EA offers next-gen strategies

In a revealing press conference, Electronic Arts has divulged some of the strategies they’ll implement in developing for next-generation consoles.

Speaking at the Morgan Stanley Technology, Media and Telecom Conference, EA chief financial officer Blake Jorgensen and chief technology officer Rajat Taneja both agreed EA had never been more set for a new generation of consoles.

“At EA, we have never been as prepared or more ready for the start of a new console cycle,” said Taneja.

He said this was largely because a number of factors had gone EA’s way, including the amount of power in the console – which Taneja described as “between eight and ten times the power” – which means developers have a lot more freedom.

In terms of the physical console, because the architecture of the already announced PS4 will be based on that of standard PCs, EA tech like their Frostbite Engine (used to run games like Need for Speed: The Run) can be adapted and made ready for consoles far more quickly.

“What used to take months in the past will now take days to do,” he said. Interestingly, Jorgensen added that instead of plate spinning a huge number of titles, EA will instead focus on about 15 core titles and attempt to make those as strong as possible.

In terms of how this will work financially, he said even though development costs are expected to rise by around 10 to 15 per cent per title, these will be offset by the new hardware and the interested that will raise.

Another plus for EA is the social networking features mentioned at the Sony PS4 reveal.

EA has been using social gaming as a selling point for years, particularly with sports titles like FIFA and Madden that encourage competition between friends, trading and league play.