14 DAY TRIAL // Electronic Arts is getting ready to release the UEFA Euro 2012 expansion for FIFA 12 tomorrow, but this doesn’t mean that the company is actually “milking” the franchise, at least according to the producer of the new DLC.
EA has been accused of many things, but by far one of the recurrent critiques is the fact that it milks its franchises by releasing new titles every year with very few improvements. This is apparent with sports titles, like those Madden NFL or NHL franchises, which always get a new release every 12 months.
The biggest offender, however, is the FIFA series, which saw the release of FIFA 12 last year, FIFA Street last month, and is now getting ready for a steeply priced DLC for FIFA 12, in the form of UEFA Euro 2012.
The company shouldn’t be criticized for this, however, as EA Canada’s Sebastian Enrique, the producer of the upcoming expansion, believes that it’s just the right thing to do in order to make a profit with repeatable experiences.
"Every game company, or most of them, are companies that are there to make profit," he told CVG. "We are there, or at least my team and I are there, for two reasons. One of those, and this is very important, is to make entertainment, to make great games and football simulations that people can enjoy.”
"On the other side, we also need to pay the bills, and the way to do that is to make money for the company, so it's not milking, it's just we have a repeatable product. Like with movies, where you have sequels and sequels after sequels, it's not just milking because you want to make money, if you ask the actors and directors, they do it because they love the art."
In fact, Enrique believes that the UEFA Euro 2012 could have been released as a full-fledged retail experience, like previous standalone expansions, but EA is instead trying to satisfy existing FIFA 12 owners.
“Instead of having to go to the store to buy a £40 retail product as they've had to do in the past with games like FIFA World Cup 2010, [FIFA fans] can buy the expansion for [a low price] and they don't have to change the disc, so we think it's much more convenient for the fan base, and those are the guys that I care about."
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