EA and the Future

[Vasea Azure]

EA and the future? EA is here to stay for a long time imo. As Optimal said above they are and will milk tons of cash from Madden/Fifa and other EA Sports games. Also, big AAA companies declare "sold much less than expected" every year and nothing happenes due to simple fact hat they expect the constant grow all the time even if its physically impossible. If you inspect the numbers of those games "sold less then expected" those are still huge amounts.
If lot box gambling system will be finally put to rest EA will increase "mobile style" of transactions like in Madden and balance the income anyway. Few will still be upset about "lack of substance", Jim Sterling and others will make the videos about it but masses still be buying new Fifas and so on. Call me pessimistic.

 

[moorison]

The problem with EA and other AAA developers -with the exception of Rockstar-, is that their products mostly lack substance. My favorite example is Assassin's Creed, that has great graphics, loads of content yet gameplay is incredibly bland.
Or look at Cvilization 6. 2K is busy with rolling out DLC civs and wonders when core gameplay (AI) is broken.
And let us forget disasters like Mass Effect and Fallout 76.

On top of it EA merged AAA pricing with F2P/P2W mobile game sales.

I'd hazard a guess that the bulk of EA's revenue is coming from sports franchises, so I think they will be around for a long time, unfortunately.

Not sure why you would exclude Rockstar, but I think I get your general point: If you want to be successful, the games should not challenge the audiences expectations. FPS have been played the same way for decades, specific actions that can not be mapped to the inputs because it would confuse most people are put into cutscenes, quick time events or a "do stuff" button so you can't go off the script.

 

[[VR] optimal_909]

Not sure why you would exclude Rockstar, but I think I get your general point: If you want to be successful, the games should not challenge the audiences expectations. FPS have been played the same way for decades, specific actions that can not be mapped to the inputs because it would confuse most people are put into cutscenes, quick time events or a "do stuff" button so you can't go off the script.

Because all Rockstar Games I've played so far from GTA3, through Max Payne 3*, RDR to GTAV were simply brilliant. Not only the gameplay is much richer than anything else in the class, I also love the realistic setting - and to be honest, Elite also stands out for being a 'realistic' sci-fi, I love that.
*Yes, Max Payne 3 was also scripted, but the characters and dialogues sometimes remind me of Tarantino movies, which adds a lot of its replay value. In general I don't like modern "rail shooters", like some big console exclusives (Uncharted, etc.).

 

[moorison]

Because all Rockstar Games I've played so far from GTA3, through Max Payne 3*, RDR to GTAV were simply brilliant. Not only the gameplay is much richer than anything else in the class, I also love the realistic setting - and to be honest, Elite also stands out for being a 'realistic' sci-fi, I love that.
*Yes, Max Payne 3 was also scripted, but the characters and dialogues sometimes remind me of Tarantino movies, which adds a lot of its replay value. In general I don't like modern "rail shooters", like some big console exclusives (Uncharted, etc.).

They certainly put a lot of effort in nice looking games, realistic to hyperrealistic sound design, and gameplay that is satisfying but easy to pick up (because consoles).

You could argue that the almost guaranteed success of Rockstar games allows them to go the extra mile and put another layer of polish on their products (let's ignore the problem of crunch time for this). The important distinction I can make out, is a different preference for genre or imitated directors, which is fine. It is nice to have some social criticism in your media, but for me, that is not enough to distinguish them from other publishers. In fact, the cynical approach to GTA V's online component, buying money while not as interested in protecting customers from cheats, was seriously disappointing and worthy of comparison to EA's money making ideas.