EA CEO talks smack

zurich

Kendoka
Veteran
Electronic Arts CEO Larry Probst recently went on record to discuss expectations for the holiday season. Despite weakness from several developers including Acclaim and Sega, Electronic Arts retail sales were up 112 percent for the first 10 months of 2002. "We're still getting really significant initial orders," Probst said. "Those early orders are a strong indication of demand because many retailers have moved toward a model of small initial orders while they wait to see if the game is a hit."

One of the gems in Electronic Arts' crown this year has been Madden NFL 2003. While the game has performed extremely well on the PlayStation 2, Probst expressed some reservations regarding Microsoft's approach towards offering online gameplay, saying "We have to sort through some issues with Microsoft before we can provide support for Xbox Live." It's clear however, Electronic Arts expects Sony's PlayStation 2 to continue to dominate at retailers this holiday season. Probst continued, "Game sales are being pulled along by sales of Sony's PlayStation 2 console, which has gained sales momentum at the expense of Nintendo's competing GameCube machine, and has increased the pressure for another price cut on that lagging console. I think clearly GameCube is underperforming versus expectations this year. I think it will be interesting to see what they do with the price point in calendar 2003."

Well, not really smack, but you get the idea. It'd be interesting to see what would happen if N dropped to a $99 price point this early in the game. What would Sony and MS do?

N of old would just ride it out and populate a zillion games with furry and fun mascot characters, but everyone's expecting something different from the new Nintendo.

And again, hopefully EA will come around and provide Live support to the Xbox.
 
KOF said:
Ozymandis said:
Got a link for this? I want to bring it to my "home forum" :D

Home forum? where? cvp?

I migrated. To Cloudchaser, now run by Xengen.

I still go by PC versus Console. But honestly CC is a better forum in some ways. There are a lot more people there, except they're not as cool as you guys ;)

Mostly I just like the arguments there. PC vs Console doesn't have enough flaming for me I guess.
 
They aren't the only one talking smack. There's article called "the Nintendo Difference" on IGN that has sparked a huge debate on the boards there. it's an article that basically says "Is metroid really enough to push consles this holiday season?" it also asks the question if metroid will outsell splinter cell (which I just bought and will give a review later today. i'm currently playing NHL2k3)
 
zurich said:
Well, not really smack, but you get the idea. It'd be interesting to see what would happen if N dropped to a $99 price point this early in the game. What would Sony and MS do?

Funny you should ask that.

http://www.gamers.com/news/1271918

Xbox, GC, and PS2 Price Drops Imminent?
PlayStation 2GameCubeXbox
By: EGM's Q-Man November 20, 2002 11:47 AM PST

Hey all of you web surfers. Just thought I'd take a breather from my normal EGM duties to drop you a line about something I recently caught wind of. It's so big it couldn't wait for the magazine: console price drops. That's right, folks...my Q-spies are telling me that all three hardware platforms may see price drops for this holiday season. PS2 and Xbox are said to drop to $150 and GameCube will fall to a mere $100. Yes folks, 100 bucks -- at that price, why not pick up a few?

Nothing's confirmed just yet, but with Thanksgiving right around the corner, there's a good chance these price drops will happen within the next week or so.
 
Cube for 100 bucks, PS2 and Xbox for 150? I can't really see it happeneing, but then again everything is possible these days (like rumors of a new Xbox-Mega-Bundle for Europe, supposed to have JSRF, SegaGT2002, SC and Halo for almost the same price as the current bundle).

Most of all why does Sony take part in this price race (or even start it in Japan)? They announed themselves as winner in this console war already, so they shouldn't be worried about anything, no? ;)
 
Crazy cool, huh. But like the man said, nothing's confirmed yet. I'll believe it when I see it.
 
like rumors of a new Xbox-Mega-Bundle for Europe, supposed to have JSRF, SegaGT2002, SC and Halo for almost the same price as the current bundle

It ain't rumour, its true, just remove SC, and put in DVD bundle for around $200. I wonder when the US will get it.

www.xbox.com.au

I reckon US should ask MS for it. Maybe will get it in times for Xmast.

