EA Wants Balance Between Sony and Microsoft

[StewShearerOld]

EA Wants Balance Between Sony and Microsoft

EA CEO Peter Moore thinks equal competition needs to be maintained to push gaming forward.

You might say that Sony came out of this year's E3 doing well. Whereas Microsoft's presentation of the Xbox One did little to remove the doubts and disappointments of gamers, Sony's announcement of a <a href=http://www.escapistmagazine.com/news/view/124815-PS4-Will-Not-Block-Used-Games-or-Require-an-Online-Connection>restriction free PS4 with a $399 price tag led to literal cheers from the assembled audience. Microsoft left the ring battered, while Sony and the PlayStation brand came out looking arguably better than it had in years.

For some in the game industry, Sony came out looking too good and fear, in turn, that an overly dominant PS4 could be bad for gaming. "The idea of two incredibly powerful and talented companies like Sony and Microsoft ... for them not to be in the boxing ring with each other slugging it out while the rest of us benefit, it's going to be bad. We can't be an industry that is simply dominated by one particular manufacturer," said <a href=http://www.ea.com/executives>Peter Moore, CEO of Electronic Arts. According to Moore, strong competition is necessary to keep the industry and market healthy. "It keeps them focused. They have to outdo each other. The amount of investment they make in our industry important."

On the one hand, you could say that Moore has a point. Competition is a keystone of most industries and videogames are no different. It's hard to think of where we'd be today if there hadn't been a Genesis to push the SNES or an Xbox 360 to fight the PS3. That said, it's kind of hard to root for a balance when one of the two combatants keeps <a href=http://www.escapistmagazine.com/news/view/124711-Microsoft-Addresses-Xbox-One-Concerns>shooting themselves in the foot.

Source: <a href=http://www.polygon.com/2013/6/14/4430924/ea-wants-balance-in-war-between-sony-and-microsoft>Polygon


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[Frotality]

yes, our market thrives on competition, but that doesnt mean sometimes one side cant lose for another contender with less of their head up their ass to step up and take their place.

ideally their really shouldnt be just 2 powers, thats far too divisive, these kinds of things work best when there are too many parties to easily announce any person, game, concept, object, or thought as a fanboy for one of them or a hater of another. why did you have to start your descent into madness nintendo? with microsoft painting their cell walls with their own feces, who is left to challenge sony? theyre good now because they are giddy on the excitement of being universally loved, but soon enough theyll be making announcements just as bad as microsoft's because what can we do? not to say the nintendo is out of the race, but sorry if ive kind of lost hope for that little guy, it just doesnt seem to know what to do with itself...

 

[omega 616]

"....for them not to be in the boxing ring with each other slugging it out while the rest of us benefit"

At the moment the boxing match looks more like the scene in fight club, where Edward Norton batters himself and is left bloody and broken at Sony's feet ... the only difference is Sony is mocking MS the whole time.

Mr Moore is right though, Sony with a monopoly could be a bad thing, they could implement just about anything and still be number 1.

 

[Sehnsucht Engel]

I actually agree with EA for once. Although, it doesn't need to be Microsoft, even if I'm not sure who else it would be. They've fucked themselves over pretty good lately.

 

[ScrabbitRabbit]

Well, there's Nintendo and the PC/Mac platforms, too. The Playstation has two other enemies to contend with, that should hopefully keep them in check.

I think once the Wii U has some of those awesome E3 games released, it should see quite the sales boost.

 

[ellers07]

Microsoft has certainly designed the inferior console this generation, but I really don't think it will spell the end of the Xbox. It will sell and make money. Probably not as much as Sony, but that's ok. Hopefully next time Microsoft will have learned its lesson and will be more in line with the desires of its consumers. Hey, it worked for Sony. Competition is a good thing, but I don't think this generation marks the beginning of a monopoly on gaming.

 

[Dreadman75]

Why do I get the feeling that, if Sony and Microsoft's positions had, god forbid, been reversed, we wouldn't be hearing jack shit from EA?

BUT, as two faced as I feel he might be, he does have a point. Competition is what makes an industry thrive and a Sony monopoly could end up being just as bad a Microsoft monopoly given enough time. Same goes for Nintendo and PCs as well.

However, since the industry does thrive on competition, maybe that's something Microsoft should consider. If they fear losing their relevance to Sony maybe they should compete. But that would entail bringing themselves to Sony's level, something I HIGHLY doubt Microsoft is willing to do at this stage.

 

[Diablo1099_v1legacy]

Wonder how much they were paid to say that...

