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Size Does Matter
Gamespot has a piece up discussing the relative dangers of innovation for large developers. Should an EA be more willing to innovate than, say, The Behemoth? From the article: "We want to make sure that all of the franchise businesses have the right level of innovation inside them and I think that we have been guilty of not doing that historically in certain areas of the business ... So a focus for us right now is, how do we get new, innovative features that take the existing franchises and move them forward in interesting ways? And then I think what you'll see is a couple of--you know a couple might be the wrong term--but some very focused bets at doing really innovative and different things.'" The second part in a two-part series, with part one still available.
Big companies should be the ones leading innovation in industries they already exist.
The problem with monopolies is that they have the ability, resources, and money to continuously improve, make things cheaper for themselves and the customer, but they don't. They use their clout to raise prices, protect themselves, and screw the consumer. It's all about greed.
This is why we have the problems with EA overworking their employees.
This is why we have the MPAA/RIAA crawling up our asses.
Google is a good show of what can happen when a good monopoly comes around. While they aren't really a monopoly yet, they are slowly working there way there, but even after starting stock trades, they still seem to keep to their "do no evil" stance.
Nintendo is another example. While it certainly isn't a monopoly by any stance (at least, now), they have lots of money, lots of resources, and lots of clout, and they continue to reinvent gaming, first with games like Animal Crossing and Pikmin, then the Revolution itself.