In case anybody was wondering if the big game publishers were planning to just rehash their franchises from this gen for the next we have some good news. EA will certainly not be, as the company has stated that they are currently working an a lot of original content as well.
According to the Labels president at EA, Frank Gibeau, there are “between three and five” new IPs on the way for the next generation of consoles.
Gibeau said:
“In the new cycle you’re going to see a lot of new IP from Electronic Arts.
“The introduction of new hardware from the big three is going to allow us to reembark on a bunch of new IPs, because it’s the better time to do it, because you can really explore new ideas and do different things.
“In a market this massive, launching new IPs is very risky and it’s a big investment to make these games. So it’s a natural thing to see in this point in the cycle a little bit more emphasis on the knowns, but in the new cycle you’re going to see a lot of new IP from Electronic Arts.
“If you’re running a studio organization, the moment you stop creating new IP , your creative organization dies. Because you have to constantly innovate and try new ideas and people within the organization want to do new things.
“I can tell you right now there’s between three and five new IPs that we’re working on that we’re thinking about for the next-gen. Some of them might come to market, some of them might not.
“It’s really one of those things where I’m consciously looking at introducing new IPs into the portfolio over the next several years as the new hardware comes into the marketplace that we can refresh.”
Gibeau also spoke out on the problems with releasing a new IP this late into the current generation of systems:
“(if EA were to release a brand new IP that nobody had ever heard of” right now), it would be very difficult to get the mindshare of gamers.”
“You might get really good press for introducing a new IP, but to sell a couple of million units to break even on it at this point in the cycle… discretion’s the better part of valour, to hold it a little bit so you get a whole new market refresh.”
