EA: The PC is 'Extremely Healthy' and Might Become 'Biggest Platform'

From PC World: This November the Xbox 360 turns six, the PS3 and Wii turn five, and the PC, well, it's about as old as me (or slightly older than, depending). To hear EA tell it, the platform's still younger and sprier than its ephemeral competitors, and increasingly back in the company's crosshairs.

"The user base is gigantic," EA games label president Frank Gibeau told Gamasutra. "PC retail may be a big problem, but PC downloads are awesome... The margins are much better and we don't have any rules in terms of first party approvals."

"From our perspective, it's an extremely healthy platform," continued Gibeau, adding "It's totally conceivable it will become our biggest platform."

To be clear, Gibeau doesn't mean a return to one-offs (or as he puts it, "fire-and-forget" games) but rather a transition to online-angled "iterative" gaming. Think Facebook quickies like Angry Birds and Tetris, extensible games like Mass Effect and Dragon Age, or monstrous time sinks like EA's upcoming Star Wars: The Old Republic, a mega-IP-availing online roleplaying game into which a self-styled whistleblower claimed the company has poured upwards of $300 million (though EA recently denied that claim, calling the figure "vastly higher than anything [it's] ever put in place").

It's a foregone conclusion. Consoles have a shelf life. Publishers ride set-top boxes like waves. Between and occasionally well above the waves: The PC. It's dependable, mutable, and indefatigable (that's three unassailable "ables").

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