Thursday, June 12, 2008

Laurels

Peter Moore of EA Sports made a very funny blog post today titled Not Resting On Our Laurels:
To set the record VERY straight (despite what you might have read to the contrary in the last day or so…), we had:
• Four EA SPORTS titles get Sports Game of the Year nods by various outlets, including FIFA, NCAA Football, Madden and NHL. Of course NHL was consensus best in class, as I mentioned a few days ago. Named sports game of the year by seven publications. No one comes close to that.

I bolded that last sentence, because it reminded me of a story. A dictator once ordered his guards to shoot every prisoner in his country, and when they were done, he proudly announced that the jails were empty.

Seriously, Peter, are you high? You've bought exclusive licenses with the NFL, the NCAA (football), FIFA, NASCAR, and the PGA. Do you know how many competing products will be released in those sports this year? One (Pro Evo). Sure, there are text-sims and an occasional over-the-top arcade title, but those are low-budget, niche games.

Oh, and by the way, you're desperately trying to acquire Take-Two, which would kill more competition. After you buy Take-Two, do you know what's left in the graphics-based team sports category besides EA games? Sony's MLB and NBA series, and Pro Evo. Three games across seven sports (pro football, college football, pro basketball, college basketball, pro hockey, pro baseball, and pro soccer).

Congratulations, Peter. You've successfully destroyed a genre.

Your laurels? Try your checkbook.

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