So huge has the change at EA been that top execs now comb game forums. Of course some are just ”flat out haters,” with a lot of feedback just ”noise”.
”When I first came here we set upon a mission to improve our brand image,” said Peter Moore. ”There were a number of things we knew we needed to do. We needed to be a lot more open, forthright and communicative at the development level.”
”Not the marketing level, where we do that very well, in fact as well if not better than anybody else in the industry, but allowing our developers to be able to speak openly and sometimes saying things maybe PR feels uncomfortable with, but we got over that.”
”EA had not transformed into a community-based company. There were guidelines saying what you couldn’t do, and you weren’t media trained. Those days are behind us. When you look at our community boards, we have people now who deal with them as their full-time jobs.”
Recently Madden had some control mechanism trouble and EA Sports listened to the fans and decided it was going to patch the problem. ”Last year with Fight Night we did the same thing,” he continued. You can’t ignore the masses and just move on.
”You’ve got to swallow your pride, and say, ‘We thought this was the right thing to do. But it isn’t, so we’re going to give you the ability to play it this way.’ You just react. It’s no longer you ship the game out then move on to the next year.”
EA is no longer seen as the big ogre in the industry, clubbing game quality and fan enthusiasm to death. The publisher has come a long way to prove its a gamer just as much as we all are. Their latest major IPs have all performed exceptionally well.
”The 12 angry men on the internet, as I call them, it’s enough of a sampling size,” he said. ”You read fifty, sixty, eighty of them, and you filter out fifty per cent of it just as noise.”
”But then there are enough people there that have reasonably articulate and intelligent points of view – for and against – I really don’t care. It just allows you to form an opinion. It gives you enough of a sampling size to get a feel for what’s going on out there.”
There are those who just enjoy moaning, the ”flat out haters. There are people who like to stir things up and be the devil’s advocate. And there people who just don’t like EA. And there are people who don’t like the capitalistic nature of the videogame industry.”
”But overall, if I see a story I’m interested in, I read the story quickly and then I go see what the reaction is. I always do that,” added Moore. Do you agree the publishing giant EA has changed over the last few years for the better?
