EA COO weighs in on Infinity Ward firings, retail's fate

GDC 2010: COO John Schappert says digital revenue will still be tied to shiny discs for years to come, expresses regret that Modern Warfare 2 developers will be spending time making court cases instead of games.

Who was there: John Schappert, chief operating officer of Electronic Arts, took part in a half-hour "Mythbusting Fireside Chat" with Los Angeles Times writer Alex Pham. The executive was expected to talk about the industry's migration to digital distribution, the ultimate fate of retail game sales, and how social media and other recent trends will influence that evolution.

EA COO John Schappert.

EA COO John Schappert.

What they talked about: Alex Pham began the talk by recapping a bit of Schappert's history, back when he was a lead programmer for Visual Concepts working on an EA Madden game and FIFA Soccer. Things quickly turned toward the future, as Pham asked if there were any prospects at all for disc-based games with the advent of digital distribution.

Schappert called it a misnomer that retail discs would be done away with in the short term. He acknowledged that there's a huge opportunity in digital distribution but pointed out that no matter how successful the current wave of add-ons and downloadable content may be, those business transactions still start with a retail sale of a physical disc. Even when most of the industry's revenue is drawn from digital distribution, Schappert said he still expects the majority of that money to have been spent on extending and adapting a standard retail game.

Schappert said EA has seen consumers buying fewer games of late. Sales of the top 10 games are representing an increasing amount of the industry's total take. He added that if a publisher doesn't have a game in the top 30--and arguably, the top 20--then that company isn't making money. Hit games are bigger than ever, he said, and they're selling for longer thanks to downloadable map packs and other add-ons. While Schappert stood by the "shiny disc business," he emphasized that the model has changed, saying the days of "ship it and forget it" are behind the industry.

EA's faith in retail games doesn't mean the company is shying away from downloadable titles. Beyond its own efforts, the company has begun teaming with independent developers on digitally distributed titles through its EA Partners program. "It's easier than ever to be your own self-publisher," Schappert said, before adding, "It's harder than ever to stand out."

Schappert also touted another EA development, the recent acquisition of Playfish. When asked if the company aimed to use the company to further EA's existing brands or launch new ones, the executive said gamers would likely see the developer produce both. Pham asked if classic arcade titles were among those being considered, and while Schappert evaded the question, he did say it was an area EA was looking at.

When pressed about whether social gaming is a bubble waiting to pop, Schappert explained that any bubble perception was due to a combination of the space being the "hot" thing right now and having low barriers to entry. As a result, he expects some social entities to emerge healthy, but he won't be surprised to see others go under.

"It's the place to be right now, but we'll see what happens tomorrow," Schappert said of social gaming.

When asked about innovation and whether or not it's the place for big publishers to be, Schappert pointed to Dragon Age: Origins, Mass Effect, and Battlefield: Bad Company. Dead Space and Mirror's Edge were also name-dropped as Schappert touted the publisher's track record with its own original products and ran down some of EA Partners' success stories.

Pham brought up the recent Infinity Ward-Activision flap and asked if EA is a good publisher ("mothership" was the word she used, referencing a Bobby Kotick presentation from last month's DICE Summit) for developers to team with.

"Maybe you don't pick motherships that like to litigate that much, or have a legal team that is a revenue-generating team," Schappert said, drawing a wave of laughter from the crowd.

Joking aside, Schappert said he was disappointed with the situation, calling former Infinity Ward heads Jason West and Vince Zampella two of the best creative people in the industry. He also singled out Modern Warfare 2 as a great game.

"To think that they're going to be spending their time dealing with lawyers instead of making games is a loss," Schappert said.

Quote/Takeaway: "At the end of the day, online is great. It's a nice evolution of our space. But it does all start with a shiny disc."

61 Comments

  • June-GS

    Posted Mar 17, 2010 8:35 pm GMT

    Tsk, tsk, tsk. Poor ol' Bobby. That sad genius must be biting his arms off right now. As if the hits-after-hits from EA weren't enough to make him cringe. Now, because of his petty maneuverings, Activision has single-handedly made its fiercest rival publisher slash "mothership", the prettiest girl in town. Bravo Bobby, bravo.

    As for the digital versus retail distribution debate, I like 'em both, to be honest, but hey, I just go with the flow.

  • bitemecf

    Posted Mar 15, 2010 8:23 pm GMT

    I really can't take such an interview seriously seeing as the relationship Electronic Arts has had with gamers in the past 10 years. The fact is, is that console gaming and physical publishing services are obsolete, with a service such as Steam already having such a foothold in the publishing industry, publishers are going to be forced to pack up and find other business elsewhere, where fast download speeds aren't a standard, and eventually will become extinct as the entire world goes digital.
    We have so many gaming companies and publishers that are so insistive on making money in traditional methods, that it's really going to bite them where the sun doesn't shine, evidenced by recent events with EA studios. Its simply a matter of identifying the future and heading towards it, or you'll be left in the dust.

