EA Sports Jumping On "Project Ten Dollar" Bandwagon

[Greg Tito]

EA Sports Jumping On "Project Ten Dollar" Bandwagon

EA Sports president, Peter Moore, said that moving away from annual game discs and incentive-ising ownership is on the horizon for big time franchises like Madden.

Electronic Arts has been all about offering day one DLC in order to encourage consumers to buy its games new and to still make a buck from gamers who happen to buy their games used. This plan has been dubbed "Project Ten Dollar" by EO CEO John Riccitiello in reference to the usual amount charged for access to what is generally free for new owners. Peter Moore, formerly of Microsoft and now head of EA Sports, spoke at the Morgan Stanley Technology Conference and said that such a plan is being considered for games like the popular Madden football franchise. Sales of annual installments of that franchise have dropped in recent years [http://www.escapistmagazine.com/news/view/94648-Riccitiello-Bummed-About-Madden-10-Sales] and Moore recognizes that his business model needs to adapt to the digital times.

"I think we need to move much quicker, in particular with Madden, through a digital world ... you're going to see more announcements there how we digitize our Madden consumer," Moore said.

Digital content delivered through ingame portals, as seen in the Cerberus Network for Mass Effect 2 are an option. "It keeps the disc in the drive longer, it stalls trading the game in, it allows me to be able to take further advantage of that consumer over a longer period of time," said Moore.

Does that mean we'll see a Madden Refreshments Booth, where you can buy addons like uniforms and historic teams a la carte or simply get "The Works" and opt in for all available digital content?

What would the real John Madden do?

Source: Joystiq [http://www.joystiq.com/2010/03/02/ea-sports-supports-project-ten-dollar/]

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[Lost In The Void]

Hmmm this might do well to eliminate the main argument for sports game, being that they release one each year. I'm interested to see where they go with this.

 

[Jared]

Well, dosnt surprise me. They are part of EA so it would make sense they use same business model

 

[Samurai Goomba]

How is that different from buying Madden normally? All that franchise does is update rosters anyway, so every time they put out a game it's like they're releasing DLC for their old game, except you pay full price for it.

 

[CoverYourHead]

The one thing that ticks me off about EA's account system is that I cannot for the life of me find a way to add a gamertag to an account. They need to make it more user friendly, then I'll be perfectly happy.

 

[Spiner909]

The real John Madden would: "The thing about good football, is that you need good football and good players and *mumble mumble* football great football."
'Tis a sad day for gamers. DLC is a curse.

 

[uppitycracker]

Honestly, sports games are where I see this making the most sense. When I used to work for game crazy, those were the titles that got traded in the fastest, and ended up dropping their price like a rock with an insane quickness.

 

[Onyx Oblivion]

So, EA Sports, part of EA, is doing what EA does.

Nothing to see here.

 

[FloodOne]

How is that different from buying Madden normally? All that franchise does is update rosters anyway, so every time they put out a game it's like they're releasing DLC for their old game, except you pay full price for it.

This is a typical argument from someone who doesn't play Madden at all. I hope you're not one of those people.

 

[Low Key]

What would the real John Madden do?

Cheat the buyers of his game like he cheated to win a Super Bowl?

 

[laserwulf]

"...it allows me to be able to take further advantage of that consumer over a longer period of time," said Moore.

(emphasis mine)

Does anyone else find the above blurb disturbing? I'm not too keen on developers pondering on how to best take advantage of me, let alone the language of "consumer" (read: resource to give us $$) versus "customer" (who is valued for choosing to do business with them).

 

[xyrafhoan]

"...it allows me to be able to take further advantage of that consumer over a longer period of time," said Moore.

(emphasis mine)

Does anyone else find the above blurb disturbing? I'm not too keen on developers pondering on how to best take advantage of me, let alone the language of "consumer" (read: resource to give us $$) versus "customer" (who is valued for choosing to do business with them).

It's a business. Any business will talk about the consumer that way in company releases both public and private. Your dollar IS what is valuable to them, and their investors who want their returns, because they can't operate a business without it.

On the other hand, if EA relies on DLC and longer periods between games rather than annual roster updates, I can also see them downsizing the number of employees working at their Sports division. The consumer will ultimately squeeze more out of a single game but EA won't need such a large team to develop DLC as they could simply retool player stats and reflect real-world trades/drafts rather than rebuild the game every year.

 

[samsonguy920]

What would the real John Madden do?

well, for one he would run up the middle while the defensive ends hold off the line, then run over here and boom! Brett Farve!


all kidding aside, hey, EA, ever think of just making ONE Madden game for about five eyars and every season just, oh I dunno, update the stats of the players instead of releasing the exact same game every football season?

no?

oh nevermind then, carry on.

Actually I think that's the idea being tossed here. You buy the latest Madden if you don't already have, and then each year you just have to pony up $10+/- to update your rosters and maybe touch up the game with other flash. EA still makes money by saving on disc production, and long time fans of the game save money as well. I call it a win-win.
This is a good form of DLC.
I give Mr. Moore a big cookie. But only if this idea is what gets implemented.

 

[kotorfan04]

"...it allows me to be able to take further advantage of that consumer over a longer period of time," said Moore.

(emphasis mine)

Does anyone else find the above blurb disturbing? I'm not too keen on developers pondering on how to best take advantage of me, let alone the language of "consumer" (read: resource to give us $$) versus "customer" (who is valued for choosing to do business with them).

Well its official then everyone, never let Peter Moore buy you drinks at a bar. Ever.

 

[m_jim]

"...it allows me to be able to take further advantage of that consumer over a longer period of time," said Moore.

(emphasis mine)

Does anyone else find the above blurb disturbing? I'm not too keen on developers pondering on how to best take advantage of me, let alone the language of "consumer" (read: resource to give us $$) versus "customer" (who is valued for choosing to do business with them).

As I was reading the article, I was wondering how far into the thread we would get before someone brought up that quote. There isn't really any way to sugarcoat it, he just wants to sell you something (or probably a lot of somethings). At least Moore is straightforward about it. I appreciate that attitude much more than Bobby Kotick's corporate doublespeak when they were knocking around the idea of making Call of Duty pay-to-play online.

 

[m_jim]

Actually I think that's the idea being tossed here. You buy the latest Madden if you don't already have, and then each year you just have to pony up $10+/- to update your rosters and maybe touch up the game with other flash. EA still makes money by saving on disc production, and long time fans of the game save money as well. I call it a win-win.
This is a good form of DLC.
I give Mr. Moore a big cookie. But only if this idea is what gets implemented.

That would be nice, but I don't see that being the plan. There is too much money to be had, even with declining sales, to just get $10 per year, per customer. If they aren't going to get you with a $60 disc, they might just swap that out for a yearly/monthly fee to play online.

"I think we need to move much quicker, in particular with Madden, through a digital world ... you're going to see more announcements there how we digitize our Madden consumer," Moore said.

That sounds a lot like a subscription to me.

 

[Pigeon_Grenade]

'it allows me to be able to take further advantage of that consumer over a longer period of time," said Moore.'

Reminds me of a George Carlin Quote..

'Whoever coined the term ?Buyer Beware? was probably bleeding from the asshole'-George Carlin

 

[Nurb]

No matter what they decide on, gamers lose more money.

They're desperate after losing so much money, they'll squeeze every penny out of you the can for less content, because corporate strategy and decisions make gamers pissed and hurts the industry.