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Electronic Arts' Domination Of The Market - Bad?

Posted by simoniker on from the if-i-ruled-the-world dept.

Will writes "A recent article at Gamemethod makes claims about how big companies can squash the little guy, and good gaming along with it: 'With almost 600 million dollars in sales in 2003(not including December), and 20% of the entire market, Electronic Arts is a developing and publishing powerhouse... Why should you be worried that EA rules the American gaming market and dominates sales? Well, if EA becomes too large of a force in the industry, it has some potentially damaging side effects that will hurt us, the consumers.'" It goes on to specify that "competition breeds creativity", suggesting "there's a problem when EA has enough money to buy out any studios that bring out a hit game", and concluding that "the progress of games as a medium will continue, but at a snail's pace in comparison to the previous years of fierce competition."

5 of 83 comments (clear)

  1. EA used to be the innovator by scumbucket · · Score: 5, Interesting

    I remember playing my first EA games back in the 1980's on a C-64.

    Games like M.U.L.E., Seven Cities of Gold, Pinball Contstruction Set, Mail Order Monsters, etc. These games were fantastic. EA used to play up the fact that the games they published were created by 'artists', not just programmers.

    But the table turned long ago. Profit became more important than creativity. EA now is afraid to publish innovative titles because they might negatively impact it's balance sheet.

    --
    CMDRTACO CHECK YOUR EMAIL!
  2. 20% isn't enough... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Insightful

    20% isn't enough of a market share for EA to truly dominate the videogame industy. Compare this to the 90% share of the OS market that Microsoft has... or the 50+% share of the console market that Sony has. While EA is a 900 pound gorilla, we're nowhere close to them 0wn1n9 us all. As far as I can recall EA has never stifled the creativity of the industry... (and no, I don't work for EA)

    1. Re:20% isn't enough... by SandSpider · · Score: 5, Insightful

      Well, I have worked for EA. They bought out the company I worked for, then put us out of business. And that was because they liked what we were doing. Imagine what they'd do if they didn't like us.

      It's not necessary to have 90% market share in order to dominate the industry. No, they can't buy out Microsoft, but they can cause problems for the small developer.

      =Brian

      --
      There is nothing so good that someone, somewhere, will not hate it.
  3. Re:EA's latest games stink by roche · · Score: 5, Informative

    Are you insane? The new Madden has more new features in it than any other Madden in quite some time.

    The new playmaker control is awesome. You can change the direction of the run before you even snap the ball now. You can also change the route of the receivers. This is all without having to call a audible and completely change the play/formation. While on defense you can also change the way your defense reacts after the snap of the ball. You can pull every one in to stop a run, or you can pull them back to cover a pass. While running the ball at any time, you can also you it to call for blocks. None of this was possible before, and it is very hard to live without once you get used to it.

    They also improved the franchise mode of the game by leaps and bounds. Not only do you just play season after season, now you can do some stuff a owner would do. These are things like set the prices of various stadium prices to improve you bottom line, like parking, concession prices, souvenir prices and ticket prices. Heck, you can even pick up the team and move them to a new city. Once you get to the new city, you can design the stadium and new jerseys.

    With all of those new features, it hardly sounds like just a roster update to me.

    --

    roche
    Bah Humbug!
  4. Re:EA is all that is wrong in the market by Xian97 · · Score: 5, Insightful

    I have to agree. Origin was one of the most innovative companies around with the Ultima series, Wing Commander, and one of my favorites, Crusader No Remorse/Regret. After being assimilated by EA, the third in the Crusader series was shelved, and the Ultima series had two very bad releases which were rushed out the door and very buggy to the point of being nearly unplayable.

    Another casualty was Looking Glass Studios, a real innovator in the industry. They practically created the entire genre of modern stealth games with their Thief series. They showed what could be done with a 3D engine besides just making another FPS with Ultima Underworld and System Shock. Both games would really draw you into the story and had serveral innovations over anything out at that time, features like looking up and down while Doom and it's clones just had 2D vision.

    These days I look to Europe for innovation. Most of the new developments I am excited about are coming from smaller studios there, Arx Fatalis, Gothic II, and the upcoming Sacred in the RPG genre to name a few. Serious Sam was another good effort from a small studio. It used the same tried and true formula as many others but somehow managed to bring the fun back to the genre.

    EA tries to dumb down everything they touch to appeal to the lowest common denominator and leaves the real gamers lacking.