"Project Ten Dollar"

[ZoneKIller]

Crack open a fresh copy of Mass Effect 2, The Saboteur or Dragon Age: Origins and you'll see it: A code to download some piece of game content that those suckers buying used will have to pay for. It's not just coincidence that EA is shipping so many games with these bonuses/punitive measures (depending on your perspective). It's what CEO John Riccitiello calls "Project Ten Dollar," a bid to take back a portion of revenue from the estimated $2 billion in annual used game sales. That and the rest of Riccitiello's strategy to to make EA more reliant on digital content is detailed in a new BusinessWeek report.

All we know is, with a 25 percent decline in revenue for Q3, the company needs to find some way to fill the gaps sooner rather than later. Though Riccitiello seems convinced the digital strategy will patch the hole, some remain unconvinced. Former EA consultant Eric Goldberg told BusinessWeek, "While it's possible EA can make the extremely difficult transition from providing a shiny disc in boxes to [leading] in digital, history suggests it's rather unlikely."

http://www.joystiq.com/2010/02/10/ri...-distribution/

Sounds like Madden 10 and NCAA 10 .

[Nadal]

It's EA. They probably have one of the worst reputations in the gaming world. Not necessarily Madden, but most of their games considered great are merely published by them - not created by them (Mass Effect/Dragon Age).

Whether or not they deserve their bad reputation is debatable. Personally, I enjoyed Madden NFL 10, even with all of it's shortcomings. They just need to cut back their library and make their big titles of higher quality. Where are the days when Madden was actually in contention for game of the year? Look at games like Uncharted 2, Modern Warfare 2, and Mass Effect 2. It took TWO editions of these games (on current gen systems) to be GOTY worthy. Hell, even their first incarnations were GOTY worthy.

With Madden, it's year six on current gen systems, and we're still waiting. It's hard for me to get excited about Madden NFL 11 this time, because I was very excited for Madden NFL 10. I'm guessing we all were. But, it didn't deliver. Not entirely, at least. Madden NFL 10 was a solid football game - and as I said I enjoy playing it still - but when you compare it to the games I listed above - you really see how far Tiburon is behind.

[nacnud]

I don't mind the downloadable stuff. Its 10 dollars, which isn't much to me personally, and i'll only buy it, if its actually worth it. It has potential to be a really good thing, add some full playable levels that add to the game and i'll pay 10 bucks no problem.

[Valdarez]

Wow, I was going to blog on this very topic. Instead of improving their product in order to increase, they keep R&D lower in their sports products and then try to milk their existing customer base for extra $$$ by charging for test codes (used to be given away free, now you must pay for them in the 'Madden Store'), using an online code for online leagues (trying to get paid twice for one game), and worse they ruin their game by forcing customer who paid for a game (paying customers should NOT have to see Ads) to view Ads that have nothing to do with the game (overlay Ad during gameplay for example).

Due to the exclusive license deal, EA Sports has a huge amount of responsibility with how they handle their NFL game, and how they treat their customer. It's clear by their pricing scheme, and their attempt to bleed their customers, that they have not lived up to the responsibility and once again it's the customer who loses.