EA's Gibeau: Holiday 2007 'Murderer's Row 2', PS3 To 'Feel Healthy' In 2008

Author: by Staff

Talking as part of an in-depth interview with Gamasutra, EA Games president Frank Gibeau has called Holiday 2007 'Murderer's Row 2' for game publishers, thanks to fierce competition, also suggesting the PS3 "feels healthy in 2008" in terms of EA feeling aggressive about the platform. When asked about this holiday season for EA's core high-end titles such as Need For Speed or Medal Of Honor, which Gibeau is in charge of, the exec commented: "The way the market works this year, we've been calling it "Murderer's Row 2" inside EA. There's some terrific competition coming. Call of Duty 4 is spectacular. You look at Halo, and you look at a lot of first-party titles, and there's some good stuff coming. We like our chances in that mix, but you never know. The customer gets to vote." He continued: "If you get the game right but the marketing's wrong, you end up with a loss. If you get both right, then you're there. I think the nervousness is something that we have on all titles. We get nervous about Madden [previously Gibeau's responsibility, recently turned over to Peter Moore's EA Sports division] every year. We track it to the nth degree to make sure that the launch goes well. I always have an anxious night before release to get the first results in, to be honest with you." In addition, when talking about the PlayStation 3's tie ratio (of hardware to software) thus far, Gibeau commented of the initial reaction to Sony's next-gen console: "Frankly, there weren't any platform-defining titles on the PS3 that first Christmas. There was Resistance: Fall of Man, perhaps. I think as we get more titles, that tie ratio will improve." He continued: "I don't think the PS3 is necessarily in a bad spot, but it's not necessarily in the number one spot, like it has been traditionally with the PlayStation brand. I think what that platform really needs is platform-defining content." The EA Games president went on to suggest: "I think 2008 feels like when you start to see the titles that define that platform start to come out... [the tie ratio] has improved since release, which is good news. I think it really starts to get into the range where we feel like we're bullish and aggressive. It feels healthy in 2008." The full interview with Electronic Arts' Gibeau is now available, and also includes comments on the impressive nature of the Wii's business model for Nintendo, the effectiveness and prospects for this year's E3, and the status of Spore, among many other subjects.