Posted
Jul 17 2008, 10:15 PM
Apologies for the lag time between posts - here in LA for E3,
where it's been a busy, but enjoyable, week for us here at EA.
I had a blast at our E3 press conference on Monday,
showcasing NBA LIVE 09 and Tiger Woods PGA TOUR All-Play in front of more than
1,000 media and analysts at the Orpheum Theater here in LA. Click here to check out the
webcast on G4 if you missed it.
It was a real treat to welcome NBA Hall of Famer Bill Walton
and LPGA pro Natalie Gulbis on stage to help with the demos.
With Dynamic DNA in NBA LIVE - an innovation that helps us
integrate authentic behavior and tendencies of every NBA player and team by
using the real-world data used by NBA teams in game ... and then updating it daily
via online updates - we're investing heavily developing connected experiences
for the online gamer as well as delivering unparalleled quality and authenticity
in gameplay.
For those of you that have not seen the press conference,
seeing Bill Walton in full swing is a sight to behold, and well worth your time
to watch and enjoy. As you will see from the footage, Bill really got animated
about such diverse issues as Spore, anti-smoking, Kobe, Phoenix Suns, Grateful
Dead, the unpredictability of sports - all in about 90 seconds. He was a blast
to be on stage with, and even more fun down in the Green Room, where he regaled
us with stories of his time under the great John Wooden at UCLA .
Our Tiger Woods game is probably the best example of our new
direction on the Wii with All-Play, with games that are built from the ground up
with unique controls, presentations and modes. With the help of PGA Tour pro
Natalie Gulbis, we showed how a duffer like me and a pro like Natalie can
compete on an even playing field.
Here's a taste of the scene backstage from our green rooms
with Natalie and Bill, where we talked basketball and golf, as well as rehearsed
our presentation.
And then in front of the bright lights of the Orpheum Theatre.
Posted
Jul 07 2008, 08:58 PM
Not the headline I thought I would ever write, but having had the pleasure of attending Wimbledon this past weekend and watching the Williams sisters duke it out on Centre Court, and then being enthralled by the Federer/Nadal slugfest on Sunday on TV, tennis has its mojo back. Amazing that of all the female players in the world, that a pair of supremely athletic, fiercely competitive sisters prevailed once again to play each other in the final. Contrary to the whispers in the tabloids that the result would be determined over the breakfast table on Saturday morning, I can tell you that Serena was far from pleased to lose to big sis, whose wingspan and powerful serves (126 mph) proved too much for little sister.
I first met Venus and Serena when they were 15 and 13 respectively. I was heading global sports marketing at Reebok, and we were taking a risk by signing Venus, then an awkward, gangly young teen, to a multi-year endorsement contract. Wonderful to have seen how they
have matured over these years into polished athletes and independent businesswomen.
As regards the Men’s Final, if you missed it, you probably missed one of the top ten matches of all time. Finally tennis
has a rivalry again, and while we are not quite back to the glory years of Borg, McEnroe and Connors, it is great to see some parity returning to the men’s game.
But the real impetus for this post was the impact a new technology has had on the game, both in-stadium and on TV – and it clearly derives its inspiration and interface from video games. For years, the game has relied on the eyesight of line judges to determine close plays. Now, thanks to a technology called Hawk-Eye, the players are allowed to challenge the call, and almost in real-time, a 3-D simulation of the shot appears on the screen. With great drama, the ball lands in or out. Crowd loved it in-stadium, it gets rave reviews from TV viewers, and from what I understand, it has been embraced by the players as accurate and a fair and equitable way to immediately resolve line calls.
Looking forward to next week at E3.
Cheers,
Peter
Posted
Jul 01 2008, 03:31 AM
On a Saturday night red eye to London when I started writing this, connecting to Vienna for meetings with our partners at UEFA and FIFA (and maybe the Euro final between Spain and Germany…). I’ve been reading the constant flow of comments regarding our position this year on sports games on the PC, and at the risk of once again opening the floodgates of people comparing me to the devil incarnate, I will try to address what I see as the core issues that continue to be up for (very spirited) debate.
