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EA: 'Crappy Licensed Games' Setting Industry Back

by Chris Faylor, Aug 04, 2008 12:52pm PDT

Related Topics – xbox 360, PlayStation 3, PSP, Electronic Arts, PC, PlayStation 2, Nintendo Wii, Nintendo DS

Electronic Arts CEO John Riccitiello has spoken out, claiming that the company that once published a Jurassic Park-branded fighting game and a James Bond racing effort is no longer "in the business of exploiting other people's licenses with bad quality games."

"I think what redeems our industry is quality and I think we take a step back every time we take a license and exploit it with a crappy game--that's not what we're about," Riccitiello told MTV Multiplayer.

"We've been there, most of our competitors are there or have been there. That's not what we do. We're not really after that market."

While not all of EA's licensed products have been as "out there" as the fighter Warpath: Jurassic Park, many of the movie-inspired EA-published titles--such as Batman Begins, Catwoman, Superman Returns--have been derided as subpar.

Riccitiello expressed his belief that "a lot of the intellectual property we create are better than the license," stressing the studio's recent push towards creativity with internal titles like Mirror's Edge, Dead Space, Boom Blox and Spore.

"That doesn't mean there isn't room for great licenses," he clarified, providing Madden NFL, NBA Live, NHL, and Harry Potter games as examples of quality license use.

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19 Threads | 93 Comments

#3

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By: stewballz123 x Show Full Post

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Since when did EA care about mediocre games? I thought it was always about making as much money as you can for EA.

Aug 04, 2008 1:04pm PDT

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Since when did EA care about mediocre games? I thought it was always about making as much money as you c... : stewballz123
Thread Truncated. Click to see all 30 replies.

#91

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By: Lukiopimp x Show Full Post

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The push towards creativity is nice, but once the push is done EA has too often ended its creativity cycle and just started to reiterate through their have-been creative titles. Then they milk them as much as possible until it is as a innovative as a 9 day old chewing gum on the street. To me EA's creativeness is like Pablo Picasso repainting his picture "Guernica " every year in a different colour.

Yes I am currently riding the EA hate train, but I would be happy to be proven otherwise by any future EA developed game.

Aug 05, 2008 1:27pm PDT

The push towards creativity is nice, but once the push is done EA has too often ended its creativity cycl... : Lukiopimp

#11

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By: soggybagel x Show Full Post

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Well before this EA Hate Train gets rolling I think I would like to provide a small counterpoint. Yes, the gigantic entity known as Electronic Arts has produced a lot of shit in its time, but I think that in the short run they are turning things around and making legitimately compelling titles. Even in their sports genre they have been getting a lot better and more ambitious.

Not sure if all of you have followed (since these are probably the 2 least popular sports on the shack) but FIFA 09 and NHL 09 are shaping up to be epic amazing titles. Skate was nearly universally lauded as breathing new life into a stale Tony Hawk dominated world. Mirror's Edge looks promising and Spore has given many of us mega boners since day 1. Yeah they aren't the mind behind Spore but giving Wright the freedom to take his time and do his thing. They are also very influential in distribution with games like Rock Band and I'm pretty sure without their leverage, Rock Band would not have been nearly as succesful nor would they have the power to get lots of music for the game.

Aug 04, 2008 1:14pm PDT

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Well before this EA Hate Train gets rolling I think I would like to provide a small counterpoint. Yes, t : soggybagel
Thread Truncated. Click to see all 20 replies.

#4

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By: K1Bond007 x Show Full Post

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Hahaha... Harry Potter. So they're only "crappy licensed games" if they're poor-selling. Gotcha.

