The problem with gaming becoming main stream is that every little detail is now under scrutiny.Ten years ago no one would have cared if Activision pointed and laughed at Ubisoft or if Peter Molyneux had claimed his next game would be powered by genetically modified hamsters.
Now we have proper gaming ‘celebrities’ –Â Moyneux, Jaffe, Cage, Zampella, Kotick, Pachter – you know who they are and like the stars of film and music, every move is scrutinised, criticised, dissected and reported.
That’s my argument for posting some more salacious bitching between the two major gaming institutions. Brandishing the virtual handbag this time is Electronic Arts COO John Schappert. He was asked how EA compares to Activision:
“… stories of late [regarding Activision] haven’t been very positive. And we couldn’t be happier to have Jason [West] and Vince [Zampella] as part of our EA Partners program, or Ted Price of Insomniac,” he said.
Schappert continues with his comparison between the two companies and I think if you look very, very closely, he might just be slightly critical of Activision.
“I would say we’re two very, very different companies. What we try to be is a company that embodies creative development, that fosters the development of games, that treats talent as well as you possibly can, because at the end of the day, that’s what our industry is and that’s what our company is.
Without great people we can’t have great games, and without great games we don’t have much of a company and so it’s all about taking care of the people that make the products and treating them as the most precious resource because they truly are.”
In related news the CEO of EA, John Riccitiello, has been credited as a reason why developers are flocking towards the company rather than working for more ‘brash CEOs’ – I think you know which one they mean. Analysts Asif Khan and Adam Kraus told Industry Gamers:
“Riccitiello and the rest of management seems to be really focused on what made EA successful to begin with. Â An anonymous source in the industry told us that independent developers are more inclined to work with Riccitiello than other more brash CEOs.”
“This was apparent at E3 when the company announced that they will be distributing some great new games from Crytek, Insomniac, Valve, Respawn, Epic and Harmonix. Â The addition of Vince Zampella and Jason West from Infinity Ward adds to the deep bench of great developers working with Electronic Arts.”
Soure: IndustryGamers
Severn2j
It says a lot when EA are the embodiment of creativity in this argument. It wasn’t too long ago, that they were running their dev studios like they were battery hens. Until they had their working practices exposed by an “EA Spouse”, and they’ve come a long way since then. Maybe more of that sort of whistle blowing needs to happen to make the industry in general a better place.
tonycawley
Soon, games = ea will be the equation. If they carry on as they are, they’ll truly have a total monopoly on the industry.