The EA online strategy debate thread (1 Viewer)

[Michael St. Clair]

Agreed, adding online to Madden today will not add a ton (percentage wise) to its sales because it already has an absolutely huge amount of sales on the PS2. It's a 'automatic buy' for millions of gamers, most of which never even try another football game.

Of course, not all games fall into the same category.

The real test comes when the online gaming contingent is much larger. If, at that point, MS, Sega, Acclaim, et al are not charging monthly fees for sports games and Madden is, there will be people who will switch. Tons of people are willing to switch cell phone companies, long distance providers, internet access providers, cable/satellite TV companies, all to save a few bucks a month.

If every publisher I liked wanted to charge me $10 a month for all of their games online, within a few years I'd be paying over $500 a year just to access online gaming. Not gonna happen for me (not even at $5 per publisher per month), and it's not gonna happen for a lot of people. Microsoft seems committed to a very low fee that covers all publishers, and Nintendo says they are pushing for no fee at all.

Ultimately, I believe that the EAs and Sonys out there will have no choice but to compete. There might be some fees to play Madden online in 2004, but I think Madden online will be free as a bird in 2006...somewhat to EA's chagrin.

 

[Dave F]

Nintendo says they are pushing for no fee at all

Everything I have read is along the lines that they aren't actively pursuing online ventures because of the lack of ability to make profit.

-Dave

 

[Michael St. Clair]

I don't have a link handy, but at least one Nintendo bigwig has intimated that they'll likely go online with their post-Gamecube platform, and that they want to do it without additional cost to the gamers.

 

[Morgan Jolley]

Everything I have read is along the lines that they aren't actively pursuing online ventures because of the lack of ability to make profit

They don't want to have to charge gamers with a fee for it to be profitable. Sony and MS have crazy ideas about where consoles where go, but Nintendo wants a plug-and-play mentality to everything they do.

 

[Damien]

Does anyone else here find it absurd that EA is going to release this new Medal of Honor on xbox without xbox live support? Not that I am interested in it, but by November EA is going to be alienating a lot of xbox owners by refusing to go online with a FPS. I would like to see what would happen if xbox next somehow got a lead in the market, then what would EA do.

 

[Brandon_H]

I doubt the PS2 version will be online, either. With the exception of MOH:AA for the PC, the series has always been very single-player oriented.

 

[John Kilroy]

EA and Nintendo sound like they're made for each other. Maybe they should merge and EA could go Gamecube exclusive. They could call the new company HITS (Head In The Sand) Incorporated.

 

[SarahG]

Yep, I've said it before, and I've said it again. The online Ultima/Everquest/Galaxies kinds of games are 'lifestyle' (often total addiction) games with expensive-to-maintain persistent universes. I would never expect those to be included in a 'flat rate' or 'free' model.

OT

Speaking of which...has anyone here heard about the UXO...apparently its the next generation Ultima game...I have been seeing bits of it on the net elsewhere..but nothing more...

 

[Graeme Clark]

From everything I've read, EA's plan isn't to charge per game, but to use a subscription model similar to XBox Live where all games are covered by a single EAOnline subscription fee, except for premium games like SimsOnline... at least for PC, but I'd expect a similar strategy for console

There were charging for some of their PC games last year, this year they've decided to include a year subscription to EAO with the purchase of a game (I know this is what is happening with NHL at least, I'd assume Madden, NBA, Fifa and the rest will be similar).

 

[Michael St. Clair]

From everything I've read, EA's plan isn't to charge per game, but to use a subscription model similar to XBox Live where all games are covered by a single EAOnline subscription fee, except for premium games like SimsOnline... at least for PC, but I'd expect a similar strategy for console

Since the XBox model covers multiple publishers, it is much more consumer-friendly. If every PS2 publisher does what EA does, I could end up spending several hundred or more dollars a year just to play PS2 online! No thanks.

 

[MaxCarr]

I really do not think it is about money now. What I think is what EA did to Sega Dreamcast except that EA can't do what it did to Sega because it is Microsoft; it has to team up with Sony.

There is a battle going on, the online strategy is just that, a strategy. EA knows there is not much money in it, so does Sony, but they know that Microsoft has the online mindshare second to the PC. Mindshare equals sales, ask Madden, people have been playing the same Madden for quite a few years (what PC gamers call patches), but it is perceived as the best football game (though I think the best football game is from Sega). If the masses perceive that a product offers more value (remove the online capability in Xbox, keep it on PS2), they'll go somewhere else to play, guess where?

