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EA CEO John Riccitiello says the 4-5 year console cycle is dead

http://www.gamesindustry.biz/articles/2011-07-27-riccitiello-traditional-development-cycle-gone-forever
"Gone forever is the 4 to 5 year console cadence that gave developers ample time to invest and retool for the next big wave"
-John Riccitiello, EA
Some people area reading this as the 4-5year game dev cycle is dead but I don't think that is what he meant. Only that consoles are having to compete with other platforms and a new console every 4-5 years will no longer be the driving force behind technological advancements and pipeline changes.

Instead of "get new dev kit and make a few upgrades to game(s) for the next console cycle". We'll need to be more flexible and varied in our approach and consider more platforms, more hardware and more varied users as we make games. Pretty much rolling back to the PC days when you didn't know who your user was or what hardware/software they where running and how it conflicted with everything else, heh.

I think certain titles will still take 4-5 years to produce and that they'll still bankroll them, but that's just my view, maybe he really is saying that every game is going to need to be done on a mobile budget in a mobile time frame... I guess he could be a moron...

Either way... don't get comfortable we're changing again, as if you couldn't already tell =)

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  • acc
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    acc polycounter lvl 18
    Pretty much rolling back to the PC days when you didn't know who your user was or what hardware/software they where running and how it conflicted with everything else, heh.
    "PC gaming isn't dying, console gaming is turning into PC gaming."

    I've been saying that for years but people never listen. Oh well!

    I'd like to see the full article to get some more context on that statement since I can't really tell exactly what he's referring to.

    The constant stream of new systems and major upgrades from first parties and mobiles?
    The shift to delivering games as services rather than products?
    The shift back to PC and browser games?
    Something else?
  • Ghostscape
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    Ghostscape polycounter lvl 13
    here's the full article - if this isn't cool I can take it down, but it'll help people who want to chime in but can't be arsed to register for the site:
    Electronic Arts' CEO John Riccitiello has said that the traditional 4-5 year game and console cycle has gone forever, following a period of rapid change and business evolution.

    Speaking following financial results that highlighted improved sales and profits thanks in large part to console game sales, he noted that current growth areas - such as tablets and mobile - were not even on the market less than two years ago.

    "Most of us recognise that the industry has radically changed and the pace of change has accelerated dramatically. Gone forever is the 4 to 5 year console cadence that gave developers ample time to invest and retool for the next big wave," he said.

    Gone forever is the 4 to 5 year console cadence that gave developers ample time to invest and retool for the next big wave

    "Consider that just 18 months ago, there was no iPad, Google was just experimenting with Android and most big games were limited to a single revenue opportunity at launch. Consider that each of the major consoles now has a controller that encourages users to get off the couch and get into the action.

    "On smartphones and tablets like the iPhone and iPad, the top paid apps are all games. Recognise that the fastest-growing revenue streams for console, PC, smartphones and tablets are all digital, and that EA is partnering with its retail and platform partners to help jointly grow these digital revenue streams. While the game industry has fundamentally changed, games are reaching a far larger audience base than ever before."

    Riccitiello went on to highlight the publishers three point plan to grow the business - regular releases based on its strongest IP, turning the business itself into a platform with the help of services like Origin, and maintaining and fostering talent.

    "We're building the strength of our most important IP," he offered. "And for EA, this means about a dozen very substantial IPs. Each of these will be transformed into year-round businesses with major packaged goods launches, social launches, mobile launches, downloadable content and micro-transactions."

    As part of the plan to turn the business into a platform, Riccitiello said that it still needs the support of other businesses, and confirmed that download service Origin will host third-party content - not just EA's games.

    "GameStop, with 11.5 million registered users of their PowerUp Rewards program, is proving to be one of our best partners in digital."

    "We believe that Origin will scale quickly with the addition of third parties and with the launch of Battlefield 3 and Star Wars later this year," he added.

    He also highlighted the recent opening of a new studio in Austin as evidence that the company is keen to grow talent, allowing them to work across a broad spectrum of technology and business models.

    "We recognise that creative and engineering talent is at the core of what we do, and we are making sure that EA is the best place to work for these industry leaders."

