Sports Ugh, Part Two
There's an interview with Peter Moore in the Wall Street Journal today.According to the article, sports games accounted for 40% (1.3 billion) over EA's overall sales in their last fiscal year (which ended March 31).
In the U.S., revenue from those sports games dropped by over 10% last year, to $777 million (in a calendar year comparison).
Here's an interesting excerpt:
Mr. Moore says one problem is the tight annual release schedule of sports games. "That quite frankly puts a lot of pressure on our innovation and quality," Mr. Moore says. "The team knows we need to improve."
That "tight annual release schedule" is entirely of EA's choosing, by the way. But when sports games account for 40% of the company revenue, it's never going to change. EA has locked itself into terminal quality failures, unfortunately.
Here's another excerpt:
Mr. Moore also has a more adventurous plan to broaden the visibility of EA Sports. The company recently struck a partnership with IMG Worldwide Inc., the New York-based sports-management and entertainment firm that represents top athletes, including Tiger Woods, to explore putting the EA Sports brand on a variety of consumer products and services, from soccer balls to tennis camps for kids.
If you thought Moore was brought in to improve the quality of the sports games, well, sorry. Peter Moore was brought in for one reason and one reason only: to expand the brand. Expanding the brand generates more revenue from the brand.
Will expanding the brand improve the quality of EA's sports games in any way? Sadly, I think we all already know the answer to that question.
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