Social features such as in-game chat, stat tracking and the ability to share content with others are as important as gameplay and graphics, and will be a primary focus in all EA games going forward.
That's according to EA Games president Frank Gibeau, who discussed the company's philosophy in an interview published Tuesday.
According to Gibeau, the implementation of social features is "a primary design pillar" for all of the company's games in development, and is "part of every design that we put in a console and now also our PC games."
Social features will "absolutely" help the publisher sell more games, he said, through its use as a discovery tool.
"If I can post something about what I was doing in a game and tell my friends that, they will take notice," said Gibeau. "It helps facilitate the spreading of that game. Word of mouth plus the network effect is driven by social."
In addition to the social features provided by its new Origin digital storefront, EA will also continue to offer individual networks for its titles, including a network called Battlelog for this year's Battlefield 3.
I personally don't understand this social media integration in games, on the platform itself that's fine but in-game it seems redundant. If a player is playing a game that their friend is also playing then what incentive is there to share what they're doing? They both know what content is in the game. And if you want to tell a friend who doesn't have the game how good it is then you'll have to use external communication....because they don't have it. Doesn't make sense to me.
That and the fact that the vast majority of gamers still just play single player. But I guess if the single player dev is stagnating, then you have to look for other hooks to get the $59.99.
"Social features such as in-game chat, stat tracking and the ability to share content with others are as important as gameplay and graphics, and will be a primary focus in all EA games going forward."
Pretty sure Xbox Live and PSN (skype for PC?) handles in game chat. Most MP games already track stats, and sharing content can be done through Facebook and Youtube.
Is this some lame ass response to the already lame CoD Elite that Activision is pushing?
I'm getting jaded developers. Everything is feeling the same and these "enhancements" aren't worth the total cost of a game.
i want people to know as little as possible about what i'm doing, not more. especially with games. i generally try to avoid online play as much as possible, but thats becoming harder and harder.
I usually disagree with you, but I certainly think it's your right to feel that way, and for the minority you belong to I hope that we get to a point where the knee-jerk jump to "socialize" (there has to be a better word for that) everything takes a step back, and you have choices. Until that point, be brave - it's not so bad if your high school classmates know you're playing Banjo Kazooie.
Completely pointless and almost depressing. Jumping on the social gaming bandwagon and burning development resources, providing almost no value to players.
Pretty sure Xbox Live and PSN (skype for PC?) handles in game chat. Most MP games already track stats, and sharing content can be done through Facebook and Youtube.
Is this some lame ass response to the already lame CoD Elite that Activision is pushing?
I'm getting jaded developers. Everything is feeling the same and these "enhancements" aren't worth the total cost of a game.
i want more anti-social games.