EA Interview "Challenge Everything"

[Teasy]

No, what he spelled out quite clearly was IF Nintendo got to 20% of the market, that would be a "momentus occasion" which very much implies it would be unexpected. His expectations are that it will do worse than that, and he only allows for better sales as an outside possiblity, but not likely.

I really think you need to read the article again because your remembering it all wrong..

Now it looks like 40 / 40 / 20 - Microsoft, Sony and Nintendo - and that is good for us, and it's good for people who like games....

Clearly his opinion is that at the moment its looking like the next gen market will be a 40/40/20 split. The better sales as an outside possibility your speaking of was 33% for Nintendo:

Jeff Brown]You could even see 30 / 30 / 30, something like that.

 

[Teasy]

There's no intrepretation needed for those comments. He clearly states if the wii gets up to 20% worldwide, it's a momentous event. Period. All this other talk is giberish.

Oh I see, so whatever part of his comments you want to highlight is "the truth" of what he's saying and everything else is spin or gibberish How about none of it is spin and its all his opinion? Read the article, at no point does he mention a belief that Wii will most likely sell under 20%, in fact he says quite clearly that in his view the market is looking like a 40/40/20 split. The fact that he thinks that would be a momentous achievement for Nintendo doesn't change his opinion that its likely. To sum up he believes that Wii will gain 20% of the market which in of itself will be a momentous achievement in his opinion. He also thinks that it could even do better but that 20% is the most likely number.

 

[Powderkeg]

I really think you need to read the article again because your remembering it all wrong..

Clearly his opinion is that at the moment its looking like the next gen market will be a 40/40/20 split. The better sales as an outside possibility your speaking of was 33% for Nintendo:

Classic example of only hearing what you want to hear.

Jeff Brown: Let me tell you, if they get up to 20 per cent worldwide, that is a momentous event right there. Look, I'm not predicting it's 40 / 40 / 20, and I hope you understand that is not EA's business model

What do the bolded words say?

 

[_phil_]

Classic example of only hearing what you want to hear.

this is what this thread is all about ,i think.

 

[Shifty Geezer]

in fact he says quite clearly that in his view the market is looking like a 40/40/20 split. The fact that he thinks that would be a momentous achievement for Nintendo doesn't change his opinion that its likely.

The 40/40/20 figures were never his opinion, but the rumblings around the office. To add to the selective bolding being used in this thread

Let me tell you, if they get up to 20 per cent worldwide, that is a momentous event right there. Look, I'm not predicting it's 40 / 40 / 20, and I hope you understand that is not EA's business model - I'm just telling you that the buzz going around is that rather than this huge, lopsided victory for one, and then a pretty good number two and a distant third, you can see some parity for the top two.

Selective bolding should probably be banned, because it's adding emphasis not present in the original quote and misrepresents the quotee's statement.

The interview asked about development strategy, and the EA spokesperson said they develop for the the largest installed base, and where last time that was Sony by a large margin, this time it looks like Sony and MS will be much closer. It may even be Wii is as prevalent.

The take home message is EA developer for the biggst installed base, and this time round, at this point in time, they're not sure where that will be. The only thing they're expecting is a less one-sided market than last gen. Predictions as to how well the consoles will do weren't ever really the question, and the answer given that everyone is taking as a prediction is instead an insight into EA's development strategy and what might be happening to their development over the coming years. Neither is it clear whether they were concerning themselves with the full world-wide market or excluding Japan in x / y / z figures.

 

[TheChefO]

Neither is it clear whether they were concerning themselves with the full world-wide market or excluding Japan in x / y / z figures.

I think by him quoting 70% for Sony he is talking worldwide - if he were excluding Japan the numbers would not have been 70%. ... hmm scaratch that ... actually I just researched it and with excluding Japanese sales all together (23million units), ps2 still had 67% of the market! Wow!

 

[hey69]

do we now who this guy actually is? or is this just a trustworthy EA insider?

for all i know, it could be the guy doing working at the helpdesk derpartment who solve litle windows problems for their inhouse personel .

 

[TheChefO]

do we now who this guy actually is? or is this just a trustworthy EA insider?

for all i know, it could be the guy doing working at the helpdesk derpartment who solve litle windows problems for their inhouse personel .