- The PC as a platform for authentic, fully-licensed, simulation sports games has declined radically in the past three years as the next generation consoles, with their high definition graphics and 5.1 sound capabilities have attracted millions of consumers to eschew the “lean in” PC sports gaming experience for the “lean back” full room console experience.
- The business model for PC games is evolving from packaged goods to a download model. The on-line experience is paramount, and hundreds of companies in this space are experimenting with direct-to-consumer revenue models, incorporating premium downloadable content, sponsored downloads, micro-transactions, subscriptions and massive tournament play.
- Piracy is an issue. Sorry, I know many of you disagree with me on this, but the numbers don’t lie. Companies spend millions developing content, and deserve to see a return on investment for their risk. The employees developing the game design, writing code and creating art deserve to get paid for their work. Period.
- Businesses have to make hard trade offs for where to invest for the best return, thus creating capital to make even more games. They have to take expensive risks in our hits and misses industry with new intellectual property to keep the games available to gamers fresh, innovative and pushing the technical boundaries of the hardware platforms. I know this concept touches a nerve with some of you, but our industry is founded on publishers that have driven for financially-successful games and then re-invested the proceeds in development of even more content for gamers to enjoy. It’s a simple financial premise, and an obligation for publically-traded companies who answer to their shareholders. We are not making games in garages or bedrooms any more.
- In order to make fundamental shifts in an ecosystem, you sometimes have to hit the reset button. That’s what we have done this year at EA SPORTS as regards some of our franchises on the PC. That does not mean that we aren’t coming back next year with new, innovative, maybe even less-expensive ways to play all of our franchises on the PC, but for right now we are assessing all of the options open to us to shift the current paradigm for our games on this platform.
Writing in the middle of the night when you are a little tired is always a dangerous thing, but what you have is my honest, personal, unvarnished opinion. I am sorry that our decisions on this issue have caused some of you so much apparent heartache, but at least you maybe have a little more insight into our thinking here…
So lock and load and have at it…
Cheers,
Peter
Posted
Jun 18 2008, 10:58 PM
I was disappointed to hear the news today that Tiger Woods is going to have to undergo season-ending knee surgery. But what an incredibly courageous effort it was by an unbelievable athlete and a captivating weekend of U.S. Open golf. Wow – Tiger never ceases to amaze us.
Tiger’s been an incredible partner with EA SPORTS for years now and we wish him all the best and a healthy recovery. I guess the good news is that there’s still one place fans will be able to see Tiger playing the rest of the year – on the virtual links of
EA SPORTS Tiger Woods PGA TOUR 09 when it hits stores the end of August.
I think we better get Tiger an advance copy of the game now that he’s going to have more free time on his hands…
Posted
Jun 14 2008, 03:18 PM
Several weeks ago, we announced that we would not be shipping Madden on the PC this year. As I mentioned then, and I will re-iterate today, the PC platform presents serious business challenges to us in the sports category. Love it or hate it, that’s the reality. I can’t make you like the decision, but nevertheless it’s a hard decision we had to make.
While I have no announcements for today, we are listening to the concerns of the fans and hope to have an announcement soon about some steps we’re taking on Madden in particular that we hope will appeal to some of the fans this fall.
In the last week or so, many of you have asked for clarification as to what our intentions are this year for the PC platform specifically.
Let me clearly state our plans: This year, we plan to ship FIFA and NHL on the PC. FIFA Manager will also be available in some territories.
This year, we don’t plan to ship Madden, NCAA Football, NASCAR, Tiger Woods PGA TOUR, or NBA LIVE for the PC platform.
We continue to explore new ideas for reinvigorating the PC platform for sports. We have exciting projects taking place right now in Asia with NBA STREET and FIFA on the PC, with a strong focus on the on-line experience. We’re learning from this and will keep you posted on new developments and how we think we can bring sports to the PC in a way that creates exciting game experiences and will be sound business decisions.
