Remember when everyone was whining about EA churning out sequel after sequel? And now that the company admits quality doesn't necessarily lead to high sales.

Or more specifically pleasing reviewers doen't necessarily lead to high sales, and vice versa. Of course anyone who's paid proper attention to this site knows that (of course there are those here not paying attention).

EA: Quality alone doesn't generate sales

It's been pointed out by other writers before, but I must agree it's ironic that Electronic Arts is losing money the moment it stops churning out sequential garbage and at least tries to generate original IPs. I might not personally enjoy what EA's put out lately, but a lot of people have and you'd think this apparent surge of quality would generate hits. This is something EA itself has noticed, as CEO John Riccitiello has stated that originality is just part of the equation.

"While we saw significant improvement in the overall quality of our key products this year, that quality has not yet translated into enough sales," he explains. "So far in calendar 08 we have shipped 17 titles with Metacritic scores of 80 or above versus seven this time last year. 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."

We complain about there being too many sequels and not enough originality in this industry, but it really is the market's fault. Just look at how Call of Duty: World at War, a game which essentially copied Modern Warfare but dragged the game back to WWII, is outselling its more original predecessor. Just look at how Madden continues to be one of EA's greatest hits, despite it having higher rated, less derivative titles on the shelves. Just look at what happened to Killer 7 or Okami.

We attack companies for retreating the same old ground, but after this, I wouldn't blame EA if it stuck to whoring out its franchises.

It is a huge shame, but I hope they stick to their 'not being a douche' policy, because it will pay off in the long run. You watch, within a year or two, Activisions 'be as big a douche as possible' policy will backfire.

"You watch, within a year or two, Activisions 'be as big a douche as possible' policy will backfire."

Did you pay attention to the article, and how poorly EA has been doing compared to when they were douches?

It's quite a shame at how hypocritical can be but we all do it. I mean people are more willing to buy the "safe" new IPs or ones that are just like the old ones with a new name. But they have problems with the ones like de Blob or No More Heroes or whatever which are really original. That could hurt the industry down the line.

There are two things a good business never does: ignore their customers, or give into their customers' requests. This is not contradictory, either. Good businesses look at what their customers do (and don't do), and react to that. EA is not looking at what their customers are doing. They're trying to write off what their customers are doing as being unimportant or the customer's fault, and leaning on a crutch called "opinion". But opinion makes a poor crutch, since it's not made of anything solid or useful. If EA wants their fortunes to improve, they need to look at what their customers' reactions are to what they're doing, and what their customers are doing instead of buying new products from them.

I did read the article, and would like to explain consumer loyalty inertia

Ok, lets look at it like this

EA was just starting to suffer the effects of making shit games, as their sales started to fall, so they did something about it. But because it takes a while for consumers to realise this, their sales continued to fall. However, people are starting to realise that EA actually makes good games now, so their sales should pick up soon if they stick to their guns.

Activision is a 180 degree phase difference from here, they made some really cool games, and people started liking them, so they decided that sequels to really cool games are automatically cool. It hasn't bitten them yet because consumers take a while to realise things, but soon their sales will start dropping.

In summary, the quality of games by developers varies sinusoidally, as they get complacent, then lose sales, then put effort in to improve the situation. Sales also vary sinusoidally, but lag quality by a year or two because it takes a while for people to realise the shift.

The video games market is highly competitive right now, and EA doesn't have the leeway to start trying new and original things. With Activision essentially taking over the yearly holiday season (Guitar Hero+Call of Duty+Random Shovelware), Electronic Arts has to be making as much profit as possible.

They're simply stating the obvious, and I don't think we need a big company to tell us this.

People bitch at EA for sequels, EA gives originality and gamers still buy other sequels.....these people should STFU and never diss EA again.

That's assuming their financial problems stated before they did this, and not after they started the switch.

It's too bad that the majority of gamers are sending a very loud signal that they just don't want original content. I guess mainstream gaming really will continue devolving into an endless parade of sequels and knock-offs.