There have been some mild concerns about where the video game market will go with the release of Sony’s PlayStation 4 and Microsoft’s Xbox One consoles, especially considering their high prices. Electronic Arts, however, isn’t concerned.
Following the decline of sales in popular sequels in the Call of Duty, Assassin’s Creed and Battlefield franchises, EA Studios EVP Patrick Soderlund assured the company’s faith in the next-gen race.
“It is always going to be difficult to sell games on an older platform when something new is coming,” he told MCV. “More now than previously, it feels like people are really waiting for something new. I think with the games we have and our competitor games, you will see a big attach rate on the next-gen. There’s a lot of people waiting for the new, just like when a new iPhone comes out, and they hold off buying an iPhone 4S before the iPhone 5 comes out.”
“I think it is that simple. There are people waiting, they will get a machine, and look at the games and say: ‘If I want a shooter and I want the best one. If I want a racing game and I want the best one. If I want a soccer game and I want FIFA,” he concluded.
He also reassured that original games would sell well also, including the forthcoming multiplayer shooter Titanfall. ““The reaction to that is telling us that gamers don’t want to play the same game every year, we have to give them new experiences. And even the games we build on an iterative basis, we have to keep on innovating and push for new things so that people have a reason to play them.”
Source: MCV UK