Business is harsh, staying on top is harsh, look at how many exclusivity deals Sony has made with game companies so that Microsoft and Nintendo have a less chance to compete.

This reminds me of a song:

EA and Sony, sitting in a tree, you know the rest.

 

[Michael St. Clair]

An article referenced in a previous thread mentions Hot Shots Golf Online in Japan costing about $4 a month. That's a first-party Sony game. It'll be interesting to see what happens when/if it comes here (after the hard drive comes out next spring).

 

[BrianB]

Business is harsh, staying on top is harsh, look at how many exclusivity deals Sony has made with game companies so that Microsoft and Nintendo have a less chance to compete.

And of course, look at how many exclusivity deals Microsoft has made with game companies so that Sony and Nintendo have a less chance to compete.

 

[Ken Chui]

And of course, look at how many exclusivity deals Microsoft has made with game companies so that Sony and Nintendo have a less chance to compete.

... not to mention the ones MS bought outright. We all know their philosophy: if you can't beat them, buy them.

 

[Ricky Hustle]

...not to mention the ones MS bought outright. We all know their philosophy: if you can't beat them, buy them.

Fuckin' eh! This is America, nothing wrong with Microsoft's strategy, or Sony's for that matter.

 

[Romier S]

We all know their philosophy: if you can't beat them, buy them

Surely Sony laying claim to a precentage of Square meant nothing in the grand scheme of the things....

 

[Michael St. Clair]

And Sony buying Psygnosis...guys, they are all the same. What you have to do to make it in this business is clear to all parties involved.

 

[Rob_Pierce]

A new wrinkle in the story. Forbes August 11 issue just arrived and they have an article on the topic:

http://www.forbes.com/forbes/2003/0811/086.html
(Be sure to read page 2, also).

Of particular interest to me:

"More than anyone predicted, online gaming is driving the all-important software sales that are the profit engine of the $10 billion videogame industry. Dwarfed by Sony, which claims 60% of the North American market, Microsoft has bet far bigger and bolder to grab the online advantage as both feverishly race to get their next-generation consoles into stores by 2006."

"This generation we were statistically out of the playoffs before we even laced up our shoes," concedes J Allard, vice president in charge of Xbox Live. "Next season, there won't be an 18-month head start. We'll be neck and neck right out of the gate, and Xbox Live will give us a huge online head start."

"The Xbox Live network launched in November and passed the 500,000 subscriber mark in seven months, beating, by 80,000, the number of people registered to play PlayStation 2 games online, despite the fact that Microsoft has sold only 9.4 million Xboxes to Sony's 51 million PlayStations. Nintendo, with 9.6 million GameCubes sold, has limited online ambitions."

"Consider the case of Ghost Recon. This military-style shooting game was released on both Xbox and PlayStation 2 in November. The Xbox version was online-enabled, and the PlayStation version wasn't. Despite the enormous differences in installed base, more copies of the game have sold on Xbox, (650,000) than on PS2 (550,000)."

"Sony (nyse: SNE - news - people ) sniffs at the comparisons. "Online gaming is a very important part of our strategy, but not the end-all and be-all," says Kazuo Hirai, the president of Sony Computer Entertainment America. "When you're losing market share, you're tempted to talk about things down the road." [Ouch...harsh words there].

"In May Electronic Arts (nasdaq: ERTS - news - people ), the world's biggest game publisher, shunned Microsoft and announced that through March 2004 its bestselling sports games will be playable online only with Sony. But Microsoft may be onto something. There are currently 28 online games for Xbox and 18 for PS2. By January the gap will widen a bit: 50 for Microsoft, 32 for Sony. Bach has directed much of his reported $500 million marketing budget toward Xbox Live games such as Mechassault. Live kiosks are now prominent at many retailers, and Xbox is sponsoring high-profile events like this summer's Lollapalooza rock tour."

"Xbox Live may gross $25 million this year, a nanoparticle on Microsoft's income statement. But for now, an online footprint slightly bigger than Sony's is reward enough. "Xbox Live will be in 20 countries this year," Allard says. "Most game developers don't have servers or lawyers in 20 countries."

I thought this was an excellent article. It's nice to see that MS admitted they were not going to be a leader until the Next generation comes out...my guess is that EA will re-consider their decision at that time. It's also official, according to this article anyway, that Gamecubes (9.6 mil) and XBoxes (9.4 mil) are basically in a dead heat.

 

[Morgan Jolley]

Ouch! Those ARE harsh words from Sony.

 

[Michael St. Clair]

It's also propaganda to a degree. Saying that Microsoft is losing market share is simply not correct.