EA Online Push "A Warning For Retailers"

In Stock wrote:As the games industry continues to experiment with online connectivity, EA Games label president Frank Gibeau has spoken out on the publisher’s increasing focus on this area.

EA recently released Burnout Paradise as a digital download through the PlayStation Network, a move which Signal Hill analyst Todd Greenwald deems to be “indiciative of EA’s direct-to-consumer push, and is a warning sign for packaged goods retailers”, according to Game Daily.

In an interview with Cnet, Gibeau said: “I need to move to an online model as fast as I possibly can. If you look at our customers’ behaviour patterns, you’re seeing them engaging with fully connected experiences. And I think we have IPs and ideas and expertise that can really allow us to do that. I think Spore is a connected experience. I think Battlefield is, and Warhammer.

He added: “These can be very lucrative for us, and they can be very exciting from a developer standpoint, because you’re moving from a fire-and-forget model to more of a service model, where you launch the game but you’re thinking 24-7 about when’s my first content pack, what’s happening with telemetry, how are people playing the game, and how do I make their experiences better?”

Gibeau also revealed EA is no longer interested in games with only a single-player experience, looking to see how online can be leveraged at the birth of any project.

http://www.instockmagazine.co.uk/news2/ ... _retailers

So the move to online was going to be coming anyway, this is the first anyone has talked about retailers. They don't really go into much detail but profits on downloads are much much higher than buying packaged goods. Effectively they're going to cut out the middle man. GAME, go screw yourselves. However, this is going to take absolutely ages to do. The infrastructure for games being available to download is too far away to think about for now in this country. We still have some people on dial-up :lol:

When it does come though, will you buy games to download? Or not? Me? Even if it's cheaper to buy it to download, I'll still always buy the physical media. I like to have the product in my hands. The only exception to my rule is Steam, in which I don't have to pay a subscription and those games are online only anyway and on the PC, a format far more stable than the life cycle of a games console. Despite that though, I'm still wary about purchasing games on Steam and I purchase as many games as I can on a disc rather than having to download it.

It's a warning for consumers as well - if you buy a game from EA's own direct download service it's only available for re-downloading for 6 months, or you can extend that to 2 years if you pay extra. Absolutely disgusting.

Which obviously doesn't apply to BO:P on PSN, but it shows how EA would like to treat downloaders.

I just hope EA are arrogant enough to try and build their own download service up, rather than just buy Valve to get steam.

I've never been an EA hater, being a regular consumer of their products - I think I own a Madden on some format for every year since about 1990 for instance. But I've found that their determination to have their own 'special' sign-in process etc for Live, or indeed for their bloody cross game profile management, seriously pisses me off. Live is largely a clunk-free experience - I don't want EA doing anything except providing content, and the sight of them swimming downstream isn't exactly welcome from where I'm sitting.

And just as EA have started to embrace decent cover art too. :fp:

Tineash wrote:It's a warning for consumers as well - if you buy a game from EA's own direct download service it's only available for re-downloading for 6 months, or you can extend that to 2 years if you pay extra. Absolutely disgusting.

If Microsoft did something like this, the EU would step in as well as everyone else. So why should EA be allowed to do that? I cannot even see how it can be done from a legal point of view. It's utterly disgraceful if that's true.

Regardless of cost I'd always opt for buying the physical media rather than download. Also, most of my gaming experiences are single player so EA moving away from that to multiplayer only (unless I've misunderstood) doesn't fill me with confidence. The fact that EA are doing it doesn't bother me, I can't remember the last time I bought an EA game but if other developers follow their example then I'll start to get worried.

They're not actually legally required to offer the download in perpetuity, it's just a shitty thing not to.

I still hate the idea of downloading games especially when they are going to slap a ton of unfair DRM on it if anything i think this will increase piracy as i people will be put off buy the fact they can only download it again within 6 months or pay more to get 2 years. Plus the fact i just like to own a physical copy of something it just doesn't feel right to me when i buy an online download i want to see it my hands.

If next gen were to be free of physical discs i will not be involved, i have said this countless times, but i refuse to pay for digital media, sure it may be easier and convienent, but nothing beats opening a new release.

[quote="Instock"

Gibeau also revealed EA is no longer interested in games with only a single-player experience, looking to see how online can be leveraged at the birth of any project.
[/quote]

That's the bit that annoys me - though online components are great for shoot-'em-ups and shallower games that can work in a one-off match multiplayer experience, I like my meaty single-player experience too. Does this mean that the next Oblivion or Bioshock would be completely ignored by EA? Or would they still get a pass due to their online sellable content (at least in Oblivion's case)?

I have no doubt this is the future but we are many years away from it becoming the standard due to slow internet connections and antiquated bandwidth restrictions.

It's attractive to publishers because they can completely eliminate the pre-owned market but that in turn makes it pretty unattractive to a lot of gamers out there.

Steve wrote:
Tineash wrote:It's a warning for consumers as well - if you buy a game from EA's own direct download service it's only available for re-downloading for 6 months, or you can extend that to 2 years if you pay extra. Absolutely disgusting.

If Microsoft did something like this, the EU would step in as well as everyone else. So why should EA be allowed to do that? I cannot even see how it can be done from a legal point of view. It's utterly disgraceful if that's true.

This. Nothing more to add.

I'll buy boxed copies for as long as they're available, but I can't see that being any longer than 5 or 6 years. The next-gen will attempt to get us to go download only, and from about halfway through next gen they'll start to do some big games download only to force people to use the service. If for example Halo 5 is download only it'll force massive parts of the userbase to get online and use the download service, and then they can say "87% of our userbase are telling us they want direct to drive games" and more and more games will stop appearing in shops at all.

Sad times.

Shadow wrote:I'll buy boxed copies for as long as they're available, but I can't see that being any longer than 5 or 6 years. The next-gen will attempt to get us to go download only, and from about halfway through next gen they'll start to do some big games download only to force people to use the service. If for example Halo 5 is download only it'll force massive parts of the userbase to get online and use the download service, and then they can say "87% of our userbase are telling us they want direct to drive games" and more and more games will stop appearing in shops at all.

Sad times.

Indeed. Except this won't happen to the degree that you think. iTunes hasn't made CDs redundant. Sure, downloads are selling better than ever, but it's going to be a while before broadband speeds (and hard disk sizes) increase enough to make it valid for all games. Consider the kerfuffle over Siren - I know loads of people who haven't bothered and are waiting for the Blu-Ray, when they could be playing one of the best downloadable titles of the year right now.

EA Online Push "A Warning For Retailers"

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