Aug 04, 2008 1:08pm PDT

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Hahaha... Harry Potter. So they're only "crappy licensed games" if they're poor-selling. Gotcha. : K1Bond007
Thread Truncated. Click to see all 7 replies.
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  Have many people actually looked at the number of shitty licensed games EA does compared to the competito... : xsoulbrothax
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    They cared about Potter franchise as they wanted milk the franchise out knowing there was more of sequels... : paranos
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      Like what other license scams? I mean the Simpsons game and Godfather were actually pretty good, they dro... : xsoulbrothax
      
      At least Activision (as far as I care) are actually making a serious attempt with Bond. EA saw it only as... : K1Bond007
      
      I agree. There are tons of license scams, you must be joking :) If Activision, which is not notorious... : paranos
- the harry potter games have actually been surprisingly good. i havent played through any of them just a ... : dantastic

#13

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By: paranos x Show Full Post

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It's not licensing that's the problem, but greedy and quick exploitation with minimal investment in development and marketing their games while counting on quick return from already established and promoted brands and exploiting devs who have to work in a grinder 24h shifts to make a game on time with release of the movie or something else license is connected to (2 months or similar).

There are fine examples of licensed games, like Riddick based game and others where devs actually cared about original license and made best game they could instead of just exploiting it for greatest profit with minimal effort put into making those games. EA got shit reputation for their past 'projects' on licensed games and now they're washing their hands off of that and stating there's no money in it and they're bigger than that rofl.. and according to EA there are 'good' and 'bad' licenses - he wanted to say 'licenses we cared to really work on 'cause we knew they'd be long lasting and those just for quick profit over night kinds which we pulled knowing they wouldn't last long and produced crap content'.. clap clap Riccitiello

Aug 04, 2008 1:17pm PDT

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It's not licensing that's the problem, but greedy and quick exploitation with minimal investment in devel... : paranos
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  "The Chronicles of Riddick: Escape from Butcher Bay" was a special case: it was produced by Tigon Studios... : the archvile
  - Not to mention Vin actually knew a thing or two about games, which helped a great deal. : PlayfulPuppy
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    They could've pulled some crappy shit just like EA, but they actually cared about their game, unlike EA, ... : paranos
    - not = now :) : paranos

#34

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By: .ka`boom.zZz. x Show Full Post

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In reply...

Aug 04, 2008 2:50pm PDT

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In reply... : .ka`boom.zZz.
Thread Truncated. Click to see all 6 replies.
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  # Battlefield 1942 (2002) Windows # Battlefield 1942: Deluxe Edition (2003) Windows # Battlefield 1942:... : .ka`boom.zZz.
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    Other than tiger woods non of those are licensed properties. : sigpro
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      if he had listed the IKEA and H&M Sims 2 Stuff packs he could have landed a few :D : xsoulbrothax
      
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      wait wait, wasn't the original Need for Speed sponsored by Road & Track or something? that's one.. : xsoulbrothax
      
      yes, it was. I have the CD laying around here somewhere. : reznory

#78

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By: SirX x Show Full Post

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EA, please buy the WRC license and have the DICE guys make a decent next-gen rally game. PLEASE. PRETTY PLEASE.

Aug 04, 2008 8:29pm PDT

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EA, please buy the WRC license and have the DICE guys make a decent next-gen rally game. PLEASE. PRETTY P... : SirX
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  What was the last good WRC game? : pulse2115
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    I played some Rallisport 2 at a friend's house. I was good actually. : shirif
    - I* It : shirif

#9

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By: henrikb x Show Full Post

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I think John Riccitiello seems to be a great CEO for EA and the company has absolutely taken a turn for the better - a CEO statement on this is actually quite surprising and much welcome. Does anyone know what the financial analysts are thinking about him?

Aug 04, 2008 1:12pm PDT

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I think John Riccitiello seems to be a great CEO for EA and the company has absolutely taken a turn for t... : henrikb
Thread Truncated. Click to see all 5 replies.

#69

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By: thebigbeefsandwhich x Show Full Post

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They're doing better. Let Dice handle all decisions on the BF franchise, and don't ever mention mini-micro-sleazy payments again and they could be doing amazing.

