EA CEO: We Failed Well

[Heartcafe]

EA CEO: We Failed Well

The rise of digital platforms like social networks and smart phones was changing the videogame market forever. Ricitiello said that EA's options were either to "invest and re-tool for radical change," or to continue on its then-current path, and eventually die out altogether.

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That, right there, about the social networks scares me. Idea that Social Network games are the future seems just... plain wrong. All my friends (as well as myself) agree that Facebook games compared to the experience of an RPG or FPS is pretty much crap.
But since the industry is pretty much run on trying to rake in the money (especially in this economy), it's much cheaper to make those facebook games instead of high end console games.

 

[Emperor_42]

Hasn't stop them from making stupid adverts recently

 

[thenamelessloser]

At lesat from waht was posted from the escapist article what did they learn besides firing people and getting rid of some of their studios? EA just seemed incredibly vague...

 

[AndyFromMonday]

The way EA ruined the Mass Effect and Dragon Age franchises was just marvelous. I'm guessing "embracing failure" means buying good studios and turning their games into abominations of what they used to be.

Everyone is entitled to their opinions, though I know for a fact that there is a shitstorm of people who have thoroughly enjoyed the latest Bioware games. I'm proud to count myself amoung them.

Good for you. That does not change the fact that the game was subpar

 

[theultimateend]

The way EA ruined the Mass Effect and Dragon Age franchises was just marvelous. I'm guessing "embracing failure" means buying good studios and turning their games into abominations of what they used to be.

The westwood take over was way worse.

Last time I was on their website the word was censored and discussing the topic resulted in a ban.

Generally speaking buying up competition and mass marketing their products is great for business, bad for the advancement of your field, but great for business.

(Because as I mentioned in a different thread in order to make something massively successful you are likely to need to make sacrifices in the very things that make it a high quality thing.)

 

[MercurySteam]

The way EA ruined the Mass Effect and Dragon Age franchises was just marvelous. I'm guessing "embracing failure" means buying good studios and turning their games into abominations of what they used to be.

Everyone is entitled to their opinions, though I know for a fact that there is a shitstorm of people who have thoroughly enjoyed the latest Bioware games. I'm proud to count myself amoung them.

Good for you. That does not change the fact that the game was subpar

As I said, you're entitled to your opinions but it doesn't necessarily mean people will agree.

 

[cabalistics]

Obligatory mention of how awesome Mirrors Edge is and how much I would love a proper sequel and not just the iPad/iPhone version were getting

 

[IzisviAziria]

Sales say otherwise.

Sales do not equal quality.

No, but a games "quality" is subjective. It's not quantifiable.

Profit and sales numbers are quantifiable, and it happens to be how businesses decide whether they are succeeding or not.

They're not making games to make us happy. Their making games to keep us just happy enough to continue purchasing them.

 

[drunken_munki]

The way EA ruined the Mass Effect and Dragon Age franchises was just marvelous. I'm guessing "embracing failure" means buying good studios and turning their games into abominations of what they used to be.

Exactly.

Also, I am sure they failed well and are happy that they have lost me as a potential customer for the next, oh, say 4 years. Fuck you EA.

 

[blindthrall]

The way EA ruined the Mass Effect and Dragon Age franchises was just marvelous. I'm guessing "embracing failure" means buying good studios and turning their games into abominations of what they used to be.

ME2 was just different. I like what they did to the inventory. I couldn't care less about the way you level up. The story ground to an absolute halt, feeling like a bunch of disconnected viginettes more suited to an expansion than a second act, compared to the revelatory nature of the first. But I guess that was inevitable. But what was unforgivable was taking out the planetside exploration. I loved that. Yes, each sandbox was bare bones, but look at how many sandboxes there are! Nothing in ME2 compared to scouting out a merc base for the right ridge to snipe from, or taking out a thresher maw with a pistol.

 

[AndyFromMonday]

The way EA ruined the Mass Effect and Dragon Age franchises was just marvelous. I'm guessing "embracing failure" means buying good studios and turning their games into abominations of what they used to be.

Everyone is entitled to their opinions, though I know for a fact that there is a shitstorm of people who have thoroughly enjoyed the latest Bioware games. I'm proud to count myself amoung them.

Good for you. That does not change the fact that the game was subpar

As I said, you're entitled to your opinions but it doesn't necessarily mean people will agree.

I'm sorry but this is not an opinion. Mass Effect 2 is a bad sequel and in turn a bad game. If you enjoy it then sure, go ahead. I also enjoy certain terrible games. However, don't call it what it's not. The same applies for Dragon Age 2.

 

[AndyFromMonday]

The way EA ruined the Mass Effect and Dragon Age franchises was just marvelous. I'm guessing "embracing failure" means buying good studios and turning their games into abominations of what they used to be.

ME2 was just different. I like what they did to the inventory. I couldn't care less about the way you level up. The story ground to an absolute halt, feeling like a bunch of disconnected viginettes more suited to an expansion than a second act, compared to the revelatory nature of the first. But I guess that was inevitable. But what was unforgivable was taking out the planetside exploration. I loved that. Yes, each sandbox was bare bones, but look at how many sandboxes there are! Nothing in ME2 compared to scouting out a merc base for the right ridge to snipe from, or taking out a thresher maw with a pistol.

