EA buries the hatchet...
... in Sega's back
Having contributed to the decline of the Dreamcast by refusing to develop any titles for the console, publishing behemoth Electronic Arts have now decided to react to the news of Sega's refocusing on software development by pointing and laughing. Answering a question about how hard it would be for Sega to adapt to developing games for other platforms, John Riccitiello, EA's President and CEO, is reported by Reuters as saying that "It's not quite as though this is GM saying we'll make BMWs, but it's the same kind of proposition. They may look like BMWs, but I doubt if they'll drive like BMWs."
Also on the subject of the PlayStation 2, JR said that "there's still yet to be a killer app" to convince European audiences to buy the new console. "People don't buy a game console as living room art, they buy it because they want to play games on it". With a 35% market share in Europe already, EA are obviously hoping that the killer app for the PlayStation 2 will be one of their games, and now see Sega (who have an impressive catalogue of titles and franchises just begging to be ported over to the PS2 and Xbox) as a direct competitor. But developing games for the next generation consoles can take upwards of eighteen months, and as JR was keen to point out "[Sega] are starting from scratch". The next two years should certainly be an interesting time for the gaming industry...