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EA As The Next Disney
ducomputergeek writes "There is an article over at Business2.0.com about how EA may just surpass Disney as the number #1 media company in the world. Considering that EA has turned out some great games over the years, including Wing Commander, many sports games for consoles, and the SIMS, it wouldn't surprise me."
Is EA really that big? I mean disney seems to own or have their fingers in just about all media. EA just doesn't seem as prevalent.
Also does anyone know how much the Sim's helped EA out? or did Maxis make most of the money off that?
Does EA produce their own stuff, or do they get other people to produce stuff, then market it?
games vs movies. i think with the level of complexity and advancement in games and gaming technology, i have to say sale of games will exceed the sale of disney movies....
Consensus is good, but informed dictatorship is better
EA the next Disney? Does Michael Eisner know about this? Will they constantly take from the public domain, without ever giving back to it like Disney does?
How ya like dat?
Electronic Arts always had great games... except it used to be EOA, dunno when it changed.
Ah, those fond memories of my youth... 2AM, sitting in front of my C-64, watching that EOA title screen come up... gaming all night long (in between using a 300 baud modem to contact BBS's in germany, Japan...)
I almost didn't survive the beating that resulted from one month's phone bill... almost 400$ of overseas long-distance. Twenty years ago, 400$ was, as they say, real money.
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Even if a man chops off your hand with a sword, you still have two nice, sharp bones to stick in his eyes.
I have two friends who work at EA (two completely different locations, and neither of these people know each other).
EA works you like a dog. Everyone there hates their job. Big sexist corporate culture too. Both of my friends are women, and BOTH have had ideas stolen from them by their male manager. Fuckers.
So in that respect, yes, they are just like Disney.
Yes, syphoned up, and used for the one game that they wanted (Ultima Online), and then dismantled.
I don't have any problem with people compairing EA to Disney.
If that is true, then wow, that's weird. They used to be so small. I remember all their excellent games for the C64, but strangely I can't remember any of their names.
One of my favourites was Foxfire or Firefox or something like that. Ace flight sim for that old 8 bit machine.
Useless trivia of the day: The legendary SID musician/coder Rob Hubbard works for EA these days. He coded the themesong for Commando in machine code in just one night. Skillz.
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I guess it's possible that EA could one day be the biggest media company in the world. Until they open their first theme park, though, I'm going to leave them off the list of contenders.
I remember seeing an ad in a gaming magazine...aboutr '86 or so...
black and white, with about 8 developers on it..each talking about games they had programmed...Archon, stuff like that...
that was EA, as I recall....on one hand...kewl they've succeeded...on the other hand, they were once a blatently geek programming company...kind of a bumber...but it was kewl...
RB
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ah honey, we're all resplendent - Bill Mallonee
This month's Wired has a good article on EA Sports. This company dominates sports games so much it's scary...
Considering that EA has turned out some great games over the years, including Wing Commander...
Maybe I recall incorrectly, but I have this distinct memory of Wing Commander being originally published independently by Origin Systems before being bought out by Electronic Arts. Please correct me if I'm wrong about this.
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I disagree.
Movie-wise I would say disney has been getting better.
Or, for my own taste anyway - Lilo&Stitch was an excellent film - and all the pixar productions keeps getting better as well.
I mean, compared to "Sleeping Beauty"... I'd take today's disney films any day of the week.
One may argue that Disney is trying to drown out Gibli stuff by buying up the rights, but maybe they are actually recognizing talent?
My life in the land of the rising sun.
EA is not quite there yet!!
"it's almost absurd to compare a $2 billion software maker with a $25 billion diversified media giant.
If you are reading it... chances are, Disney is aware of the same information.
money Gordon hints could be used to expand into movies or music. In any event, Probst is clearly way beyond thinking of EA as merely a creator of software toys. "Our goal," he says with no hint of self-consciousness, "is to become the greatest entertainment company ever.
So, given the quoted valuation differences, and EA's stated goal, my question is.. how hard would it be for Disney to make EA an "offer they can't refuse"?
Maybe the next version of Sim City is going to include a big fat Epcot Center monument!!
Electronic Arts won't be the next DisneyCo until EA starts lobbying to the United States Congress for copyright laws that further restrict consumers and other authors and publishers. Look how much money DisneyCo contributed to get the Bono Act passed in a desperate attempt to keep Mickey Mouse locked up.