"corporate communications VP Jeff Brown"

 

[hey69]

hm ok ...

anyway this part is cool

That first Harry Potter game sold nine million units, a shocking number. Guess what - we didn't put it on PlayStation 2. It was on just PSone and the PC in the first year of PS2. The reason why it sold so well was because as big brother got a PlayStation 2, they didn't throw away PSone; little brother got the thing, and boom, Harry Potter. So if you're smart, you manage your portfolio that way.

last gen is where the money at.. 9million oh my god

 

[TheChefO]

last gen is where the money at.. 9million oh my god

Last gen is where the hand-me-downs are which will mostly be going to little kids. So in this sense it would make sense to put the cutsy platformers and other kiddie games on ps2/xbox/gc for now, but whatever is released it would be smart to price it accordingly as hand-me-downs are hand-me-downs for a reason, they're going to people with no money.

Also his specific example is a best case scenario as Harry Potter itself was huge at the time. I don't think there's anything quite that popular at this time but his general strategy still makes sense.

 

[RancidLunchmeat]

Read the article, at no point does he mention a belief that Wii will most likely sell under 20%, in fact he says quite clearly that in his view the market is looking like a 40/40/20 split.

Hey, why don't you read the article? He clearly does infer the Wii will most likely sell under 20% because if it reaches 20% it would be monumentous.

It is also not HIS view that market is looking like a 40/40/20 split. That was the rumblings that he HEARD after E3 was over.

To sum up he believes that Wii will gain 20% of the market which in of itself will be a momentous achievement in his opinion. He also thinks that it could even do better but that 20% is the most likely number.

No. To sum up, he states that EA will NOT support all three consoles equally and he believes the PS3 and the 360 to be market leaders, making the allusion that the Wii will not get the same support from EA. He states that following E3, he was hearing other people talking about how this generation could be 40/40/20 split, and in his opinion, if Wii were to actually accomplish that, it would be momentous.

No where does he ever say that he believes the Wii will get 20% market share, let alone say that he believes the wii will be #1, or any of the other crazy statements people with a skewed perspective have pulled from this interview.

 

[TheChefO]

To sum up, he states that EA will NOT support all three consoles equally and he believes the PS3 and the 360 to be market leaders, making the allusion that the Wii will not get the same support from EA.

By my count:

8 titles this year on 360
4 titles this year on Wii (6 total titles in development)
3 titles this year on ps3

Sounds like EA is putting their money where their mouth is in regards to their stance on Wii.

http://www.eurogamer.net/article.php?article_id=66030
http://www.eurogamer.net/article.php?article_id=66058

Once we started to experiment with Madden on Wii, there was an explosion of innovation. Everyone in the studio is energised by the creative opportunity afforded by both the hardware and controller," says EA general manager John Schappert.

It sounds to me like EA sees an opportunity to sell the same game twice to the same audience with Wii. A very different stance than on consoles prior where if you own multiple systems you buy one version of the game, generally for the system that ran the game best. With Wii and it's interface they figure gamers will buy the traditional version for 360/ps3 and the "innovative" version on Wii.

 

[thundermonkey]

The way I read that was he was stating current support for the three consoles is 40/40/20.

Either that or GameTrailers garbled the quote.

 

[ninzel]

Hey, why don't you read the article? He clearly does infer the Wii will most likely sell under 20% because if it reaches 20% it would be monumentous.

Uhm no. Saying the Wii doing 20% is momentous,doesn't then preclude in someones mind then doing better than 20%.
One is one thing, one is another. You are adding something to his statements.
"The Wii doing 20% would be momentous."
"I think the Wii will do at best 20%"

The above are two seperate statements and one is his and the other is your's. Please don't mix them up in your mind.
There are other adjectives above momentous. 20% is momentous,45% could be spectacular.

 

[Teasy]

Hey, why don't you read the article? He clearly does infer the Wii will most likely sell under 20% because if it reaches 20% it would be monumentous.

It is also not HIS view that market is looking like a 40/40/20 split. That was the rumblings that he HEARD after E3 was over.

Yes he thinks that Nintendo gaining 20% of the market would be a extremely important achievement, that does not automatically mean he thinks its unlikely. Quite the contrary he says that from what he's seeing/hearing he thinks Wii will gain at least 20% and possibly more. The idea that you can assume he thinks Wii will sell less then 20% simply because he thinks it would be of great importance is insane

No. To sum up, he states that EA will NOT support all three consoles equally and he believes the PS3 and the 360 to be market leaders, making the allusion that the Wii will not get the same support from EA. He states that following E3, he was hearing other people talking about how this generation could be 40/40/20 split, and in his opinion, if Wii were to actually accomplish that, it would be momentous.

