Halloween is a scary time of year, no less when you’re posting a $310 million net loss. EA CEO John Riccitiello sees “weakness” at retail in October and we’re betting this isn’t the end of the road of sorrow for game publishers around the globe.
Electronic Arts isn’t unfamiliar with bad times and we’re sure to see them make constant adjustments to their headcount, game releases and press as the economy goes into a bit of a slump. Although the game industry won’t see as big a hit as the financial market, everyone is going to watch their spending during slower economic times.
That slowness is a red flag for the mega-publisher, which says it’s “proactively making cost adjustments now.” One of those adjustments is the axing of some 600 EA employees across the globe. (Kotaku)
Last year Electronic Arts lost a “small” $195 million during the same time, not exactly a gold star on the financial records but it sure looks better than this loss. A few games may crumble under the economic pressures, Tiberium for example, but let us not forget the good times! EA posted some nice figures for Spore, Madden NFL 09, Warhammer: Age of Reckoning and Mercenaries 2: World in Flames.
So, they mixed a few sequels with a few new franchise hits and gave gamers some pretty hot titles for the year. Of course, hot titles in our hand do not always translate to positive revenue in theirs.
Hi guys.
Sorry for not writing a comment for such a long time 🙁 I am listening nearly to every episode, but really forget to write you a line .. sorry for that!
Regarding the topics in this episode:
Best Gamepad for me is the PS4 Gamepad. I have small Hands, so thats fine for me to handle it. The Switch Pro COntroller is nice as well, but after playing some hours, i feel some pain in my hands which i dont have playing with the ps4 Controller. The xbox Controller is a little bit too clunky to play with it for hours imho. The bigger size is not the problem, i think for me its the orientation of the buttons, especially the ones on the backside.
I am playing much WOW right now … i am not able to play Magic with real cards so WOW is a welcome time killer 🙂 In addition i am playing the new Ori Game, the new Doom and i want to start the FF7 Remake.
Regaridng Fall Out New Vegas: cant tell anything about it .. never played it .. should I ?
People are really playing more survival games during this Covid Period? Oh my god 😀 they should watch Walking dead instead .. haha 🙂
Regarding the grinding discussion: i play WOW and i played it 15 years ago so i know grinding very good 🙂 But at least if you are in Discord with some friends, talking and maybe watching som tv shows on a second screen, its not that hard and boring. But sure its sad, that you you have to grind at some points to get some good rewards 🙁
Thanks again for the nice and entertaining episode. Keep on guys and stay healthy 🙂
greetings from germany,
Ralf