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EA Layoffs Could Leave New IP's In The Dark

November 10, 2009 in Industry News comments 9

It was recently announced that EA layed off 1,500 workers. They said that they will now be focusing on IP's that guarantee a profit. Such games Battlefield, Madden and Need For Speed. But what about all the new IP's that EA has created in the last few years. Such games as Mirror's Edge, Dead Space, Spore and Brutal Legends might never see sequels. Which is a such a shame as EA renewed themselves with these amazing games, that sold only decently.

The admission flies in the face of statements made by CEO John Riccitiello earlier this year where the outspoken exec claimed that EA had previously been too reliant on licenses and franchises and intended in future to focus on create its own new IP.

The result has been a string of new franchises such as Dead Space, Mirror’s Edge, Spore, Zubo, Brutal Legend and Henry Hatsworth. The critical and commercial success of these new ventures has been mixed to say the least, though there have been notable successes.

However, question marks now hang over every non-established EA series.
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  • 0
    chautemoc Nov 10, 09
    The quote from John sounds a disturbing amount like what Activision said about its investments last year...

    quote EA
    "...frankly anything that doesn’t measure up to looking like it can pencil out to be in very high profit contributor and high unit seller got cut from our title slate from this point going forward."
    quote Acti
    "[The games we didn't pick up] don't have the potential to be exploited every year on every platform with clear sequel potential and have the potential to become $100 million franchises. … I think, generally, our strategy has been to focus… on the products that have those attributes and characteristics, the products that we know [that] if we release them today, we'll be working on them 10 years from now."
    • 1
      Daweii Nov 10, 09
      Not good as they are potentially killing future franchises that may have been stiffled by lower console inception rates. Games like Mirrors Edge may have had higher sales now with the PS3 and 360 as popular as they are with over 30 million units sold each, the consumer base is now far higher. Perhaps not but there are games like Mirrors Edge as stated and even Kane and Lynch that had bad sales because they were on the consoles in their infancy that could go on to be great franchises. It's like Assassin's Creed if UbiSoft cut and run after the abomination that was that game we wouldn't have Assassin's Creed 2, a game that is a genuine looking contender for game of the year. I see this as a bad move for EA and it's perhaps move planned by a few people high up that were scared by the sales figures of being innovative, the games like Dead Space and Mirrors Edge lost them lots of money but they were huge to the industry.
      • 0
        chautemoc Nov 10, 09
        I think it was the developer that said Dead Space was actually played by a ton of people, just a lot of the copies were used. Recession to blame? Either way I agree, they were pretty huge games in a sense.
  • 0
    ruledbysecrecy Nov 10, 09
    I wouldn't count Dead Space in with the rest of those games. Dead Space sold pretty well if I'm not mistaken.
  • 1
    Audioslave Nov 10, 09
    No! Mirror's Edge and Brutal Legend rock.
    • 1
      Daweii Nov 10, 09
      To be fair though there are not many publishers that would green light a sequel to Brutal Legend. As fun and as good as it was it was the same as every Tim Schafer game it barely sold a thing. Even a company like ZeniMax or Sega who green light games almost regardless of sales data would think twice about Brutal Legend.
  • 0
    Linkin Park Fan Nov 11, 09
    I really hope they do make a Mirror's Edge 2. The gameplay was addictive and fun as hell.

    The similarities between EA and Activision are quite frankly shocking.
    • 0
      chautemoc Nov 11, 09
      Only as of today.
      Anyway they shouldn't be shocking, it's the practically inevitable path every corporation in every industry takes.

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