Topic: Riccitiello: Current Pricing Model Needs to Change

[WindyMan]

EA's CEO doesn't think the $60 game is going to fly with consumers much longer.
 http://www.nintendoworldreport.com/newsArt.cfm?artid=14718

 John Riccitiello, CEO of Electronic Arts, thinks that the video game industry will be damaged if leading companies don't change with the times.    

Talking with Fortune Magazine, Riccitiello believes that paying a premium price for games is a business model that won't be around next decade.  Because of the advent of online game distribution, he said EA will be experimenting with new pricing models.    

“In the next five years, we’re all going to have to deal with this. In China, they’re giving games away for free," Riccitiello told Fortune. “People who benefit from the current model will need to embrace a new revenue model, or wait for others to disrupt."    

Riccitiello compared the the current state of the games industry with that of the television industry some years ago.  The major broadcast networks “were extremely arrogant" when cable networks first appeared.  Now, broadcast television has fewer viewers than the cable networks.    

Electronic Arts doesn't want to be caught up in the arrogance of the industry, which is why it's spending millions on bringing original games to the table.  EA is currently developing new games such as Spore (which was confirmed to be in development for Wii) and has brought in new studios like Pandemic and Bioware.

[oohhboy]

Has he played those so-called "Free" games? 99% are rubbish. They also give games away in China because you can't sell them. The ones that do make money are micro-transaction to hell and back. Such a model would not be acceptable in any of the traditional markets.

There is no "Blue water" revenue model.

[Kairon]

99% of REAL games are rubbish already oohhboy. At least "free" games don't make you pay money for them.

[King of Twitch]

Solution: don't develop on systems that require HD and spiraling development costs and instead place them on the system with low dev costs and the largest userbase. It's quite simple, really.

[KDR_11k]

Well, good to see EA taking the first step... With 60€ games on the Wii when even Nintendo is only asking 50€ these days.

[planetidiot]

I  haven't played a game worth over $50 in a long time.  

[shammack]

Allow me to predict EA's new pricing model: They sell you the game on a disc dirt-cheap, but everything is "locked" until you buy the right to unlock each piece of the game separately through micro-(or not-so-micro-)transactions, totalling more than you would have paid in the traditional model, and all the money goes straight to EA.  And then, repeat the process next year when the same game comes out again with slight changes.

[GoldenPhoenix]

Quote
Originally posted by: Kairon
99% of REAL games are rubbish already oohhboy.

You need to be nicer Kairon, not every game can be as cool as Far Cry and Alien Syndrome!

[Kairon]

Quote
Originally posted by: GoldenPhoenix

Quote
Originally posted by: Kairon
99% of REAL games are rubbish already oohhboy.

You need to be nicer Kairon, not every game can be as cool as Far Cry and Alien Syndrome!

Well... that doesn't mean they can't TRY at the very least. *looks at Sims 2:Castaway* ...hmmmmm...