E3 Exclusive: EA Never Saying Never To A New Hardware Platform

Speaking with Gamasutra, EA’s new executive vice president and general manager of North American publishing, Frank Gibeau, asked whether the company would ever partner to make a hardware platform again as it did with 3DO, answered with a surprisingly positive “never say never.” “I worked on (the 3DO),” began Gibeau, “and I’d never say never. I was a product manager on some of the titles, like Shockwave, and Road Rash, so I was part of that team, building the games, so I’m really familiar with what happened." "I think the challenge that we had with 3DO was platform positioning," he continued. "It was the Swiss Army knife of hardware, and we weren’t really sure what it was supposed to do. I think when we look at our business, what’s vitally important to us is the entertainment and customer connection.” Clarifying his point, Gibeau continued: “So if there were things like peripherals, sure. We’ve got Boogie coming out with a microphone, and there’s Rock Band. When you look at a fully nailed platform – it’s possible, I wouldn’t say it’s in our top 5 priorities right now, but never say never. We’ll look at any way of presenting what we want to do.”