EA truly is the evil empire!

[Eaglesfan27]

Has any gaming company ever made so much money in one year?

http://www.gamespot.com/news/2004/04/29/news_6094879.html

[WussGawd]

Wow. Of course, if you consider some of their titles in terms of sales, it's not hard to imagine why.

[Buccaneer]

Why are they the evil empire? Because they had nearly $3b in revenues? Or maybe because they produced at least one game that you, I and everyone else has bought?

[WussGawd]

More than 1, I'm afraid. EA is very good with its licenses, and the Madden franchise and Maxis...I have to tip my hat, in a way.

[MrBug708]

I dont think I've boughten an EA game since they owned Jim's Soul

[tucker342]

Isn't pretty much every EA Sports game a best seller for that sport?

Throw in their other licenses and I can see why they made so much....

[Greyroofoo]

I buy plenty of EA games, although sometimes their support of games isn't quite up to par. But Dammit they release good games!!!!

[Eaglesfan27]

Why are they the evil empire? Because they had nearly $3b in revenues? Or maybe because they produced at least one game that you, I and everyone else has bought?

My title of this thread was meant more to play off of the jokes about them on here. I wish they hadn't screwed Jim over, but they make good games which I continue to buy.

[sabotai]

I think the interesting thing is that they made $577 million in profit...see, each number in the figure is only 1 from 6...666...evil empire. I rest my case.

[sterlingice]

EA distributed Final Fantasy X-2? Didn't know that. Tho, Squeenix has been outsourcing some of their stuff lately.

They're no evil empire, but they do manage to sucker a lot of people into paying $50 a sports season for roster upgrades. Not my money so I don't care that much except that they do exert some bad monopolistic tendencies at time which stifle innovation.

SI

[WussGawd]

I think the interesting thing is that they made $577 million in profit...see, each number in the figure is only 1 from 6...666...evil empire. I rest my case.

:D

[kingnebwsu]

Why are they the evil empire? Because they had nearly $3b in revenues? Or maybe because they produced at least one game that you, I and everyone else has bought?

Everyone else, yes. Me, NO!!! :D I haven't purchased an EA game in over 21 months, and I'll be damned if I buy another one anytime soon
:cool: :cool: :cool:

[Young Drachma]

This leads to a very interesting - and insomnia driven - question.

Do you think there could be, a legit rival to the "big studios?" I mean, there are tons of "little guys" out there that make games, do well, etc. especially in our text sim market that the big boys seem to siphon ideas from, but that's about it.

But there seem to be no limit to the numbers of people out there that are doing the nuts and bolts developing, they're the ones creating programs and manipulate the games we love and make them even better - sometimes better than the product the studio released - and yet, all this talent might go to waste.

So, I guess what I wonder is...is there an answer to this? I mean, has the internet swelled into the hands of the big folks already that its out of reach for the rest of us? I don't think so, but its a question that I guess I want feedback on...

~DC

[Marc Vaughan]

Do you think there could be, a legit rival to the "big studios?" I mean, there are tons of "little guys" out there that make games, do well, etc. especially in our text sim market that the big boys seem to siphon ideas from, but that's about it.

First off - I don't think there's anything wrong with a company being successful and I don't see EA as 'evil' because they're doing well ...

Secondly I think its entirely possible for another publisher/studio to build over time to become a legitimate rival to EA, however at the moment EA are doing very well and have a certain headstart on their rivals.

(Before anyone asks - No I don't want SI to turn into EA .... I'm very happy that we've got an extremely non-corporate structure and a friendly relaxed working environment, while we may grow further in the future I want to retain that thanks very much :D)

[Young Drachma]

I never meant to imply that EA was an evil empire. After I bought my laptop, I happily plunked down money on their games - albeit marked down - because I've enjoyed them for many years. I'm glad they exist.

It was a bigger question though and you answered it. :) So rock on.

[sterlingice]

This leads to a very interesting - and insomnia driven - question.

Do you think there could be, a legit rival to the "big studios?" I mean, there are tons of "little guys" out there that make games, do well, etc. especially in our text sim market that the big boys seem to siphon ideas from, but that's about it.

But there seem to be no limit to the numbers of people out there that are doing the nuts and bolts developing, they're the ones creating programs and manipulate the games we love and make them even better - sometimes better than the product the studio released - and yet, all this talent might go to waste.

So, I guess what I wonder is...is there an answer to this? I mean, has the internet swelled into the hands of the big folks already that its out of reach for the rest of us? I don't think so, but its a question that I guess I want feedback on...

~DC
Some markets (i.e. sports games, in particular) are really saturated. Only big companies even try to make them any more because the overhead costs are so high. Even FPSs are tough to break into since you either have to lease an engine from one of the big boys (big sunk cost) or design your own (huge cost to develop) because they still push technology more than any other genre.

However, I think there's still quite a bit of room to be the little guy developing games. You just have to be very good to get your start. You need some hit to get you off the ground and a big one. Look at Rockstar, for instance. They were nothing until GTA3 and now they're one of the biggest players out there. Can you name a game they did pre-PS2 that didn't have the name "Grand Theft Auto" attached to it?

You just need one hit game. But to get that hit game, you have to be very innovative or at least very good at giving people what they want. It's just that some genres are getting pretty good at shutting out little guys because of startup costs.

SI

[Marc Vaughan]

Some markets (i.e. sports games, in particular) are really saturated. Only big companies even try to make them any more because the overhead costs are so high. Even FPSs are tough to break into since you either have to lease an engine from one of the big boys (big sunk cost) or design your own (huge cost to develop) because they still push technology more than any other genre.

I largely agree - if you're new to the games industry picking your genre is very important if you're going to be a success.

Any start-up company deciding to make a FPS as their first game is either very brave and talented or foolish - the financial commitment required to make such a game combined with the amount of big-brand titles in that genre make it a very daunting genre to enter.

On the other hand there are several genre's which are 'ripe' for small developers and have less competition / start up costs, I've listed a few examples of these below:

* Puzzle games
* Turn based strategy
* Adventure Games (ala The Secret of Monkey Island)
* Quiz Games
* Management Sports Simulation (surprise surprise ;) )

All of these have relatively small 'start-up' costs involved due to the lack of 3D modelling in them (generally speaking).

Puzzle Games, Adventure games and Turn based strategy games have been viewed by the major publishers as 'also rans' in recent years as more and more attention has been given to 3D games - however they have all had huge fan bases and potentially could still sell games in large numbers imho.

Quiz games have next to no competition, however they have distinct advantages and disadvantages over a 'normal' game. The advantages is that they're inherantly easy to make and market (ie. the target audience is very clear) - the disadvantage is that they're rarely considered 'mainstream' without the backing of a large brand (ie. Who wants to be a millionaire wouldn't have sold the 1,000,000+ copies it did if it'd be called 'General Purpose Quiz Game').

Management Sports Sims are very very competitive in the field of soccer/football (delete according to nationality ;) ), however for other sports there is less attention and it is very possible to make a name for yourself fairly quickly if you create a game of sufficient quality (as Markus, Jim, Riz, HR, Arlie etc. have done).

Just my tuppence worth.

Have Fun,

Marc

[KevinNU7]

http://www.gamespot.com/news/2004/04/29/news_6094879.html
Its net income--also known as "profit" lol