EA exec estimates next-gen R&D at $100 million

All eyes are turning toward Sony to set the tone for the next generation of console hardware next week. Like any generation, though, the real mettle will come down to developers and publishers. Electronic Arts CFO Blake Jorgensen recently spoke at the Goldman Sachs Technology and Internet Conference in San Francisco, and gave some insight to what the company expects from the next generation.

"Historical transitions have been bumpy for a few reasons," Jorgensen said, in statements reported by Gamasutra. "One reason has been that a lot of the companies had too many titles. We had way too many titles in the last transition, and the more titles you have, the more expensive it is to convert them from one generation to the next. We're much more focused now. We've got a core group of ten-to-fifteen titles. We'll stage those in terms of the transition and manage those costs through that. Our goal is to keep the cost increase for R&D under $100 million. And some of that will be in this year, some of that in '14, and some in our fiscal year '15."

Jorgensen also commented on how used games can actually help fuel the market, and stopped short of commenting on whether he had heard anything regarding the persistent rumors that one or both of the upcoming console generations would restrict used games by tying them to the user. He did, however, remark, that "the trend in the business is to have that always-on connectivity and connect with a customer, and to the extent that the software identifies a certain customer is going to create some issues going down the road in the used game market."