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There are 2 problems with this article. First off, as the article says it really isn't fair to compare these two companies as their individual focuses are entirely different. Disney is a media giant, and is not focused on its video game market solely-- so it would make sense that ea could surpass them. its the same reason why nintendo has a better shot of surpassing the more diversified game makers. It also fails to recognize brand recognition. A lot of parents (the ones with the money) buy video games for their kids purely on the brand name of Disney (albeit a misleading name). Just a few things I noticed.
I once read a very well respected Japanese developer said (I think it was Yuji Naka) [Some companies]"...make games at the desk." He was refering to game companies making games to make money, not to create something fun to play.
Electronic Arts is in the video game industry making sound business moves and producing disposable rubbish for an eager consumer base. They are no longer Electronic Artists and they no longer make great video games. This shows in the huge amount of crap they spew out each year.
Other companies were getting to be guilty of the same thing, but they seem to have realized it and are trying to make a turn for the better. Capcom, for instance, has pledged a shift towards quality and innovation, and shortly afterwards announced 6 new fairly unique looking titles.
3DO claims to be making a similar shift, and has cancelled many projects to focus on a few unique titles. Trip Hawkins even forked over his own personal money to help fund the company further along. How many CEOs do you know of who would do that? (Well, the President of Sega did that, too, then died shortly afterwards.)
Many of the more respectable publishers and developers are making this shift towards quality, but Electronic Arts openly clings to "tried and true" titles, even if it means saturating the market with crap.
I don't rant about it like I used to. I just stopped buying the shit. After all, there are other great video game developers out there.
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I actually like EA. Their policy on releasing classic games is absolutely superb(they actually -- gasp! sell them!), and I've picked up dozens of old titles that way. It's refreshing to see a company which sees that there's some money to be made by deciding not to ignore the abandonware crowd. So... I don't think there's a problem if they become larger than they are.
It's been a long time.
It's a shame that Wing Commander was mentioned, and yet is about as dead of a series as they come. That is a series that has more-or-less gone to Microsoft in all but name (Starlancer and Freelancer), and is the closest that Mark "Aren't you that Skywalker Guy" Hammel will ever get to non-voice over fame.
I also noticed that where the Sims got a lot of time, their other biggest stable, EA Sports, only got two short blurbs. Madden has been the standard for Video Game Football for years, and most likely will continue to be for a while. Other notable titles like NBA Street, SSX Tricky and Medal of Honor were left off.
I don't get the reference to EA being the Microsoft of the gaming world. I could have sworn that Microsoft was the Microsoft of the gaming world, but who knows. I mean, Microsoft Games is one of their good points (and I know there are few), and they make a huge amount of games as well. That little X-Box thing, and AoM/AoE, plus their sports stable.
EA will never be another Disney in the sense of what Disney is. However, they could easily be to Software what Disney is to animated features and children's programming: the standard. I'm not sure if I own more Sierra or EA games. For the PS2 it's hand's down EA, and for the computer it's a little closer.
For them to really go into the entertainment industry, they would have to pull in something that could move them past being just a software company. Someone like Blizzard or Square Soft (I thought they used to have a stake in Square USA) could be what moves them closer to Digital Movie entertainment. I know that the Warcraft 3 made me think that Blizzard would someday go movie instead of game. But for now, they can rest on being the best publisher out there.
Like most interesting journalism, this is largely wishful thinking. EA will need to prove it's more than just a game company to become the player it wants to be. The company is largely beholden to other media companies for its content (LOTR game, James Bond game, Harry Potter game) and sports games are really a dime a dozen. Only The Sims has long-term promise as a stand-alone franchise... and once they try to make a Sims movie (and you know they will!) that will be the end of it. (Anyone remember the Wing Commander movie? Still trying to forget it, huh...)
But really, EA needs to look beyond gaming if it really wants to challenge Disney or any other major media concern. Sure, it's a powerhouse in the gaming world, but my mother's never heard of Electronic Arts, while she sure as hell knows who Disney is.
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Another aspect of sports games is that they are very capital intensive due to licensing and the amount of statistical data. This prevents any small upstart from coming out with a noteworthy competitor.
Loyalty amongst sports game fans is another factor, people who have played madden for the last 10 years are not going to switch to NFL2K3. EA has made the wise decision to release their sports games for just about every platform. One other plus for the sports game genre is that it appeals to the growing market of older gamers.