 

[Otaku World Order]

EA saying something that makes sense? What kind of madness is this?!

But, yeah, competition is definitely a good thing for the industry. Would Steam be as competitive without GOG, Desura and Gamersgate trying to steal chunks of the market? The better the fight, the more we benefit. Right now though, Microsoft reminds me of that clumsy doofus in the movie Out of Sight who tripped going up the stairs and accidentally shot himself in the head.

 

[idarkphoenixi]

He wants a "balance" and yet Titanfall is excluding the PS4 specifically.

He wants "balance" and yet Xbone is getting exclusive early access to BF4 expansions.

To me, this sounds a lot like "Hey, no fair! Xbox is getting beat up too much"

 

[FoolKiller]

What a hypocritic load of bullshit. Not that the idea of competition isn't good, but that EA is supportive of it.

I recall a really good set of sports games from 2K that were inexpensive. Then EA came and bought the ESPN license (because 2K had grown the brand in the games) and also bought out the NFL for several years.

 

[Phrozenflame500]

EA Wants Money From Both Sony and Microsoft

Fixed it for you. They don't want "competition" to push consoles forward, they want it so they can extort dat exclusivity moniez.

 

[BrotherRool]

Microsoft definitely needs to stay in the game, because if we didn't have the two consoles there'd be no way to crush one consoles DRM schemes. Saying that, we want to crush said DRM schemes. So it's fine if one of them has to be the Gamecube this generation

 

[wulfy42]

Um, where was his statement when the Ps3 and Xbox 360 came out and the Xbox dominated the market for quite awhile?

While I agree to some extent that having multiple game platforms could be a good thing, I see both positive and negatives to it. Obviously there will still be competition between game manufacturers even if there is only 1 platform for those games (and there is already the PC and Wii U...not to mention hand helds, ipads etc as well).

One negative is exclusives. If there was no Xbox One...then ALL the games would be coming out on one system. I would consider that a good thing personally. There will be a few games for the Xbone that I'll want.....but I doubt I'll get the system just for them. I learnt that lesson with the Xbox360...which had ONE game over all these years that I really enjoyed that did not come out for the PS3.

Meanwhile Microsoft is doing a whole bunch of idiotic things, so it's certainly their own fault if they fail. There really have not been THAT many ps3 exclusives I have really liked (alot more then 1 though)...but the Ps3 has in general had more RPGs, platform games like the Ratchet and Clank games etc. In addition I much prefer Playstation Plus to Xbox's gold membership.....so if I had to choose between them, I would naturally lean towards the PS3.

I have enough money though to blow $500 bucks if there are a few good games I might want to play. The new fantasia game looks like it might be fun for instance, and there may be some other ones. That being said the insanely stupid marketing (including basically saying the customer base needs to be educated because we are idiots)...has totally turned me off on the Xbone one at this point. They are going to have to have some VERY VERY good games to make me even consider buying the system.

I doubt I would have anyway...but Microsoft has sure done a GREAT job of ensuring that I don't. I really think they need Bill Gates back.

 

[Olrod]

Asking for "balance" between Sony and Microsoft is pretty hard when Microsoft's Xbox None is objectively worse.

 

[Dr.Panties]

I thought I'd provide a caption for the attached photo of Peter Moore:

"This is me smiling."

 

[The Random One]

Why does the competition have to be between Microsoft and Sony? MS shot itself in the foot. If Sony's console isn't entirely flawless nothing's stopping some other giant industry from stepping in and offering an alternative. Plus, last I checked gaming computers are still a thing and they should count as like three manufacturers at least.

 

[Callate]

It would be a little easier to take this as the thoughtful words of a concerned third party if EA hadn't so recently been happy to fire full broadside salvos at Nintendo. My more cynical side wonders if they hadn't been looking forward to a handy replacement for online passes and are coming to realize that the popular drubbing Microsoft is taking might put a kibbosh on that plan.

 

[Misterian]

Well, there's Nintendo and the PC/Mac platforms, too. The Playstation has two other enemies to contend with, that should hopefully keep them in check.

I think once the Wii U has some of those awesome E3 games released, it should see quite the sales boost.

I agree, since Microsoft is persistently shooting itself in the foot and drenching it in salt, it would make sense it shift the focus on working with Nintendo AND Sony, I suspect those two will end up the only game companies with consoles handy considering where the wind is blowing with Xbox One.

unless some other company decides to take a stab at making their own console...

 

[VoidWanderer]

I want balance between these two demographics, but we'd need Microsoft to stop huffing whatever the hell it is they have been huffing...