That's pretty good bundle considering Gamecube is only bundle with one game for about the same price.
 
Gollum said:
Most of all why does Sony take part in this price race (or even start it in Japan)? They announed themselves as winner in this console war already, so they shouldn't be worried about anything, no? ;)

Very good question. Funny how Sony has this public "what-me-worry" attitude" and all but laughs at MS and N... and yet goes out its way to match their price cuts.
 
Good lord. GCN barlely out for a year and its price is already about to be cut in half?

Why focus on GC here? XBox has been out for the same amount of time in the U.S and its price is also rumoured to be halfing from the original price ($300 to $150).

XBox's price has already more then halfed in less then 8 months in Europe (£300 to £169 + 2 free games), so until a console beats that record I won't be shocked :)

it's an article that basically says "Is metroid really enough to push consles this holiday season?" it also asks the question if metroid will outsell splinter cell

I looked at Amazon recently (a day after release), Metroid Prime is 3rd on the sales charts there and Splinter Cell is 30th place. That could be a good indication of current sales for the game.

Also looking at GC and XBox on amazon, GC was ranked 25th (allot higher then usual) while XBox was ranked 285th.. so it might be that Metroid Prime is selling systems!

Incidentally the top selling product at Amazon is Vice City and PS2 is ranked at number 5!
 
Most of all why does Sony take part in this price race (or even start it in Japan)? They announed themselves as winner in this console war already, so they shouldn't be worried about anything, no?

Because they, just like their competitors would like to get their system down to $99 USD so the system becomes cheap enough to be an impulse buy for a larger audience.
 
The intresting thing Nintendo is doing with Metroid that they are advertising the hell out of it. I lost count a long time ago how many times I've seen the same commercial over and over.
 
Geeforcer said:
Very good question. Funny how Sony has this public "what-me-worry" attitude" and all but laughs at MS and N... and yet goes out its way to match their price cuts.

Bud, Exactly as Archie said. Away from the economic reasons and onto the Sony PR front - Have they even acknowledged the XBox or GameCube since Kaz got up in front of the microphone at E3? I think not, so seperate the marketing/economic reasons and the noize.

Sony is selling without a bundle, with older hardware, and overseas at a higher price and still outselling the competition by a wide margin. Match price cuts? Eh....
 
Not that Austrialia is a vital region or anything, but it sure seems to have embraced the Xbox as of late:

Australian Hardware Figures
Friday, November 22, 07:55 | Talon |
Hardware figures out of Australia aren’t a common thing, with them only being shown when something significant happens but, with the holiday’s around the corner, Australian IT has posted the latest figures. According to data compiled by Inform, PlayStation 2 and Xbox combined managed to sell over 20,000 units this past week. These figures, which were partially attributed to the Xbox bundles, show the hardware breakdown for the week (as well as total hardware figures for the country) as follows:

PlayStation 2: 10,956 (Total: 555,163)
Xbox: 9,972 (Total: 126,111)
GameCube: 1061 (Total: 46,145)

From PlanetXbox.com

Also, the sell-out of the XBL starter kit is a very, very, very good thing. MS was hoping to hit 100k by the end of the year, but instead hit 150k in a week! I guess they underestimated the broadband penetration in Canada :)

And personally, I don't expect Splinter Cell to sell all that well. The sick amount of hype behind a relatively niche game (as in gameplay style) won't translate too well into sales imo.
 
very true. there's 300,000 Cable modem subscrbers just for cogeco in ontario alone. Add to that all teh people on Rogers (and they are a much bigger company) and the DSl users and you have lot's of people willing to try it out.
 
Ya, isn't something like over half of Toronto on broadband?

I think virtually anyone in Ontario who wants it, can get it (whether its DSL or cable). Same goes for Quebec and BC... not sure about the "other" provinces though :p And its cheap as hell too!

I expect MS to partner with Rogers and/or Bell soon. They must know about how crazily broadband Canada is, and I expect they'll work out a promotion or deal of some sort.
 
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