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Way back in April, EA Sports President Peter Moore opened the "PC is dying" floodgates by announcing that Madden 09 would not have a computer-counterpart. The reasoning was that the games are selling less and less, and less, with each year that passes. Fair enough, and understandable.
But, Mr. Moore has again gone ahead and re-opened the gates for more debate, but this time has omitted important facts that anyone who's ever played an EA sports title on the PC is fully aware of. Moore on his blog states that piracy is a massive reason EA is choosing to step away from the PC, and sales go down each year. Again, fair.
But as Rock, Paper, Shotgun investigates, one of the potential reasons for decline might very-well be the fact that their sports titles on the PC get worse with age. While FIFA 06 received an 83% score from PC Gamer UK, FIFA 07 received a 71% and 08 received a 66%. Seems like a lot more than piracy is to blame.
I can agree that their PC games are lackluster, over the console counterparts. Not ever have I bought an EA-developed PC game and been floored. The graphics on the PC should be better, but they aren't. Heck, NFS: Pro Street on the PC doesn't even offer a 2560x1600 resolution, when every other current game does. Of course that's a very limited issue with gamers, but it goes far beyond that. They half-ass their PC games, and that's why they're on a downhill slope.
But regardless of whether EA will admit it or not, that's what they want. With the PC as a low priority, they can push more efforts towards the consoles, where all their money seems to be.
Also, conflating employee pay with return on investment is extremely disingenuous. Of course your employees deserve to be paid. However, if they produce substandard work not of a quality to see good sales, I’d suggest they should no longer be your employees. If employees are paid based on the sales of the product, rather than for their time creating them, then the products need to be really good.
Source: Rock, Paper, Shotgun
But, Mr. Moore has again gone ahead and re-opened the gates for more debate, but this time has omitted important facts that anyone who's ever played an EA sports title on the PC is fully aware of. Moore on his blog states that piracy is a massive reason EA is choosing to step away from the PC, and sales go down each year. Again, fair.
But as Rock, Paper, Shotgun investigates, one of the potential reasons for decline might very-well be the fact that their sports titles on the PC get worse with age. While FIFA 06 received an 83% score from PC Gamer UK, FIFA 07 received a 71% and 08 received a 66%. Seems like a lot more than piracy is to blame.
I can agree that their PC games are lackluster, over the console counterparts. Not ever have I bought an EA-developed PC game and been floored. The graphics on the PC should be better, but they aren't. Heck, NFS: Pro Street on the PC doesn't even offer a 2560x1600 resolution, when every other current game does. Of course that's a very limited issue with gamers, but it goes far beyond that. They half-ass their PC games, and that's why they're on a downhill slope.
But regardless of whether EA will admit it or not, that's what they want. With the PC as a low priority, they can push more efforts towards the consoles, where all their money seems to be.
Also, conflating employee pay with return on investment is extremely disingenuous. Of course your employees deserve to be paid. However, if they produce substandard work not of a quality to see good sales, I’d suggest they should no longer be your employees. If employees are paid based on the sales of the product, rather than for their time creating them, then the products need to be really good.
Source: Rock, Paper, Shotgun
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