Aug 04, 2008 6:05pm PDT

They're doing better. Let Dice handle all decisions on the BF franchise, and don't ever mention mini-micr... : thebigbeefsandwhich

#64

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By: molaughlen x Show Full Post

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He misses the point. It's not the licenses that drive the revenue of a game, but the mechanics that make up the game. I'm sure there are plenty of top end game development crews out there that could make a good licensed game. But the company has to have a solid understanding of how to make a great, intriguing game to make it all work.

KOTOR comes to mind as a good game that leveraged the Star Wars universe... However BioWare lost focus with Mass Effect (to me) which was a (critically acclaimed) game that lost both the license AND its great gameplay.

Aug 04, 2008 5:48pm PDT

He misses the point. It's not the licenses that drive the revenue of a game, but the mechanics that make... : molaughlen

#31

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By: deceiver x Show Full Post

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Sounds like they are just learning the leasons from the Atari 2600 E.T. game that started the gaming crash back in 1982
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/E.T._the_Extra-Terrestrial_(Atari_2600)

Aug 04, 2008 2:07pm PDT

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Sounds like they are just learning the leasons from the Atari 2600 E.T. game that started the gaming cras... : deceiver
Thread Truncated. Click to see all 2 replies.
- lol. That is totally the first thing that came to my mind too. : the1goat

#54

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By: mwhr1986 x Show Full Post

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Coming next week: EA says 'Crappy cross-platform ports' holding industry back.

Aug 04, 2008 4:10pm PDT

Coming next week: EA says 'Crappy cross-platform ports' holding industry back. : mwhr1986

#19

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By: dlr(2) x Show Full Post

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Interpretation: Everyone has figured out that we just shove crap out the door, so let's pretend we are now 'good guys'. I don't believe it.

Aug 04, 2008 1:32pm PDT

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Interpretation: Everyone has figured out that we just shove crap out the door, so let's pretend we are no... : dlr(2)
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- Yea, cause look at all the shit they've shoveled out in the past year.... oh wait : Bantis

#17

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By: jonin x Show Full Post

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Hey you could always just blame it on piracy....

Aug 04, 2008 1:30pm PDT

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Hey you could always just blame it on piracy.... : jonin
Thread Truncated. Click to see all 2 replies.
- Don't forget to blame the resale market too! : pigvomit

#15

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By: Vampyre_Dark x Show Full Post

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I think they did a great job with the 007 license at the end. The FROM RUSSIA WITH LOVE game was a great product. They even went and got all the old actors to come back and do their voice overs and stand in for their textures and models being made.

You can even unlock some Sean Connery interviews.

The game itself, without all that extra stuff was pretty good too.

I've heard that their newer Golden Eye game was horrible however.

Aug 04, 2008 1:23pm PDT

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I think they did a great job with the 007 license at the end. The FROM RUSSIA WITH LOVE game was a great ... : Vampyre_Dark
Thread Truncated. Click to see all 2 replies.
- Goldeneye was a project out of EA's Los Angeles studio. That place is also known as the source of ea_spo... : qsylvr

#8

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By: massdev x Show Full Post

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EA reaffirms hypocrisy as now and always core competency.

Aug 04, 2008 1:11pm PDT

EA reaffirms hypocrisy as now and always core competency. : massdev

#6

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By: DJediX x Show Full Post

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Fuck you EA, fuck you.

Aug 04, 2008 1:09pm PDT

Fuck you EA, fuck you. : DJediX

#2

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By: guyver-za x Show Full Post

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Warpath. Awesome. We need more Dino fighting games. Bring back the stop motion goodness that was Primal Rage.

Aug 04, 2008 1:01pm PDT

Warpath. Awesome. We need more Dino fighting games. Bring back the stop motion goodness that was Primal ... : guyver-za

#1

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By: homeboyJim x Show Full Post

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how about admitting that exclusive licenses are setting the industry back

Aug 04, 2008 12:59pm PDT

how about admitting that exclusive licenses are setting the industry back : homeboyJim

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