Nope, sorry but that's nonesense. Read the article, what he says is that there have been a lot of whisperings at EA of a 40/40/20 split and then goes on to agree with that saying "Now it looks like 40 / 40 / 20 - Microsoft, Sony and Nintendo - and that is good for us, and it's good for people who like games...". How can "now it looks like 40/40/20" not be his own opinion?

No where does he ever say that he believes the Wii will get 20% market share, let alone say that he believes the wii will be #1, or any of the other crazy statements people with a skewed perspective have pulled from this interview.

Jeff Brown: No. I don't want to be indiscreet, but the truth is EA is most committed to the platform with the biggest installed base... This is not a business plan, but there are a lot of people at EA who are walking around whispering: "40 / 40 / 20 per cent." The last time out, it was 65-70 per cent PlayStation, and everybody else divided up the 30 per cent that was left. Microsoft obviously took a big piece. Now it looks like 40 / 40 / 20 - Microsoft, Sony and Nintendo - and that is good for us, and it's good for people who like games....

 

[Teasy]

The 40/40/20 figures were never his opinion, but the rumblings around the office. To add to the selective bolding being used in this thread

Selective bolding should probably be banned, because it's adding emphasis not present in the original quote and misrepresents the quotee's statement..

Look at the quote, he says:

This is not a business plan, but there are a lot of people at EA who are walking around whispering: "40 / 40 / 20 per cent." The last time out, it was 65-70 per cent PlayStation, and everybody else divided up the 30 per cent that was left. Microsoft obviously took a big piece. Now it looks like 40 / 40 / 20 - Microsoft, Sony and Nintendo - and that is good for us, and it's good for people who like games....

He says there has been a lot of whispering around EA of a 40/40/20 split and then goes on to say "Now it looks like 40 / 40 / 20 - Microsoft, Sony and Nintendo - and that is good for us, and it's good for people who like games". Are you telling me that he's saying "Now [to my friends around the office] it looks like a 40/40/20 split".. of course not, he mentioned his workmates view and then went on to agree and say that what he believes will happen would be good for the industry. By the way I only bolding certain parts of a post if I think someone is skirting over important parts..

 

[RancidLunchmeat]

Read it., he says there has been a lot of whispering around EA of a 40/40/20 split and then goes on to say "Now it looks like 40 / 40 / 20 - Microsoft, Sony and Nintendo - and that is good for us, and it's good for people who like games". Are you telling me that he's saying "Now [to my friends around the office] it looks like a 40/40/20 split".. of course not, he mentioned his workmates view and then went on to agree and say that what they believe will happen would be good for the industry.

Uhh... Yeah. Read the quote, read the entire article.

The 40/40/20 comes from the opinions of people other than himself. He then goes on to compare Sony's market position last generation to the talk of the 40/40/20.

That isn't his opinion. The only thing that it is his opinion is that if the Wii gets the 20% of the market that people were talking about, he thinks it would be monumentous.

 

[Teasy]

Uhh... Yeah. Read the quote, read the entire article.

The 40/40/20 comes from the opinions of people other than himself. He then goes on to compare Sony's market position last generation to the talk of the 40/40/20.

That isn't his opinion. The only thing that it is his opinion is that if the Wii gets the 20% of the market that people were talking about, he thinks it would be monumentous.

Where does he say that its the opinion of people other then himself though? Yes he says that his coleagues believe a 40/40/20 split looks likely, but he then goes on to say (at the end of the same paragraph) that it now looks like it will be a 40/40/20 split, his own view surely.

By the way how you can know exactly which parts are and aren't his opinion, are you actually Jeff Brown?

 

[TheChefO]

Uhh... Yeah. Read the quote, read the entire article.

The 40/40/20 comes from the opinions of people other than himself. He then goes on to compare Sony's market position last generation to the talk of the 40/40/20.

That isn't his opinion. The only thing that it is his opinion is that if the Wii gets the 20% of the market that people were talking about, he thinks it would be monumentous.

His point regardless of the actual percentage breakdown is that there will not be a lopsided victor this gen and overall the userbases will be much much closer than they were last gen.

I agree with this sentiment and I'm glad developers are speaking openly to this and adjusting their development plans accordingly.

 

[Farid]

Thread pruned from the "personal bickering pause".

Please, guys, let's take these types of arguments to PMs.