How Did EA Grade Out At E3? - BenGerman's Blog

Arena Blog Dynasty Scores Sign Up ☰

BenGerman's Blog

How Did EA Grade Out At E3? Stuck

Posted on June 14, 2013 at 03:18 PM.

(11)

Issue number one for EA right now is to gain the trust of their consumers. It's now been close to seven years since EA released the incredibly misleading Madden 06 trailer, and then a couple of weeks off another CGI trailer that made their next-gen titles a little too fluid to be true. The real question became: why would they do it again?

This time it wasn't just Madden, but rather NBA Live, FIFA, and UFC. It didn't really make sense, but knowing they'd have to give it to us straight at E3 kept everyone sane - for the moment at least.

One of the big talking points at E3 among the media was that EA, particularly in their sports department, held a lower Metacritic average than is typical. So as much as we - as a hardcore sports gaming community - believe that our problems are isolated from the rest of the consumer base, I'm not really sure that's true. For whatever reason, EA has a difficult time connecting to its audience without upsetting them.

Not surprisingly, EA set off E3 with a mission to make some people happy. They announced the return of "Mirror's Edge", a new "Plants vs Zombies" title, and then "Star Wars: Battlefront". All of which were being called for and none of them are sure things in terms of sales for EA, perhaps outside of PvZ. So leading into the sports talk, I was pretty confident we would see something similar. Better yet, I expected transparency.

That's not really what we got though, was it?

We saw small clips of "gameplay" that were far from revealing. It was frustrating in the moment, but the more I thought on it, the happier I am with what I heard. What I heard was EA listing things we have been calling for for years, specifically for Madden. They're aware that Madden needs a battle in the trenches, life-like sidelines, and better foot-planting. Perhaps the best news yet was the increased intelligence of the CPU A.I... How great does playing a CPU that thinks and acts like a human competitor sound? EA is, at the very least, aware of what we want. Maybe I'm an optimist, but that's what I took away from EA at E3.

They are listening, and that's a start.

Comments

# 1 ccoaxum @ Jun 14

they showed some stuff at their booth, that wasn't in the presentation.

# 2 inkcil @ Jun 14

EA has always been good at talking, even if it's just repeating back to us things we've asked for since 2004...

# 3 BenGerman @ Jun 14

Inkcll, I think that's a fair point. It's kind of a wait and see for me, but I've heard EA say some stuff that leaves me scratching my head. Thankfully most of what they had to say at E3 was more along the lines where I hoped their franchises were headed.

# 4 Brian_OS @ Jun 14

Typo..CPU that things and acts.....

# 5 BigMacAttack22 @ Jun 14

You said the issue for EA is trust. I didn't really see anything from them to earn that here. Of course, E3 is mostly about show and lights and (apparently) dubstep trailers, so I don't know that I can judge them properly from just seeing some stuff at E3.

What EA (especially EA Sports) can best do to earn the trust of its consumer base back is to listen to what they have to say, interact with the ones who aren't spewing vulgarities, and then make the best games they possibly can. If they put a lot of effort and real hard work into the games, it will show. They can't please everyone, but I think a vast majority would be satisfied with that.

Off the sports topic, I was quite thrilled by Mirror's Edge 2 and Battlefront being announced. And like you said, they are not guaranteed sales so I am happy to see that EA and DICE are taking that risk to try to please their consumer. If only they would announce KoTOR next...

# 6 BenGerman @ Jun 15

Thanks Brian, I fixed it up.

BigMac, I think you nailed it. The only thing I saw that won me over in their conference was the Mirrors Edge title and Battlefront announced. As far as sports go, I'd agree - they did nothing to earn our trust. If anything, showing of sketchy clips of gameplay mashed with CGI doesn't exactly exude confidence in your product.

# 7 BreaksoftheGame @ Jun 15

No PC for Madden, NCAA or NBA Elite/Live I give them an F.

# 8 Eski33 @ Jun 16

I give EA an A for the conference. BF 4, Battlefront, Madden, FIFA and UFC looked awesome. From reading the improvements to the blocking, Madden sounds like it is going to be back.

And don't forget Titanfall, which looks awesome.