Bingo.

I heard that the current contract they have with the NFL requires EA to put the game on all viable consoles.  This means Madden could not be exclusive.

If EA made a console the gov't would get involve and bust up the monopoly on NFL games. IMO

Well they have Peter Moore at ea now maybe he is their ace in the hole?

I think EA would need to look very hard at the lessons to be learned from Microsoft entering the gaming hardware market. MS and EA are at their heart software companies. MS has entered the hardware game to prevent loss of software dominance and market share. You can include Zune here too, because it is there to invade ipod's space and prevent Apple from using it's dominance in this area to make further inroads into Microsoft's core business.

The major lesson EA would have to learn is that XBox is still in negative territory when it comes to its contribution to Mitcrosoft's overall profitability. That is, the profits 360 are / may be generating for Microsoft now don't come anywhere near the cumulative losses from the previous years since the launch of the Xbox. Microsoft can wear that long term loss because the company is making pots of cash through its core business activities: software. In this respect the Xbox brand might be on its own 10 year strategy to give MS a net positive lifetime profict contribution.

So the question is: Does EA need to get into the capital intensive hardware game in order to assure the long term position of its core business function (i.e. making and selling gaming software). I would suggest the answer is no, EA doesn't need to do this to assure it's position as a gaming software company.

The next question is: Does EA need to enter the gaming hardware market if it wants to significantly improve the position of its core business function? I would also argue that the answer to this question is no, it doesn't NEED to do this. Though it is one possible avenue for achieving it.

So to the 3rd question: Is entering the hardware game the best way for EA to improve the position of its core business function? The answer can only possibly be yes if it has the financial capability of running a 10 years to profitability strategy that MS, in all likelihood, based their entry into the gaming hardware market on. If EA doesn't have a 10 years to hardware profitibility financial capacity then getting into the hardware game is a very risky move.

The last question is: do those in charge of EA think they have big enough balls to get into the gaming hardware market? The answer to that may well be yes. If their balls dominate their brains then they may well do this at their peril.

The only way I see EA making a console that is profitable from day 1 (well never from day 1 since the console must recoup it's R&D costs, but you know what I mean) is if it uses last gen (i.e. inexpensive) technology. So in the upcoming generation they would be playing in the 360/PS3 space, which is probably only a viable position if Sony and MS go for a minor upgrade in the next generation as opposed to full new generation.

My totally amateur analysis is that EA would be idiots if they went down this path alone, and would be playing a high risk / low return game even if they partner with someone like Apple.

I don't think EA can support that kind of investment... don't they still lose money every quarter?

they would die imo

this would lead so many other 3rd parties to spamm football games etc etc to tryu to replace madden etc etc on the other consoles

I pretty sure that the NFL's contract with EA requires EA to put Madden on all systems, so it would not be exclusive to EA's hypothetical console.

Look at it this way. ThQ, Activision, and EA make A LOT( I'll say it again A LOT) of their money off of lincensed video games. If they were to ever make a console than they would lose all their licenses. Though any of the big three can make MLB games, so I am sure that EA would be able to do as well.

And what a lot of you are forgetting is that EA has to release all their licenses on all the platforms. The easy way to get through that would to make good version on their platform, and a really shoddy port for all the other consoles.

Also you would have too look at their IPs as well as their studios. In the past few years they have greatly increased their IPs and their studios. Though it seems that by the quality of Mercenaries 2 it seems that most of the good talent from Pandemic has left since the acquisition.

So I would have to say no. I do not see EA making a console any time soon

And at whoever said that the Sims would be a killer app on their console has obviously never played it on the PS2

They would die.

Just don't have enough fanboys.

I think one thing that people don't realize is that many of the sports titles probably require releases on most/all consoles. Madden has the virtually every console required in its contract.

If EA tried to restrict sales to a single console (its own), I would imagine its sports contracts would disappear.

Mike from Morgantown