Game industry analyst and medieval food taster Michael Pachter has given publisher Electronic Arts a firm dressing down, stating that while the company blames the environment for its earnings losses, it has nobody to blame but itself.
"EA did not have the products that people wanted and should be acknowledging that rather than blaming everything on the environment," criticizes the silver-tongued fox. "This company lacks introspection. Their core business is not performing well and they can’t explain why."
Wow, pretty damning words from Pachter there. EA has quite a fistful of cool games on the horizon, so maybe that can turn around their fortunes. In any case, do you believe that EA's 2009 performance was entirely EA's fault, or was the company subject to circumstances?
Electronic Arts lowers 2010 guidance as sales weak [Yahoo]
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Contest:
10:20 AM on 01.12.2010
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is that weird?
Never use it again.
Seriously.
Or maybe, just maybe, it's both.
Wait! Battlefield: 1943. Wasn't that the best selling game on both XBLA and PSN last year?
With the economy down, it's surprising that the gaming industry has not suffered more, but those companies with tattered images will suffer more if the choice to buy somthing else presents itself. Keep in mind that EA is pretty good at making sure consumers don't really HAVE another choice if they want the defacto standard in the respective game genre. It's what they do best.
That Prachter guy sure likes to hear himself talk, doesn't he...
No.
If there is a recession then you fucking deal with it. Can't cut the mustard? Your problem.
And just because games get high Metacritic scores doesn't mean that consumers are necessarily going to be interested.
Wait...
I splurged this holiday season on games. None of the titles I purchased were published by EA. Pachter was right, their lineup this holiday season was pretty flimsy. I can't even name off one title they published in November or December off the top of my head...
Study: Industry hit by 11,500 layoffs since 2008
New research also tallies ‘record number of studio closures’
The global game industry has been hit by as many as 11,500 job losses since late 2008, a new study suggests.
Research by entertainment analyst group M2 Research says that “the final count for layoffs since the economic meltdown in late 2008 reached 11,488 worldwide, with the majority of the losses coming in 2009.”
The study has identified staff redundancies from 95 individual studios, adding that 52 of the affected studios were situated in the US.
M2 adds that the majority of layoffs come at “studio level”, with QA staff often being the first to go.
The analysis group adds that 2009 saw a ‘record number’ of studio closures, including 3D Realms (pictured), various Midway studios and EA’s Pandemic Studios.
Article continues below
more blame them consoles!
Their main weakness this year was likely investing so much in the Wii. Seriously, it's a waste of time people! They don't want to buy real games! Leave it alone and spend more money on the 360 / PS3 if you're developing for consoles. Geesh.
If you can't sell it, legally speaking that means in real terms, you don't own it.
So people think they are buying EA games, but EA is retaining ownership through DRM. Personally I think EA steals from every person who thinks they own an EA game.
I think this constructive theft because the customer isn't warned about DRM on the outside of the box. They don't know what DRM is and usually only find out about it after opening the box. And opening the box means no return.
If I am going to risk 50 or 60 dollars, I expect to own the game.
Except of course when it comes to Dead Space 2, I am reluctant to ever give EA any business.