Contrary to some of the passionate posts on this blog, we have no intention to abandon the PC as a sports gaming platform. Rather, we are taking this time to re-define the way we bring you compelling experiences while at the same time making sure we make the appropriate and necessary investments for the future. I ask for your patience, understanding, and openness to new and unique ideas…
Peter
Posted
Jun 14 2008, 06:04 AM
We started to get some calls from the analyst community asking if we had pushed back the launch of NBA LIVE 09. Puzzled, we did a quick web search and found the following story from the Serious Sports News Network:
http://www.serioussportsnewsnetwork.com/2008/06/electronic-arts-announces-recall-delayed-release-of-nba-live-09.html
I don’t know what is funnier – the writing or the fact that intelligent people took it seriously. To be clear, the game is hitting every milestone and it's making big steps towards where we all want it to be…but enjoy this nonetheless.
Posted
Jun 12 2008, 01:32 AM
I don’t know about you, but I’ve been captivated by the NBA Finals this year in a way that I haven’t been in years. There’s no Cinderella teams this year, no surprises. The Celtics and Lakers are the two best teams in the league, period, and both playing at their peaks. Even the best players are going to have their ups and downs in a seven game series (Kobe in Game 1, Pierce in Game 3), but what you see in basketball in perhaps more than any other sport is how hard it can be being number 1. I marvel at how Kobe and Pierce can consistently handle the double and triple teams, the constant pressure defense and the scrutiny. Yet, when all eyes are on them and expectations are at a climax they continue to deliver. It also underscores the importance of home court advantage. Whether it is the proximity of the fans to the action or the controlled indoor environment, it always seems to me that playing at home is a greater advantage in basketball than just about any other sport…particularly in the playoffs.
As any business does, we’ve been completing our annual performance reviews the past few weeks as well as setting objectives and strategic priorities for the year ahead. I find sports always serve as a great metaphor, and so as I was watching the game last night and reviewing our upcoming plans, I thought about what it takes to be on top, to stay on top and to constantly be in the crosshairs of the rest of your industry.
Some people don’t like the heat. I actually love it, and it’s been inspiring for me to see that our teams here do as well. Our teams are talented, passionate and motivated. It’s a changing marketplace and they’re responding to the demands of our consumers by developing some incredible products for the season ahead. You’d expect nothing less from EA SPORTS, especially when you look at the successes of 2007. To set the record VERY straight (despite what you might have read to the contrary in the last day or so…), we had:
• Four EA SPORTS titles get Sports Game of the Year nods by various outlets, including FIFA, NCAA Football, Madden and NHL. Of course NHL was consensus best in class, as I mentioned a few days ago. Named sports game of the year by seven publications. No one comes close to that.
• Three EA SPORTS titles in the overall industry top 20. It was a great year for videogames, and Madden was No. 1 in sports and No. 4 overall.
• Seven platinum titles (more than one million units sold).
I read the forums, I read your posts on my blog, and we do extensive research and testing to deliver the best sports games on the market each year. We care what you say, we respond as much as we possibly can, and so I’m not surprised that early NASCAR reviews are very positive and that our Madden and NCAA FB community event recently had folks applauding the efforts coming out of Tiburon (more on that to come, BP). I’m not surprised that NBA LIVE, which jumped 15 points in review scores a year ago, has the most ground-breaking feature from our lineup this year and we’ll unveil it next month at E3. And I’ll say with supreme confidence that the future couldn’t be brighter for two of our most critically acclaimed products from a year ago – FIFA and NHL.
We’re never satisfied. There’s always more we can do. It’s what we love about our business. I hate to sound like a cheerleader, but the facts are the facts. And I don’t expect them to change any time soon. We’re hitting this season in terms of quality and innovation stronger than we ever have at EA SPORTS. If I’m wrong, you’ll see me sporting a new tattoo - maybe a competitor’s logo?
