Second screen gaming through apps like Microsoft’s SmartGlass is quickly becoming a popular feature, and Electronic Arts is fully committed to the feature. Speaking with Polygon, EA games label head Patrick Soderlund said the experience was picking up in importance at the company, calling it a “meaningful extension.”
He believes that social media is a huge part of the outreach on a second screen, with more day-to-day interactions that tie in with game experiences.
“We’ve been on that train for awhile, I can’t say we’ve been perfect, but we’ve done a lot like the whole idea of autolog in Need for Speed was because of a behavioral change in consumer minds,” he said. “If you look at how [the smartphone] affected your life, how Facebook affected your life, I can’t watch TV without using [a smartphone] five times during a movie. It’s ridiculous, but that’s what it is, and everyone does that.”
“The social revolution we’ve seen because of technology and services, like Facebook and Twitter and those kind of things, has changed how games are played. And will continue to have an impact on how we will design games from the get go.”
“Today, this is one of the first things our game guys design when they start looking at Star Wars: Battlefront, which is going through design right now. One of the first things we talked about is these things, that tells you it’s in the minds of the people who make the games. What we are seeing is the start of it, and it’s just going to take a bigger part of games.”
Battlefield 4 will play a big part in this when it launches on October 29, with a second screen experience that lets players command actions in combat with their tablet or mobile device.
Source: VG247
