Game Industry Not Sheltered From Economic Downturn Afterall

Game giant Electronic Arts Inc. (EA) is laying off about 6 per cent of its work force to cut costs after posting a wider than expected quarterly net loss on Thursday. “Considering the slowdown at retail we've seen in October, we are cautious in the short term,” said John Riccitiello, chief executive, in a statement. “Longer term, we are very bullish on the game sector overall and on EA in particular.” The company said it expects about $50 million in annual pretax cost savings as a result of the layoffs, which will amount to about 500 - 600 positions across all functional areas. Wow, if you use the 600 number that puts the average salary + benefits for these positions at $83,333! Globe and Mail story.

EA's Games For Dummies

G4's The Feed is reporting that Electronic Arts (EA) is making a series of videogames based on the "For Dummies" series of books. "Through an easy to navigate interface, the For Dummies titles teach players the skills to master a variety of activities, from Poker and Solitaire to brain training and Sudoku." The first title, Poker for Dummies, is apparently available now with more titles being rolled out in the coming months and in November the For Dummies series goes mobile with Travel Games For Dummies for the Nintendo DS. I wonder when the A+ Certification for Dummies will be complete?

EA Embeds DNA Into NBA Live 09

G4's The Feed is reporting that EA has announced a new feature in it's NBA Live 09. Known as Dynamic DNA the system collects detailed information on players and their teams on a day-to-day basis and altering the game based on this information. Because the DNA extends to the teams, the chemistry between a group of players is accounted for and changes based on whats happened in actual games. This is a natural next step in an always connected gaming world and one that will be interesting to see how well EA has executed.

Footnote: As I write this the EA site appears to be down, perhaps it's the throngs of game players looking, like me, for more information on Dynamic DNA...

Spore Creature Creator

If you are anxiously awaiting the release of Spore, as I am, you may be interested to know that you can get a bit of a leg up on your would be competitors. Electronic Arts has just released the trial version of the Spore Creature Creator tool, it's downloadable on both Mac and PC and enables you to create creatures for use within the game - when it's released in September. Check out this tutorial...

EA is also allowing you to pre-order at a number of retailers or at the EA store.

The Sims Tops 100 Million Units Sold

Electronic Arts, Inc. announced in a press release yesterday that The Sims have sold 100 million units globally since the games inception. "At this milestone, we want to thank players of The Sims everywhere for making The Sims such a worldwide phenomenon," said Rod Humble, Head of Studio for The Sims Label. Since 2000, The Sims has sold in 22 languages and 60 countries around the world and the milestone makes it the best-selling PC game franchise of all time, according to EA. Good on ya EA! but forget The Sims we want to see Spore!

Massive And Electronic Arts Ink Longterm Deal For Ingame Ads

Microsoft subsidiary, Massive Inc., will announce today the signing of a multi year deal with Electronics Arts Inc. to sell rotating ad space in EA's online games. According to the Globe and Mail, "Massive's technology allows marketers to stream current and constantly updated ads directly into video games played online, either on the Xbox 360 console or a PC." The game company builds blank spaces within it's product for Massive to populate with rotating streaming ads via the Internet. The market for in-game console advertising was estimated to be worth about $12-million (U.S.) in North America in 2007, but that number is expected to balloon to nearly $650-million by 2010. “You're going to see a huge growth rate in console advertising because it's growing from nothing,” said market analyst Billy Pidgeon. “It's more nascent, but it will be important.” What surprises me is that this market is not larger than $12-million already! With the popularity of gaming on the rise and the prevalence of connected consoles, I would have thought that more money was changing hands here already...

Guitar Hero: Aerosmith Coming in June '08

Activision announced, in a press release on Friday, that it was planning a release of it's hit game franchise Guitar Hero that is focused on the music stylings of one of the ultimate rock bands, Aerosmith! According to the release "Gamers will experience Aerosmith's GRAMMY(R) winning career, from their first gig to becoming rock royalty, in a way that no other entertainment vehicle offers." To celebrate the collaboration, Guitar Hero III: Legends of Rock fans have the opportunity to download Aerosmith's "Dream On." via XBox Live, but you'd better act fast as today is the last day for this free offer. Band front man Steven Tyler says, "Any band that can go from 'Don't Want to Miss A Thing' (Aerosmith's #1 smash hit) to the ass-kicking 'Sweet Emotion' to the cheekiness of 'Love in an Elevator,' to the classic ballad 'Dream On' shows why Activision chose us to headline this game based on the diversity of the Aerosmith catalog. Not only is songwriting a bitch, but then it goes and has puppies." It's funny, my boys and I were having a conversation just last week about the next Guitar Hero offering, we proposed a couple of scenarios but totally missed the one band version...

EA Exploring Ad-based Games and Micro Payments

The BBC is reporting that Electronic Arts (EA) will release a free online version of it's Battlefield title later this year. In a statement, EA's Gerhard Florin said ""People want to play games in new ways, with easier access that is quick to the fun. With Battlefield Heroes, EA brings its first major franchise to North America and Europe with a new distribution model and pricing structure adapted to the evolving way that people play." Battlefield Heroes is geared for the masses with a more cartoon like feel and requires less horse power to play. Ben Cousins a senior producer with Dice the games developer told the BBC that ""We're removing all barriers to entry and we hope there is broader audience for the title. You will be able to play this game on grandma's laptop." For the gamers the Ads will not be intrusive, appearing not in game but on the website and on the front-end of the game. Players will be able to purchase items to customize their characters but will not be able to gain any advantage over other players through these purchases. It's a model that EA has been exploring in Asia and hopes to find success with in the North American and European markets. Seems to me that it's sort of the Wii philosophy of appealing to more players by making the games easier to play, according to the article "EA expected 95% of people who played the game never to spend any money."

EA blamed for Christmas without Rock Band

Electronic Arts (EA) is feeling the heat over the absence of the full version of Rock Band from Canadian retail shelves. The highly anticipated game title which was released State side last month was delayed several times here in Canada but was supposed to hit store shelves on Thursday. Our local Future Shop has told us that it would not receive any until the 28th and according to an EA spokesperson "Demand has been incredibly strong in the U.S. and Canada and we're shipping Rock Band to retailers as quickly as we can make them, but we suggest lining up early if you want to get one in time for the holidays,". The CBC has more here...

Sims 2: Castaway, kinda like Survivor... the video game

Here's a preview of Sims 2: Castaway from the folks at G4's The Feed. If you enjoy The Sims series and are a reality TV fan, this might be the game for you! No XBox version though...sigh! Wilson!!!