Posted
Jun 10 2008, 05:52 AM
Just coming off a great weekend in sports, and I’m anxious for an even bigger week ahead for us here at EA SPORTS.
A couple of things at the top of my list with the summer now upon us.
• This morning we revealed the first news of the year about
NHL 09. There are a lot of eyes on this franchise after it was so highly acclaimed a year ago, winning seven awards for sports game of the year. Calgary Flames defenseman Dion Phaneuf is going to be on the cover of the game across most territories and everything I’ve seen to date on NHL tells me this is going to be another great year. This franchise is often overlooked in the bigger scheme of our NFL, FIFA and NBA titles, but over the past couple of years it has really been one of our most innovative titles. The team, based out of our Vancouver studio, is among our most talented and culturally-connected, with a number of current and former players involved with the development process. From what I have already seen, we are on track to further push the innovation bar upwards. Back in the mid-nineties, some of you will remember that NHL titles were vying for #1 or #2 spots in the overall sports genre, not because the sport was more popular than football or basketball, but because the game play and controls were just so *** good. While we may never see hockey titles challenge for the top spot again anytime soon, it won’t be for the lack of quality or innovation.
• NASCAR 09 hits stores this week, right in time for Father’s Day and officially kicking off our EA SPORTS “season”. While we’ve had a number of game launches since I came to EA, this one stands out because it’s really the first game I’ve seen right from the early stages of development through final. You’re going to see a few elements in the game that tie to key themes you may have heard me talk about over the past 10 months that are very important to me.
o First is how the team focused on the approachability of the game. As you have heard me often comment, at times our games can be just too hard, and NASCAR could be as guilty as any in that regard. The sport of NASCAR itself is in the midst of aggressively attempting to broaden its audience beyond the rabid but regional fan-base it typically enjoys. I must admit this was not a title I would have previously readily picked up and played, but with 09, the levels of approachability and accessibility immediately draws me into the game, and I am having fun almost immediately. From the minute you boot up the game, Jeff Gordon guides you through all the major features and is there with you as a guide and mentor.
o NASCAR also launches with a new online customization tool called
Paint Booth. It’s a fun feature because of the level of in-game personalization it provides, but I’m most excited because it’s the first new in-game feature to be housed on our new
EA SPORTS World portal. We’ve spent a lot of time over the past few years trying to build the foundation for the world’s leading sports gaming community. We still have a long way to go, but this week our new site goes live and begins extending the EA SPORTS gaming experience by allowing fans to compare their records via leader boards, you can track your in-game stats or upload videos, read blogs, etc. You can do the same thing with our soccer/football games at
www.eafootballworld.com and we’re seeing some strong traffic and responses already.
On a final note, just watched the Dutch give the Italians the lesson of their footballing lives. Although Van Nistelrooy was offside by a country mile for the first goal, the final result was nothing less than the Dutch deserved and puts the Italians in a real hole in their group already. Oh, and Go Celtics…
Posted
May 27 2008, 04:21 PM
Well, so much for the Red Sox being on a roll. Tough weekend in Oakland to say the least. Red Sox looked clueless against A’s pitching. Here’s hoping they can turn things around in my old stomping grounds up in Seattle, with the Mariners hopefully being a bit jet-lagged and battered after being swept last weekend in the Bronx.
Couple of random racing observations from the weekend: IRL security should have let Danica march right down pit row and confront Ryan Briscoe…talk about must-see-TV.
And how good did Lewis Hamilton look in Monte Carlo? The conditions were awful, and I found the wet tire/intermediate tire/dry tire strategies fascinating (although I guess they are really tyres…)
On to gaming news, where we hosted the finals of the FIFA Interactive World Cup in Berlin on Saturday. More than 20,000 people came out to see the action over the course of the full-day event at the Sony Centre. When it was all said and done, Spain’s Alfonso Ramos defeated Michael Ribeiro from the United States, 3-1, to be named the FIFA Interactive World Player 2008. Having partnered with EA several years ago to create the first FIFA Interactive World Cup in 2004, I’m impressed to see how this event has grown. It’s a real testament to the growth of competitive gaming and our FIFA franchise that this event has grown to what it is today. Our vision for this was always to link the millions of soccer fans around the world via their console and their broadband connection, and the events in Berlin this past weekend show just how far we have come with that objective in mind. Here in the U.S., we’ve seen how our EA SPORTS Challenge Series has expanded to include many of our biggest franchises (Madden, NBA LIVE, NASCAR, etc) but it’s impressive to see the reach FIFA has on a global scale.
