DICE: EA "Gets Too Much Crap For Not Being Innovative"
See Full ImageMany gamers often accuse big publishers of failing to innovate and make new things.
But one developer believes Electronic Arts takes too much flak for not producing original products this generation. DICE general manager Karl Magnus Troedsson told Gamasutra that in fact, EA tires to "get new things out there."
"EA is actually very prone to try out new things. And I have to say that sometimes I think we get too much crap for not being innovative. We do release new IPs, and we do take care of IPs that have been out there. And perhaps not so successful, but we try to get new things out there as well."
At the same time, Troedsson does understand the complaints concerning exhibited uniqueness. After all, this guy works on Battlefield, which isn't exactly the epitome of originality and of course, that franchise won't die any time soon. But the company's "innovation labs" do have an impact on all their products, as Troedsson said smaller innovations, such as implementing the movement "or part of the movement" from Mirror's Edge in Battlefield 3, definitely exist. And they're important.
"That's a typical example. And there are those examples that have gone into big products that people don't really know about, but they actually came from smaller, other, more innovative test experiments inside of DICE."
Gamers have to remember that innovation can be "tricky" because it can be very subjective. For instance, those outside of the sphere of a particular set of fans might not see the innovation in a series, but those fans certainly do. Smaller yes, but it's there. Sometimes it's important to remember that advancement doesn't necessarily have to come in the form of a completely new IP that embraces a concept never before seen in video games.
That's getting tougher and tougher to do, after all.
Tags: ea, electronic arts, dice, innovative games, gaming industry
9/10/2012 8:21:09 PM Ben Dutka
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Comments (15 posts)
Killa Tequilla
Tuesday, September 11, 2012 @ 12:28:12 AM
0 up, 1 down
firesoul453
Monday, September 10, 2012 @ 9:34:31 PM
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EA has publish some awesome games, but all the other crap is just too much for me and I'd rather not support them.
1 up, 0 down
xenris
Monday, September 10, 2012 @ 9:47:34 PM
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What a joker. EA runs established franchises into the ground everyone knows this. I don't care if people here loved ME2 and ME3, they both were note nearly as ambitious and unique as ME1, in fact once EAs label got on the package half the lore was butchered, the story was retconned, and they alienated most of if not all of the die hard ME1 fans. But guess what it sold well because it was marketed as a shooter. In ME1 shepard was your avatar, he was what choices you made. In ME2 they decided shepard was a bad ass neo from the matrix type person, and in ME3 they further pushed this. Whatever enough about that point is they don't take care of their ips not even close.
The only case where this holds any water is with kingdoms of amalur. They took a risk but I think they were trying to get a piece of the skyrim cake to be honest. EA wanted in on the open world RPG market so they bought what seemed like a sure bet. However did they protect them when things got rough? Last I checked that studio doesn't exist anymore.
A lot of people here saw the abomination that was Dragon Age 2. Sure you could argue that they were trying to "innovate" by making it...more action based, but come on it was a clear attempt to yet again cater to an audience that didn't give a crap about DA:O.
Activision and EA both deserve flak for being scum and only caring about their quarterly profits and terrible terrible DLC practices, which are only outdone by Capcom.
6 up, 0 down
tes37
Monday, September 10, 2012 @ 11:07:24 PM
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0 up, 0 down
Lawless SXE
Tuesday, September 11, 2012 @ 2:11:37 AM
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But to counter this, they're bastardising their franchises. DS3... as far as I can tell, isn't DS. They've completely killed Burnout in favour of NFS; BF3, from what I gather, was little more than a prettier CoD-alike. As far as I'm concerned, it stems from their fear of bringing new IPs to the table late in the cycle. Seeing the sales figures for Sleeping Dogs, I understand their reluctance to do so but nothing will ever happen if you don't take a chance.
I dunno. Activision is worse than EA, with their crappy licensed games and killing studios that don't make games that sell in the multiple millions... Meh. I haven't the energy to point out the stupid today. I've dealt with enough of it of late.
2 up, 0 down
Squirrelicus
Tuesday, September 11, 2012 @ 10:05:56 AM
You are way off on that. Battlefield was out before CoD and Battlefield 2:Modern Combat was out before COD4. The current games aside from sharing a modern military feel are completely different.
EA has been pretty innovative in the past, even with games like BF series and Madden. Madden is constantly striving to be more realistic. Few FPS let you bring down a entire building like BF:BC2.
0 up, 0 down
Lawless SXE
Tuesday, September 11, 2012 @ 2:09:10 PM
0 up, 0 down
ValentinoGB
Tuesday, September 11, 2012 @ 2:22:25 AM
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0 up, 0 down
___________
Tuesday, September 11, 2012 @ 5:30:17 AM
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a company with all those ridiculous remarks MORE than deserves the criticism they get!
so my apologies karl, but theres a reason why EA was recently voted worst company!
and a reason why EA cops all the flack they do.
4 up, 0 down
shadowpal2
Tuesday, September 11, 2012 @ 10:14:18 AM
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...in other news being voted the most evil company in the world is quite ridiculous. I don't really see how.
0 up, 0 down
Rogueagent01
Tuesday, September 11, 2012 @ 10:47:49 AM
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EA and Activsion have both changed the industry and in some good ways, but the bad things they have brought with them outweigh the good in my opinion.
0 up, 0 down
Nick Maim
Tuesday, September 11, 2012 @ 11:12:29 PM
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0 up, 0 down
trumpetmon65
Tuesday, September 11, 2012 @ 11:38:33 PM
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0 up, 0 down
WorldEndsWithMe
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Monday, September 10, 2012 @ 9:25:30 PM
Activision should be the ones getting flak for lack of innovation, they don't seem to be willing to try anything remotely risky.