Quality Isn't the Only Thing Needed for a Successful Game, Says EA

Electronic Arts isn't keen on developing games, as it has a nasty reputation of exploiting titles for every last penny and delivering lower than average products hoping that fans will buy them thinking of the original release.

But now, it seems that EA has finally realized that franchising every game and releasing yearly titles which don't really bring anything new isn't the way to go, as the president of the company, Frank Gibeau, has recently stated. He was then joined by the CEO, John Riccietiello, who said that quality would come in first over quantity, as part of their new philosophy, citing that as the main reason for canceling the Tiberium project.

But, as recent sales results have showed, quality and innovation don't really equal good sales, as some of the fresh and original IPs (Intellectual Properties) released by EA haven't sold very well. The futuristic first person Mirror's Edge or the gory Dead Space horror survival game haven't attracted quite a lot of sales, even though EA has extensively marketed them.

“While we saw significant improvement in the overall quality of our key products this year, that quality has not yet translated into enough sales,” explains John Riccitiello. “Quality is a prerequisite for a great selling game - but it is not the entire equation. We did manage to put quality and innovation on the board, and we're very proud of that. Many times, what happens with a new intellectual property is the first edition doesn't generate the units that subsequent editions can generate, and I would argue that in this particular year the consumer might have more reticent to take risk than they might otherwise be, in a very crowded Holiday.”

So, it seems that although players have been complaining about EA’s exploiting every game and releasing fresh iterations each year, when original titles appear, not a lot of gamers are buying them. Let's just hope that the company will continue to develop new games and that great projects, like Mirror's Edge or Dead Space, will achieve higher sales when their sequels appear.