EA CEO calls video games 'boring,' complicated

[rctshack 182]

This guy doesn't want to keep any of us playing the game, he just wants all of us to buy it in the first place. The only reason the sims gets sooooo much work put into it is because the fans buy the expansion packs and pay more money. This guy probly would rather have a game be short and have all of us get bored so we would spend money on another game they make to fill the time. The biggest problem right now with the industry is that they don't care about long lasting games, they care about the intial sale. So with sim city societies... they add just enough stuff to make it catch peoples eyes and even get some people in this forum saying "ohhh well I want to try it"... but truthfully they could care less if you like it or not.... because even if you hate it... you already bought it. They got the money.

With Sim City 4.... yes, we all loved it and played it for 5 years..... but even if we had played it for 2 days... EA would have had the same amount of profit most likely.... and in their perspective... they probably would rather have had us get bored and guy another one of their games to make more profit.

Companies that are large like EA only have on resposibily... the same resposibility that every other publicly traded company has... make money for the shareholders... which has nothing to do with the fans. We are all just stuck in the crossfire of Maxis losing creative power and EA wanting quick money by naming a boring pointless game "Sim City". And it sucks.

This guy probly thinks tetris is way too hard.

[John-SJ 13]

I'm a little confused, which boring and pointless game are you referring to?

The one that was the worst of all the SimCity games out of the box?  The one for which mod tools trickled out of Maxis after the release?  Or did you mean the one that will have a full suite of mod tools right out of the box?  The one with out of the box scripting support?

Perhaps it is only a difference of perspective, but I consider both of TM's previous games to have good replay value.  And honestly, SC4 is getting pretty boring, even with ST mods.  Truth is, I played SC4 less than any of the other SC games so far.

I think EA did the right thing handing development over to a company that will look at SimCity with a fresh point of view.

Well, that's my 2 cents.

[LB_Industries 4]

my opinion

the newer games getting boring because they are earier, because they are more hard coded and don't let the palyer left his own influence.

For me it was the same with Age of emipres ..

with Age of kings the new game was more difficult and more free. It was sold million wise

then they came out with AGE III

nice 3d eye candy very easy to play in just one hour

room for strategie wasn't given just shout em all

for me boring as much as possible

same now with sc5 ... this game will be boring because it is short, small area, nothing to thing about just knowing the given things and clicking jere and there.

If someone just want a game it migth be ok

but if it is true that complicate games are bad to sell I am asking why f.e. MS Fligth Simulator is such a succesfull thing

and there is nobody had the idear to make it easier, instead make it more realistic more complicate.

Are these people who don't wnat to learn don't want to think don't want to solve problems really CUSTOMERS ???

I just hope that SC S will not sold successfully otherwise i see a bad future for PC games becomming playstation or X-Box games for kids under 10

[RichardMH 0]

Originally posted by: JFman00

Mr. Riccitiello worries that competition puts the games business "at risk of being a little less interesting than Facebook and iPods and the next cool cellphone.quote>

How can you compair the amount of fun you get with the simcity game to that of an ipod?

[Myr 0]

EA's CEO sounds a lot like Disney's CEO when he made the comment about 2d animation being obsolete, a thing of the past, and inferior to 3d animation.

[Edude7 1]

OK, so what is the point of building popularity with a game, creating a fan base that expects improvements on the original formula, but which maintains some sort of resemblance to the original, to just say to them: 'you know what? You're a boring bunch of people. The sequels should be innovative (*I do support this point in theory, not in practise as EA sees it*) and should make you think about what you're doing, so we're not giving you an updated improved and interesting sequel, we are going to give you a rehashed idea from another game franchise which didn't work, and make it fit your game's scenarios without even attempting to bring in the added elements the previous sequels did'?????? This is utter stupidity from people who have their eyes on money factor rather than credibility among its consumers. If we went to the corner store to find that they no longer 'do' groceries because they thought the consumer market needs innovation and so they now sell batteries only, sure, some people will still buy, but the majority who went expecting groceries will go 'what the ****? I want groceries, I am going to just drive on down to the next place which DOES still give groceries'.

I am all for innovation, and I am one who is against the 'dumbing down' of games - SC:S provides a level of innovation, but they dumbed it down by making that innovation the ONLY aspect of the game play... Not good.