  • AnelZukic

    Posted Mar 13, 2010 8:37 am GMT

    I'll also agree that even though we now want to have a physical copy of our game, we can't say what the young kids will want, maybe they will prefer download. I already know, no matter how much we want a physical copy that they will one day be changed just by data on our HDD's. And I'll say the quote Microsoft said some month ago: "2GB are the new 50MB" and I completely agree with that, I have a friend who download about 200GB per month, and when it comes to me it is just about 20GB for now

  • green_dominator

    Posted Mar 12, 2010 8:43 am GMT

    @sj_nehama
    It's actually possible to do right now....
    About a year ago I downloaded.....150gb worth of game data....
    it was all mostly older games but I don't have any working older systems past PS2/XBOX. If your thought was about XBOX 360 and how slow it downloads stuff....
    that's because the system now has so much overhead due to all the updates to the system, I fear you'd have to revert back to the old way things were done but then you would be locked out of features.......

  • kmconstable

    Posted Mar 11, 2010 3:16 pm GMT

    Codemasters does not listen to gamers very well. Operation Flashpoint Dragon Rising is a very good example of a PC game that never met its potential and will get no further support from the developers. EA is just riding the anti-Activision sentiment at present and can afford to joke because they are no longer the most hated company. Schappert said nothing extraordinary whatsoever.

  • jamyskis

    Posted Mar 11, 2010 12:23 pm GMT

    I thought Schappert's quote at the end was sheer genius - EA is perhaps one of the first to recognise that digital distribution is going to accompany retail for a while yet at best. I've been a hefty critic of EA in the past but I have to admit that they have been pulling their acts together of late. In the past year EA has been one of the only companies that I feel has actually been listening to gamers (alongside Stardock and Codemasters).

  • SpaceTrucker06

    Posted Mar 11, 2010 11:22 am GMT

    Should spend more time on making games instead of court cases? Hmmmm, EA do the absolute opposite by churning out clones of the same games for years and years until they kill them. EA can't talk about other companies when there own company is struggle in their own way. PAP

  • TWayne1020

    Posted Mar 11, 2010 11:20 am GMT

    Big bussiness like big government = corruption !!!

  • dezzyfiesta

    Posted Mar 11, 2010 9:17 am GMT

    Maybe big games companies should think about treating their employees less like crap and more like human beings, that might help avert some lawsuits...

  • Pikaandpi

    Posted Mar 11, 2010 8:27 am GMT

    I find it interesting how EA is essentially sympathic with Activision by telling the IW boys to get back to work instead of fighting Activision. Hmm, I wonder if its because both companies have similar business practices? (As in firing employees as soon as the game is finish to reap higher profits)

  • advocacy

    Posted Mar 11, 2010 7:34 am GMT

    If only EA would stop firing the talented individuals making these great games.

  • Black_Adder_

    Posted Mar 11, 2010 6:51 am GMT

    I live in Latvia, set my region to Poland (no one will force me to set region to Russia). Now I simply cannot get downloadable content even if I'd want to...and yes, even if my PS3 get YLODed - the closest service is located in Finland. Cheer up, life's good!

  • hairybeanbag

    Posted Mar 11, 2010 5:48 am GMT

    Right...

  • sj_nehama

    Posted Mar 11, 2010 3:26 am GMT

    i just wonder how fast internet would have to be to allow all of us common mortals to download 100GB of game data...

    how many terabytes would our console's hard drives have?

    Last gen it was 8-9 gb tops, this one GOWIII is at 30gb i think, i can only imagine the size of PS4 games...even by today standards, fast internet isnt the most common thing, so i really think it ll take a while before we go full digital

  • damodar_thade

    Posted Mar 11, 2010 2:16 am GMT

    EA have made as many fubar decisons as Activision have throwing mud at Activison will not make you better EA.

  • Hanzoadam

    Posted Mar 11, 2010 1:49 am GMT

    Please dont let this be the star of Ea trying to get infinty ward they already have Dice

  • tbs76

    Posted Mar 10, 2010 11:26 pm GMT

    I really hope the industry doesn't adopt a digital download process in the future. I like walking into a store and seeing the product on the shelve. I prefer physical copies any day. Just wish they would make discs more durable and not so easy to scratch. As far as Activision is concerned, I say shame on them. It wasn't so long ago Activision wasn't a big publisher and was struggling with sub par titles in their stable. Now they go and get rid of the guys who helped put their company back on the map. Not cool man. I hope the company goes downhill from here on out just so these big corps can learn some lessons. Oh, and enough Guitar Heros already.

  • FallenAngel

    Posted Mar 10, 2010 11:08 pm GMT

    So here's the thing. I think what Activision did was a d*** move. And the less said about my feelings about the Activision CEO, the better. But the EA COO weighing in on in this issue is hilarious. If ever there was a pot calling the kettle black situation, this is it...

  • Inconnux

    Posted Mar 10, 2010 11:05 pm GMT

    I thought that Activision took over the role of Satan, but EA still doesn't get it... I went to buy Battlefield BC2 on steam... and there it was... 3rd party DRM... Securom... way to go morons, you just lost a sale