Casual Titles Could Be as Important as Madden NFL

Electronic Arts has had a rather tough year, with losses mounting up and with even more people being laid off by the publisher. But the company has managed to shell out about 300 million dollars in order to snap up Playfish, one of the leading players in the field of casual Facebook games.

EA is saying that the acquisition is in preparation for a future when casual titles might become more important than the annual release of big franchises, like Madden NFL, which continues to be its biggest money maker at the moment.

John Riccitiello, who is the Chief Executive Officer at Electronic Arts, talked to Reuters at the Global Media Summit in New York and said that, in the future, his company might even cut back further on the number of titles it puts out a year. He stated, “Thirty wouldn't shock me at some point in the future.” A smaller number of videogames might mean better quality, better reviews and better sales for each of them and would allow the publisher to focus on getting out experiences that gamers have been asking for.

Talking about Playfish, Riccitiello said that “It's our goal for that business to be as important as, and over time maybe more important than, our packaged goods business.” This does not mean that selling packaged videogames for the hardcore audience will disappear in the short term but that Electronic Arts is trying to calibrate its business to target both traditional gamers and those who are more interested in smaller experiences that require less dedication and less time than something like Madden NFL.

Riccitiello also emphasized that the recent layoffs were seen as “an offensive, positive step towards the evolution of our business.” They were not the result of strategic mistakes but rather a direct consequence of a focus on the future.