Finally, let the hype begin. Coming this week on GameTrailers TV, Geoff Keighley and I square off at FaceBreaker. Geoff was in the studio a couple of weeks ago to get an exclusive first look at the game and spent a day behind the scenes with the dev team. For those of you yet to get a glimpse at FaceBreaker, this is a great opportunity to see our first new IP since 2002 in action. You’ll have to watch the show to see how our one-on-one battle turns out. The only hint I’ll give you is that I bet you’ll be surprised at my prowess on the controls against one of our true industry luminaries. Long after I’ve gone to bed, tune in this weekend to Spike to see the results and an exclusive first look at FaceBreaker (10 pm PT, Friday May 30 or 1 am ET, Saturday May 31).
Cheers,
Peter
Posted
May 24 2008, 06:29 PM
As we start the long Memorial Day weekend here in the U.S., I’m excited that we’re less than a month away from the start of our EA SPORTS “season” with the launch of NASCAR 09 on June 11. Of course, NCAA Football follows closely behind in July, and then Madden, Tiger and more throughout the late summer and early fall.
Before getting away to enjoy the weekend, I wanted to check in with a handful of updates:
- On the eve of this weekend’s the Coca Cola 600, our team was in Charlotte for an event earlier this week to show off the new NASCAR game. Hosted at Dale Earnhardt Jr.’s new club, Whisky River, more than 700 guests got to check out the new game from our Tiburon studio. Jeff Gordon, Elliot Sadler and Terry Labonte were just a few of the drivers in attendance, while Rev Theory and P.O.D, two artists from the NASCAR 09 soundtrack, were also there. I never would have believed you if you told me 10 years ago that I’d learn as much as I have in the past few months about this sport, but it’s true. If you haven’t yet had the chance, be sure to check out the new Paint Booth feature which allows you to upload a custom-edited car skin and then download it directly into your game. Wait until you see my Liverpool car design.
- Just around the corner from NASCAR country in North Carolina, we’re hosting the FIFA Interactive World Cup finals this weekend in Berlin. Thirty-two of the world’s best interactive footballers are battling on Saturday for to be named the FIFA Interactive World Player 2008. Should be a great event. Speaking of great events, how about the Champion’s League finals on Wednesday? As much as I have no love for either of those teams, it was a great advert for the full-blooded nature of Premier League soccer, and my heart bled for John Terry when he lost his footing and ultimately the championship for Chelsea. He had a tremendous season, and a wonderful game that evening, but this is something that he will carry with him for the rest of his life.
- It was a big week last week in sports. I’d be remiss if I didn’t gloat about the run my Red Sox are on right now. The Sox have won seven of eight, they have the best record in baseball and Jon Lester gave me goose bumps on Monday when he pitched a no-hitter at Fenway against the Royals. What a great night for the young man from Tacoma, a cancer survivor and a great kid that I had the honor of meeting last year during his rehabilitation. And on the subject of the Sox, you may have seen the post on this very blog last week from Curt Schilling, rightly and justifiably calling me out on our bet that I can’t kick a 50-yard field goal. Well, he is right so far. I am good from about 40 yards, but after that it is a stretch. I am publicly asking for an extension of the time limit until the day Madden ships – after that, I’ll throw in the towel and admit defeat…
- A personal note – my son Tyler graduated Berkeley and joins his sister as the second Golden Bear in the family. A proud moment for all of us – well done Ty.
Hope everyone has a great weekend.
Cheers,
Peter