    I think the most important part is where he mentions that 18 months ago we didn't have the Android, iPad, etc, and for some reason he's omitted the WiiU from this lineup (probably because who knows exactly when it's out?) but the overall message seems to be one that:

    A) There isn't an organized structure to hardware releases that can be counted on
    B) IP needs to be developed across all electronic devices (social, mobile, PC, and consoles)
  • Bigjohn
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    Bigjohn polycounter lvl 11
    So does he mean that we'll have upgradeable consoles in the same way a PC is upgradeable? Cause otherwise I don't exactly see how you could avoid eventually releasing the next generation of consoles.
  • Mark Dygert
    Ghostscape, thanks for posting that I forgot that you need to log in otherwise I would of posted it all.

    Bigjohn, I think he's saying that their previous way of doing business "ignore everything but the 2 consoles" isn't a solid move for them any more and they need to open and consider other hardware and other delivery methods of games instead of just "get next gen dev kit, make game, put game on shelf at gamestop".

    They've seen the power of streaming media and how successful things like netflix, steam and campy low budget high earning casual games can be and they want in.

    In short: "oh fuck look at all the money would could of made if we actually moved on some of this stuff!?"
  • arrangemonk
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    arrangemonk polycounter lvl 15
    until the fat finger problem isnt completely solved i see no treat to joypad & keyboard + mouse gaming
  • acc
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    acc polycounter lvl 18
    Ah, thanks for posting it. So what he is saying is: "Don't put all your eggs in one basket and by 'basket' I mean 'consoles'."

    Yeah, sounds about right.

    The rest of the stuff about year-round franchises and Origin is not so great as it really means market oversaturation and higher prices.
  • Striff
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    Striff polycounter lvl 18
    What he meant to say was...."It's too expensive to do this shit every 4 or 5 years"
  • Ace-Angel
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    Ace-Angel polycounter lvl 12
    What he meant to say is:

    "People are listening to Pach and think he is a cool guy and ain't afraid of anything, so why not us?"
  • PolyHertz
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    PolyHertz polycount lvl 666
    Upgrades-
    There are only two reasons people play consoles over other platforms:
    1. 100% compatibility with all games that have the consoles branding.
    2. Designed for standard TVs / home theaters out of the box.

    Upgrades have been tried before, they don't work, they just confuse the market.


    "regular releases based on its strongest IP"
    "We're building the strength of our most important IP. Each of these will be transformed into year-round businesses with major packaged goods launches, social launches, mobile launches, downloadable content and micro-transactions."


    Episodic content, yearly madden releases, DLC, blahblah etc.etc.
    Welcome to 2006, more or less.

    "Consider that just 18 months ago...most big games were limited to a single revenue opportunity at launch."

    'big games' meaning...? Their have been tons of ways to release games digitally for years now, nothing of any significance has happened in the last 18 months except maybe facebook games becoming more popular.
  • ae.
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    ae. polycounter lvl 12
    Cant wait for the ea box! imagine paying a monthly fee to play all there sports games with regular updates to rosters and such i hope they do it cause i would pay for it!
  • aajohnny
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    aajohnny polycounter lvl 13
    ae. wrote: »
    Cant wait for the ea box! imagine paying a monthly fee to play all there sports games with regular updates to rosters and such i hope they do it cause i would pay for it!
    You would have to buy the ea box, and then pay monthly to turn it in, and for their online service and their games, and their games online. Maybe they would charge a texting/messaging fee to your friends.
  • teaandcigarettes
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    teaandcigarettes polycounter lvl 12
    [ame]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mtHzLt3C_z0[/ame]


    I hope that John Riccitiello has a good sense of humour. Otherwise, here go my chances of ever working for an EA owned studio :poly122:


    Jokes aside, he has a point. Console generations are probably gone, or at least, they won't have such a big impact on the industry anymore.

    For a while now there's been rumours of forward compatibility; the launches of both Xbox360 and PS3 had been extremely costly and I doubt Sony and Microsoft want to alienate their old users when their new hardware comes out. I have this gut feeling that one day people will be able to play the same game on a handheld, home console, PC or even their mobile phone and get a very similar experience.

    Of course, for that to happen, the tools used to make the games would have to make porting incredibly easy, but UDK and CE (and probably some other in-house tools) already started to offer similar functionality.

    I really hope that my crystal ball is right; spreading the same game among more platforms could potentially make it less risky to create standalone titles.

    Here's where I disagree with him; frankly I'm a little bit tired of the whole "IP" deal. Franchises will never go away, but at this point, even Hollywood is more cautious with milking their brands. I'm afraid that people will eventually get tired of getting the same deal year after year and when that happens we will see a lot of layoffs.
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