EA Sports Plans to Develop Netflix-Like Gaming Model

From DailyTech: EA Sports has announced that it is looking to change the gaming business model according to The Guardian, making it similar to what Netflix has done with the movie/television industry and what Amazon has done with the publishing industry.

Andrew Wilson, worldwide head of development for EA Sports, laid out a preview of the company's plans in a talk called "Gaming 3.0: Moving the Goalposts" at the 2011 Develop conference.

Wilson described how Amazon's Whispersync and Netflix both allow consumers to enjoy digital books and movies respectively over a variety of different platforms, such as PC, Mac, iPhone, Android, iPad, iPod touch, etc., and the consumer only has to pay a one-time price to do so. He says this sort of business model puts the consumer in control, which is why they're successful. Now, EA Sports plans on developing a similar model in the gaming industry.

In the future, EA Sports hopes to offer all of its titles, such as Madden and Fifa, for one fixed price over a variety of devices. In addition, all of these platforms will be linked by one social gaming "ecosystem."

"Consumers are saying, 'We're no longer going to line up at Gamestop en masse and give you money," said Wilson. "We want to see an evolution in this space, we want to take control of games the same way as we have taken control of music and movies."

With new game titles hitting store shelves at $60 a piece, and publishers on the verge of killing the used game market with the one-save game feature or limited online access, consumers surely will think twice about contributing to current gaming business models. The bottom line is that cost is a major issue, and publishers are making it increasingly difficult for consumers to obtain the games they want at a reasonable price.

View: Article @ Source Site