It wasn't different, it was shit. It did improve on existing mechanics, except for one but fuck that one, it added new mechanics that made the game just plain annoying and in the end, like you said, the story made no sense. Mass Effect 2 is and will always be a bad game and publishers will forever be the bane of good studios and innovative games..

 

[Leefank137]

I'm going to be optimistic and say that this is at least a step in the right direction. I personally feel that EA didn't "ruin" Mass Effect 2, and I'm willing to look forward rather than look back.

 

[blindthrall]

The way EA ruined the Mass Effect and Dragon Age franchises was just marvelous. I'm guessing "embracing failure" means buying good studios and turning their games into abominations of what they used to be.

ME2 was just different. I like what they did to the inventory. I couldn't care less about the way you level up. The story ground to an absolute halt, feeling like a bunch of disconnected viginettes more suited to an expansion than a second act, compared to the revelatory nature of the first. But I guess that was inevitable. But what was unforgivable was taking out the planetside exploration. I loved that. Yes, each sandbox was bare bones, but look at how many sandboxes there are! Nothing in ME2 compared to scouting out a merc base for the right ridge to snipe from, or taking out a thresher maw with a pistol.

It wasn't different, it was shit. It did improve on existing mechanics, except for one but fuck that one, it added new mechanics that made the game just plain annoying and in the end, like you said, the story made no sense. Mass Effect 2 is and will always be a bad game and publishers will forever be the bane of good studios and innovative games..

It may not have been as good as the first, mostly just because of how linear the story and combat became, but it was still a few feet of intestine removed from shit.

 

[MercurySteam]

technically i could think my shit was a glorious product but still dosen't mean its not shit. Opinions only go so far when describing something.
A game that is sub par can still be sub par and opinions won't change it. ME2 was not as good as it could/should have been and no matter how someone FEELS about something it dosen't change it.
As to being thankful we did not lose something entirely we shouldn't. We should be angry they tried to make a series something it wasn't.

I'm sorry but this is not an opinion. Mass Effect 2 is a bad sequel and in turn a bad game. If you enjoy it then sure, go ahead. I also enjoy certain terrible games. However, don't call it what it's not. The same applies for Dragon Age 2.

Hating to repeat myself, there are hordes [http://au.gamespot.com/xbox360/rpg/dragon-age-2/review.html?mode=web&tag=scoresummary%3Bcritic-score] of people who would disagree [http://au.gamespot.com/xbox360/rpg/mass-effect-2/review.html?mode=web&tag=scoresummary%3Bcritic-score] but because peoples' own opinions are the most important things on the planet I don't see the point in debating.

 

[Grufflenark]

The way EA ruined the Mass Effect and Dragon Age franchises was just marvelous. I'm guessing "embracing failure" means buying good studios and turning their games into abominations of what they used to be.

This is actually not a new thing for EA. They completely ruined the Command and Conquer franchise way back, when they bought Westwood Studios. They have allegedly done the same to other franchises, but C&C, Mass Effect and Dragon Age have hurt the most.

My heart sank when I heard that EA had bought up BioWare...

When EA killed off command and conquer, and westwood, it was a sad day.

 

[Rusty Bucket]

Is everyone forgetting that EA also published ME1 and DA1?

 

[Hagi]

I'm a bit confused as to all the hate on Mass Effect and Dragon Age when it comes to stories.

Sure, they are cliché stories and sure, there are games with better stories.

But with 95% of all games having far worse stories or no stories at all and the very small amount of games with better stories being quite old by now I'm personally glad that there's at least some recent AAA games that do have decent stories for when I feel like it.

In DA and ME I'm at least curious about the Darkspawn and the Reapers. Can't say I care much about the generic space aliens, terrorists and evil wizards most other games feature.

It's not great, it's not the absolute best we have but I still prefer eating at McDonald's over eating out of the garbage.

 

[AndyFromMonday]

Hating to repeat myself, there are hordes [http://au.gamespot.com/xbox360/rpg/dragon-age-2/review.html?mode=web&tag=scoresummary%3Bcritic-score] of people who would disagree [http://au.gamespot.com/xbox360/rpg/mass-effect-2/review.html?mode=web&tag=scoresummary%3Bcritic-score] but because peoples' own opinions are the most important things on the planet I don't see the point in debating.

Again, this is not an opinion, this is fact. Whether or not people enjoyed the game is irrelevant. Mass Effect 2 was a bad sequel and a bad game.

 

[mjc0961]

This is actually not a new thing for EA. They completely ruined the Command and Conquer franchise way back, when they bought Westwood Studios. They have allegedly done the same to other franchises, but C&C, Mass Effect and Dragon Age have hurt the most.

My heart sank when I heard that EA had bought up BioWare...

They didn't really ruin C&C right away, though. Red Alert 2 was still quite awesome, C&C3 wasn't bad from a gameplay standpoint, and RA3 was still plenty of fun too. No, it was Command and Conquer 4 where EA dropped trousers and took a massive shit all over the place.

...Good think there won't be a Mass Effect 4, right?