EA defends sequelitis, bemoans lack of "reward" for launching new IP
Working on three to five new IPs for next gen.
Mega-publisher Electronic Arts has excused its current sequel-laden line-up by saying there's a lack of "reward" for launching new game IPs this late in the console generation.
EA Labels president Frank Gibeau admitted that the drought of actual new games would continue until new hardware arrived.
"If you look at the market dynamics: as much as there's a desire for new IP, the market doesn't reward new IP this late in the cycle; they end up doing okay, but not really breaking through," Gibeau explained to GamesIndustry.biz.
"We have to shepherd the time that our developers spend, as well as the money that we spend on development in a positive way, so we're focused on bringing out a bunch of new IPs around the next generation of hardware.
"Right now, we're working on three to five new IPs for the next gen."
EA's release schedule for the next twelve months includes Dead Space 3, Medal of Honor: Warfighter, Criterion's Need for Speed: Most Wanted, Maxis' SimCity reboot, Army of Two: The Devil's Cartel, plus FIFA 13, NFL 13 and NHL 13.
And, following that, we already know of Battlefield 4.
Not all developers are following the same tack. Square Enix just launched open-world Hong Kong adventure Sleeping Dogs to chart success. Bethesda is set to launch the extraordinary-looking Dishonored next month, while Ubisoft is still assuring us that Watch Dogs will launch next year on current hardware (although maybe on next-gen as well).
And what of Naughty Dog's The Last of Us and Quantic Dream's Beyond: Two Souls? Both are PlayStation 3 titles due for release next year.
"The time to launch an IP is at the front-end of the hardware cycle," Gibeau argued. "If you look historically the majority of new IPs are introduced within the first 24 months of each cycle of hardware platforms,"
Regardless, Gibeau acknowledged that some had grown tired of what current hardware could do.
"This is the longest cycle that any of us have ever seen, and we're at the point where a little bit of fatigue has set in, and people are wondering what they can possibly do next. I've seen the machines that we're building games for, and they're spectacular."