[panthersimcity4 162]

EA = an example of American corporate greed.... and a bunch of old people in suits who don't know anything about video games

[Gorgogn_the_sim_killer 1]

What is this crap that I'm hearing about retarded players? No one is retarded, everyone has talents exept the EA STAFF!!! JEZZ THEY ARE MISSING THE POINT!! Games got harder becuase of the laziness desplayed in tutorials... I mean, look at simcity 4, its tutorial was utterly useless... garbage. I learned nothing from it that wasn't already listed in the manual, the manual did a much better job though not the greatest one... People have been saying that the hardest part wwqas the money, and guess what, the tutorial pretty much missed it. They didn't say to be wary, how to use your money to the best of your abilities, and stressing the importance of MONEY! They also made it misleading becuase they asked you to plop a coal powerplant, which is the worst polluter in the game by far, right near a suburb without explaining the consequences. What about making farms in all the starter cities? Sure, you might say, what's wrong with that? Well farms are VERY big polluters of water, and the game doesn't mention it even once. Also I felt a lack of immersion in the tutorial, and was getting bored of reading something that was obvious and nothing special or interesting. Would it kill them to list a few tips like in RPG's or Strategy games? Becuase what's killing them is the lack of tips and the lack of help. I usually started blind, and putting expensive powerplants down first becuase of the misleading "Heavy Pollution" of the powerplants in the cheap section and the "lack of power" of thwe wind powerplant and the "pollution free" section. I got mad at the game a few times and quit for weeks at a time becuase it made no sence. Sound familiar? Also remember how in simcity 3000 buildings abondoned for no reason, and how the RCI was a pain in the ass? It was for me anyways, becuase I had no idea why that was happening in the middle of a huge part surrounded by land marksa and schools and such. The tutorial in simcity 3000 as I recall it explained pretty pointless things like farms and disastors that didn't interest me, I mean I know what disastors are don't I? Dumbing down game will make them even more boring, and if all these tips are flyingm at EA they deserve to go bankrupt, becuase they are simply too stubborn to care about the customers and too concerned about persuing their dillusionl dreams of everyone buying their games becuase they made them easier and cheap tomake... that just doesn't happen in the real world and it seems that they think they can brainwash us like the sims.

[Gorgogn_the_sim_killer 1]

O, and I am a sims fan and I don't like simcity societies, so this proves that not evevry sims fan will like it XD

[Godzillaman 21]

Gorgogn_the_sim_killer-one word: edit.

Video games are boring because they make the same things over again. Look at the sports area of ea. Looks like the same thing coming out every year.

[sendarrow 3]

I've read everything and I've seen a lot of images, know whta guys? I think that SC 4, yes SC4, is still the way (game) to go. SC4 Rules. Period.

[Somebody 12]

sendarrow said: I've read everything and I've seen a lot of images, know whta guys? I think that SC 4, yes SC4, is still the way (game) to go. SC4 Rules. Period. quote>

Firstly, Amen brother

secondly, when i first played a SimCity game it was simcity 2000, now don't get confused here i'm 13, i was around 5-7 and i thought 'This game is hard i can't get a city to bring in positive income NOOOOOOOOOO!!!!' I got simcity 4 a couple weeks later and i still didn't understand but i liked the idea of building a city so i kept on it. After a month i had a city of 500,000 and i found a new addiction I figure that if we all continue to make these BATs and mods we might get decades of enjoyment out of SC4 (i may be pushing it) So we should definitely stay with SC4 and not buy SCS i think the we should look back to our best friend and stay loyal.

Thirdly, If The CEO even took some time to play the games he might not think they were "complicated"

[Gorgogn_the_sim_killer 1]

That's just it, the CEO doesn't have enough time becuase he's too busy planning out what he's gonna do with all the money he rakes off the poor fools who buy his crap. He's probably planning a Golden Jacussi next to his roll's royce garrage. He better plan for early retirement with no pension pretty soon... * and for the record, the games get a little repetative, but so what? Sequels are meant to have the same mechanics, not go flying in a idfferent direction. If it does, it's no lanoger a sequel, it's something totally different! And as far as I'm concerned, simcity :societies isn't at all different from citylife. It's accually a bland mix of citylife, ceasar IV and a little or simcity on top, and in the end that just doesn't mix well.*

[Gorgogn_the_sim_killer 1]

And yes, simcity 4 does rule! But we all want change, I mean, there are somethings that a programmer can do better tyhan a modder...