

Scrustle

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Apr 30, 2011
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Then where's Mirror's Edge 2? DICE were working on it, but instead we're seeing countless add-ons to Battlefield 3 and announcements for Battlefield 4 already.

Also, new IP =/= innovation.

Zaik said:
Tbh I dunno why Nintendo gets away with it as much as they do though. That is a pretty good point. Wiimote radiation or something.
Because they're experts at selling nostalgia. They know exactly how to take an old idea and make it look fresh over and over while still making it feel familiar. And I admit it works really well on me, for Zelda at least.
 

silverbullet1989

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"Innovation is something that actually changes something for the better, renews something -- and I think we do that all the time," he added. "But some of them are big and some of them are small, and some people disagree, saying, 'That's not an innovation!' and it's like, 'No, maybe not for you, but for the people playing the game it's a big thing,'"

So they stripped away everything what made battlefield 2 unique and the amazing game that it was and that the fans loved and made battlefield 3 more cod run and gun with small choke points on linear maps... yeah that's innovation at its finest -__-
 

Squilookle

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Nov 6, 2008
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Oh please. Each new Battlefield game has been more limited and lacking than the last, save for BF3 finally bringing back 64 player servers and more shiny graphics.
 

Brad Shepard

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Sep 9, 2009
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They are stagnating the market with there repeat after repeat, you know what we get if we keep using the same crap over and over again? Michel Bay. I dont want a Michel bay in a game.
 

Denamic

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Oh yeah, EA innovates all the time.
That's why we don't get the same shit over and over.
 

roushutsu

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Granted, it's a valid point, but with how everyone talks and criticizes EA, "not being innovative" is usually the last thing I hear.
 

ExtraDebit

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Jul 16, 2011
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I'm sure I'm not that only one that boycott EA games (yes even bioware now).

Maybe I'm getting old and played too much game, but I'm starting to notice those subtle things in games that differs between different game companies. Everytime I play a EA game there's that distinct "EA" feel to it.

From positive to negative would be:

Positive:-
1) Well programmed with minimal bugs
2) Good graphics and smooth animation

Negative:-
1) Lack of love, you can feel the game isn't made with love
2) Complete lack of innovation in design
3) Poor level of details of design
4) Bad writing
5) Very bad customer service (cut contents for day 1 DLC, Cannot login to Origin and sometimes cannot get access to DLC purchased)

They just feel like fast food in the food industry or Michael Bay in the movie industry. They create things that lack innovation, creativity and depth.

A good game accounts for player's action and shows the developer's acknowledgement by putting something fun in game. E.G. if you choose to shoot a wall next to a guy's head he will turn around look at the bullet hole then run for cover, if you just came out of the sewer and walk into a bar the patrons will comment on your smell.

All these are design details that give a game depth and enhance the immersion. But EA doesn't do any of that because of the lack of love for games as art, they just see it as a business. In addition EA design lacks freedom and likes to force players to play the way they dictates.
 

JediMB

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Oct 25, 2008
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Step 1: Purchase popular niche developers.

Step 2: Niche? We can't have niche, right? Time to screw around with everything that makes the developer popular to begin with, in an attempt to "broaden the audience" (and fatten the EA shareholders' wallets).

Step 3: Oh, crap, something went wrong. Must be the developers' or customers' fault. Time to shut that whole thing down.
 

Metalrocks

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Jan 15, 2009
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mirrors edge was really something different and is among my favorite titles and i still hope that one day part 2 will come out.
yes, he has a point. certain things shoulndt be really changed but at times it woulndt harm to try something different like mirrors edge. for certain franchises i woulndt do too many changes either but at least try to care about it like from ME 1 to 2.

this is a minor thing i hate about ?A. yes, they use the same tactics as they have proven again with syndicate. thats why i never got it. but seriously...is it really that hard to try something new for a change? there are always few things you can add or change or even improve.
but well, ?A will never do this because they are afraid they might lose 2$ and they dont want that.
 

Evil Smurf

Admin of Catoholics Anonymous
Nov 11, 2011
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JediMB said:
Step 1: Purchase popular niche developers.

Step 2: Niche? We can't have niche, right? Time to screw around with everything that makes the developer popular to begin with, in an attempt to "broaden the audience" (and fatten the EA shareholders' wallets).

Step 3: Oh, crap, something went wrong. Must be the developers' or customers' fault. Time to shut that whole thing down.
nope, blame the pirate and end users son
 

ensouls

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Feb 1, 2010
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lull
'It's not really new, but it's innovative for people who play this series!'
That's... not really the definition of innovative guys
 

V da Mighty Taco

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Apr 9, 2011
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Evil Smurf said:
JediMB said:
Step 1: Purchase popular niche developers.

Step 2: Niche? We can't have niche, right? Time to screw around with everything that makes the developer popular to begin with, in an attempt to "broaden the audience" (and fatten the EA shareholders' wallets).

Step 3: Oh, crap, something went wrong. Must be the developers' or customers' fault. Time to shut that whole thing down.
nope, blame the pirate and end users son
Nah, JediMB had it right. You're thinking of Ubisoft. *ba dum tish*