EA Announces Indie Publishing Program, EA Originals

[Lizzy Finnegan]

EA Announces Indie Publishing Program, EA Originals

EA makes good on last year's promise to invest more in indie games, announcing a new indie publishing program, EA Originals, during its E3 2016 press conference.

During its E3 2016 press conference today, EA announced a new indie publishing program, EA Originals. The first game announced under the new program is Zoink Studios' Fe, where you assume the role of a young, strange creature who is attempting to understand its species. Each animal and plant in the forest has a unique song, and learning these songs allows the player to unlock, and thus access, more areas in the world. You can check out the trailer below.


In a post following the announcement [http://www.ea.com/play2016/news/announcing-ea-originals], Executive Vice President of EA Studios Patrick Soderlund further detailed the program.

"First, it is about taking first-time experiences that are unique, gorgeous, innovative and memorable, and bringing them to the world.

Second, it is about supporting small developers and helping them make the most of their games. We'll seek a few projects each year for EA Originals, and partner with them throughout the process of development to marketing to publishing.

Lastly, it is about funding, and offering small studios a level of security with an EA Originals game. Making games is hard. It's a hard business. These developers have taken on the risk of developing a new IP, and great games deserve to be played. So with EA Originals, we want the profits from these games to go into the hands of the studios making them. We want them to be recognized for their work, so they can keep innovating and creating, and so the players get to play more and more amazing games."

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[omega 616]

So they are joining the club? Well last year Sony and Microsoft were all about the indies and before that steam was helping out the lil guy.

Indies have so much choice these days, which is great but with it comes a lot of chaff.

 

[Boris Goodenough]

So they have gone from free range developers to hunt, trap, and execute to farm bred developers?

 

[CrazyCapnMorgan]

I thought "Indie" was short for...ya know...INDEPENDENT. As in, independent of corporations such as EA. Independent from the general slog that is the AAA developer and publisher industry. Am I reading too much into this? Am I trying to put sense where sense is not wanted? Should I just go back to watching videos on sites I should not mention here on The Escapist?

 

[kekkres]

I thought "Indie" was short for...ya know...INDEPENDENT. As in, independent of corporations such as EA. Independent from the general slog that is the AAA developer and publisher industry. Am I reading too much into this? Am I trying to put sense where sense is not wanted? Should I just go back to watching videos on sites I should not mention here on The Escapist?

I mean big movie studios like warner bros and universal fund smaller indie wings, indie doesnt really mean independent anymore, it hasnt for a while most big indie games are published, it just means a small team and a small budget

 

[Mangod]

So, this is EAs new plan to entrap and suck dry the souls of smaller studios, leaving them as hollowed out husks of their former selves.

I don't know, given EAs history with shuttering studios it aquires, why would anyone take this deal?

 

[twcblaze]

seems like this will be dependant on small developers trusting that EA won't gut them if they have a bad quarter the way they've done in the past.

 

[The Jovian]

I'm not sure how I feel about this Fox Searchlight-esque indie publishing program. Yeah for starters "indie" is now the wrong term for it. "Low budget" or "Single-A" game is a more appropriate description of the output of EA's new program.

I really want to like this, EA has made steps towards improving in the past (killing the online pass for starters) and this should feel like a huge step forward by providing the public with smaller games that are willing to take risks because there's not that much money to be lost if they fail.

Best case scenario: We get a lot more games like Unravel, small, unique and totally worthwhile, which from EA is definitely a good thing. Games like Unravel is the reason I have always wanted big publishers like EA and Activision to start supporting small "indie" studios, because we could get great, small games with AAA polish and marketing, and if this is what EA gives us then good on EA.

Worst case scenario: We get a whole bunch of bite-sized AAA titles with all the creativity and charm designed to mask shitty anti-consumer policies.

Honestly I don't know which scenario is more likely, EA has a very spotty track record to put it mildly and the end result could easily result in more Dungeon Keeper Mobiles than Unravels, but I will give EA the benefit of the doubt and try their new "Single-A" games (Fe looks promising). Who knows, they might just be the thing that EA needed to give us all along.