October 14, 2005

EA and Spielberg to Collaborate on 3 New Games

I bet EA had to give up an arm and a leg to sign up Spielberg to this deal. EA knows it has a major problem in developing new intellectual property as most of their move licenses are starting to tail off and many of the development talent the company has acquired has now left.

Unfortunately for EA, they really need to get at the heart of the problem. They over-worked their staff for far too long and didn't give them the rewards for working ungodly hours. Most of the great games in the past few years took 2-5 years to make, while EA tried to play annual sequelitis. This led to employees being burned out and the quality deterioration.

The long-term deal, which starts this year, will see Spielberg working directly with development teams at EA to create the franchises - the intellectual properties for which will be owned by Electronic Arts.

"I have been playing EA games for years and have watched them master the interactive format," commented Spielberg in an official announcement this morning. "Having watched the game industry grow from a niche to a major creative force in entertainment, I have a great deal of respect for EA's understanding of the interactive format. I'm looking forward to working closely with the team in Los Angeles."