Support NeoGAF

[Prospero]

link (registration required; check bugmenot.com for password)

By year's end, Electronic Arts plans to release 26 new games, all but one of them a sequel, including the 16th version of N.H.L. Hockey, the 11th of the racing game Need for Speed and the 13th of the P.G.A. Tour golf game. The company also relies heavily on creating games based on movies like the James Bond and Lord of the Rings series, rather than developing original brands.

"There's a feeling of franchise fatigue. Gamers are wondering, 'Do I need to buy this game again this year? I just bought it last year,' " said Mike Hickey, an analyst with Janco Partners, an investment firm in Denver, who has a sell rating on the company's stock.

 

[bitwise]

well yeah, EA relies on sequels and movie tie-ins.

 

[brocke]

EA will ride whatever train they can until it runs out of steam, and then they will start making more original titles. You can't blame a company for continuing to do something that atm works well for them.

 

[VictimOfGrief]

I'm sorry but if Fifa '06 is a shitty rehash, I'm not buying it..... just because it says '06. GG EA, GG.

 

[Kobun Heat]

Increasingly, industry analysts and game reviewers are wondering if the company's dependence on sequels is a sign that it is losing its creative edge.

EA lost its creative edge after, like, Zany Golf.

He added that the company had a goal of putting out at least one entirely new game every year

Oh my god, somebody actually had to WRITE THIS DOWN ON A WHITEBOARD.

 

[GhaleonEB]

Oh my god, somebody actually had to WRITE THIS DOWN ON A WHITEBOARD.

Remember, coming up with new ideas is hard.

 

[monchi-kun]

Developers aren't running out of ideas....it's the fucking marketers and their inability to SELL these new games is what's screwing things up.

 

[Shig]

Developers aren't running out of ideas....it's the fucking marketers and their inability to SELL these new games is what's screwing things up.

Well, the publisher is the one that decides how much to spend on marketing, so the blame's more on them. Seems kind of backwards that they feel they need to spend more on marketing for franchises that are guaranteed to sell, big marketing campaign or no, than on new IPs that need exposure in order to get off the ground.

What's EA's new IP for this year, anyway? I'm drawing a blank.

 

[Tarazet]

They did pick up Oddworld: Stranger's Wrath, which I thought was pretty decent of them.

 

[monchi-kun]

whatever the new IP is i bet it has something to do with Cars and Hip-Hop

 

[Guy LeDouche]

the first thing you have to accept is videogame sequels are not in any way comparable to movie sequels. Second and somewhat less important is sports sequels are again once removed.