Cliff Notes – Is EA in danger of going under?
- Job Cuts and Industry Stability: EA has faced significant layoffs, with 700 jobs cut last year and an additional 400 this year, raising concerns about the company’s ability to sustain game development talent.
- Shift Towards Live Service Games: The industry appears to be gravitating towards a few dominant live service titles, potentially sidelining diverse game offerings and limiting innovation in the sector.
- Financial Viability of Major Titles: Despite criticism of mainstream franchises like EA Sports FC, these titles remain crucial for the company’s financial health, suggesting that their success is vital for EA’s future stability.
Games Inbox: Is EA in danger of going under?
The Thursday letters page hopes Persona 6 is like Clair Obscur: Expedition 33, as one reader predicts a Resident Evil 9 reveal at Summer Game Fest.
Dead end
I really don’t know what the endgame is for the games industry, with these constant job cuts. 700 from EA last year, 400 now, who’s going to be left to make their games? All the people with the skill and experience will have long ago left or been kicked out.
I know it’s hard in tech in general at the moment, but I thought video games were supposed to be art? You don’t find the sort of technically minded artists you need to make a video game hanging around the average job centre. All this knowledge and skills is being lost, possibly never to return.
I really worry that EA is going to go under. Not that I have any love for EA, given how few of their games I buy, but it’s another cornerstone of gaming that is suddenly looking very unsteady.
I don’t want to be too defeatist, but I really feel like gaming has got itself into such a rut that it’s not going to get. In the future gaming will just be Fortnite and the dozen or so other live service games that never seem to die (minus Apex Legends) and that’ll be it. Everyone else will just be indie games.
Ansel
The moneymakers
It’s a real bummer that they may have almost got Titanfall 3 finished and then EA canned it anyway. I know we don’t know that’s what happened for sure, but that sort of thing happens sometimes with movies, and I get the feeling it does with games as well.
It goes to show you though, that when we’re all complaining about boring mass market games like EA Sports FC and Call Of Duty, they are breadwinners for these companies. Like Assassin’s Creed for Ubisoft. It doesn’t make any difference for Activision, who don’t make any other games, but EA does, a bit, and it’s completely in character that they’d immediately stop as soon as things get dicey.
So I hope EA Sports FC 25 does sell, or otherwise we won’t get any more Split Fiction style games or Star Wars titles.
Carton
Bottom of the barrel
I am struggling to think of a Zelda spin-off that would be less desirable than Hyrule Warriors 3. Maybe it sells in Japan but it doesn’t seem to in the West, so I really cannot understand it. Maybe they thought it was a way to compensate for people wanting to play as Zelda? I hate to say it, but they wanted to play as her in a Zelda game (and now can) not in a Dynasty Warriors spin-off.
I would’ve taken literally any remaster or remake over this, or any kind of spin-off you can name. Link’s Crossbow Training 2 would’ve been more appealing than this. Same goes for Kirby: Air Riders. Both choices are so bizarre and feel more like Nintendo lost a bet with someone than a sensible choice for a launch window game for their new console.
Loanstar
Paying the rent
Call me crazy but is being able to use two copies of a game at the same time online not a bit entitled? I mean… why should you be allowed to do that? It never even occurred to me to even try. Why stop at two copies, why not three or four or infinite?
We all want free stuff but where does it end? Not every company is Microsoft or Amazon, some of them have to earn money to keep going and video games is all Nintendo does.
Not that I’m not saying their games are expensive, but I think we should save that complaint for when we see what PlayStation 6 games are going to cost. Because I’m willing to bet they won’t have dynamic pricing, depending on what the game is.
Let’s face it, everything is too expensive at the moment, but I can’t honestly say that Nintendo is ripping us off. Not unless Mario Kart World turns out to be awful, which it’s obviously not going to.
Benson
Colourful rumours
I think everyone said this before Persona 5 was announced but Atlus sure love taking their time with the next game. As far as I can work out the only thing that’s really leaked about it so far is the colour scheme, so we basically know absolutely nothing so far.
My hope for the game is that they do overhaul the combat, because that is beginning to look really long in the tooth compared to Clair Obscur: Expedition 33. I realise it’s too late for that game to have any real influence on Persona 6, but Atlus should realise that is the new gold standard for turn-based battles.
Lampy
Summer dreams
So, the Resident Evil 9 reveal is definitely going to be at Summer Game Fest, right? Capcom’s used it before and we’re well overdue a look at the game, so I’m going to choose to believe it will be there.
I’ve not really been feeling this year for games so far. I haven’t bought anything new that’s been out and since I’m not getting a Switch 2 there’s nothing on my radar either. Obviously, I’m getting GTA 6 but I could do with more to look forward to than that. Especially since we don’t know when it will be out.
Resident Evil 9 will do very nicely for a start but if we’re fantasising then I’d like to see something on the new Bioshock that’s been rumoured for years, then The Witcher 4 would be good, and the new Tomb Raider too. Yes, I know we probably won’t get any of those, other than Resi, but these games have been hanging around in the background for so long now I’m not sure if they’re even still getting made.
I realise it’s all because games take so long to make now but some of these must have been talked about for well over five years. It’s really time we started to see some results.
Gascoigne
GC: Resident Evil 9 could well be at the Summer Game Fest, but since it’s very unlikely to be out this year it’s by no means certain.
Price checker
A big thanks to reader Euclidian Boxes for the recommendation of Deku Deals. I’ve signed up to it and added some Switch (2) games on my list. It is very useful to see the price history too.
I’ve already noticed that the Mario games I have on my saved for later list at Amazon are already out of stock for one or two months.
Charlie H.
Low cost future
Completely agree with all the praise for Clair Obscur: Expedition 33. I’ve only played it for six hours or so, but I absolutely love its nods to old school role-players like Final Fantasy 7, while also being its own thing and making its characters feel like real people.
I also agree with the reader who said that it was a real shame that Ubisoft let these talented developers slip through their fingers and go off and form their own company. Clearly it turned out great for Sandfall, but why couldn’t Ubisoft have let them make this and have a whole new franchise to run into the ground… oh, I guess I’ve answered my own question there.
But in all seriousness, with all the layoffs still going on at the big publishers I really hope the idea of these sort of ‘super indie’ games take off. I don’t mind paying last gen prices for a game of this quality.
In fact, I’m quite happy to be rewarding individuals that have entertained me with a quality game, rather than giving it all to a faceless corporation who’s probably only interested in me as a customer if I buy a bunch of skins and DLC as well.
So bien joué to Sandfall and I hope they can be an example that many others will follow. Just please don’t let yourself get bought up by Microsoft or Sony as soon as you hit it big.
Tony T.
Inbox also-rans
I thought Call Of Duty was going to stop with these gimmicky skins? Seth Rogan and those two guys from Clerks is almost as stupid as the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles.
Gorker
I would love to see Nintendo try a new Star Fox game, but I think it’s been too long since it was popular for it to get any real traction with younger fans. The whole animals flying spaceships thing is really weird to anyone that’s not used to it.
Dusty