I think EA saw the writing on the wall---as Gabe points out in the PA comic, EA was making money hand over fist by pumping out shit...but the problem was that their year-over-year sales growth was slipping and they were losing market influence, then the shit finally hit the fan with Spore. Their stock plummeted (along with everyone else's, but still), a lot of people saw that the company was dead man walking if they kept clinging to old business models, and now they're trying to reinvent themselves (and getting a lot of help by having Activision and Ubisoft divert the gamer-wrath spotlight from them.)
EA is looking toward a sustainable profit model, and they're doing it while they're still flush with cash from the "cram crap down their throats, they'll buy anything" pre-Spore stage. In the meantime, they're still keeping the business solid with revenue from The Sims and EA Sports franchises, but they know there's more to life than Sims and sports---a big market's there if they can establish their brand within it.
I voted "Maybe..." in the poll because who knows what's going to happen when the economy turns back positive and the corporations start getting greedy again, but I'm an optimist at heart and think that even though memories fade, they never really completely die.
EA is looking toward a sustainable profit model, and they're doing it while they're still flush with cash from the "cram crap down their throats, they'll buy anything" pre-Spore stage. In the meantime, they're still keeping the business solid with revenue from The Sims and EA Sports franchises, but they know there's more to life than Sims and sports---a big market's there if they can establish their brand within it.
I voted "Maybe..." in the poll because who knows what's going to happen when the economy turns back positive and the corporations start getting greedy again, but I'm an optimist at heart and think that even though memories fade, they never really completely die.
