When you look at a company like EA, you are looking at one of the biggest gaming companies in the history of video games, but EA has chosen the software side since the beginning and it has done a great job since then, but alot of ambitious companies think of the idea of "umm, why don't we join the hardware market?" like Microsoft did when they made the XBOX, I have came accros many questions regarding the idea that EA will join the hardware industry, one of them is, will they make all their developed, published games exclusive to their console?, if so then how strong their console will be in terms of gaming library?, will Konami and 2K be able to fill EA's gap of sports games?, how Sony, Microsoft and Nintendo will do to counter such a move?, what will happen to PC gaming in terms of EA RTS games? will they still support PC gaming?
here is what I think:
1-EA would make all of their developed, published games exclusive to their console with the exception of PC RTS games since they usually don't do well in consoles.
2-All 3 major console manufacturers will fight for Exclusive sports games from Konami and 2K because either wouldn't mind to make an exclusive deal if it pays well (unlike EA who has been known to support all consoles and don't deal with exclusives), but that in my opinion will not fully close the gap mainly because of the missing Madden series.
3-the strongest point of EA's console is the huge first party support, they'll make their own new IPs plus making sequels to the current IPs published or developed by EA.
4-the new guy in the hood isn't always welcome, when gamers waiting for the next generation consoles to arrive, their decisions mostly will be limited to the exclusives each console offers, one would say "I can't buy a console that doesn't have Gears of War", another would say "no God of War?, no thanks", another would say "not going to abandon Zelda for that", but on the other hand EA will mostly have the most amount of exclusives to offer and will force other companies to invest much more in their own exclusives, but will this be enough for EA to make an entry in the console market?, I think not because EA needs shiny exclusives like Gears of War,God of War,Zelda,Halo,Metal Gear Solid,Mario,Forza,Gran Turismo and Metroid Prime.
tell me what do you think?
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This is recipe for disaster in some aspects. IN others, you could have fierce competition from EVERYONE because of EA, resulting in much better games next generation.
There is no clear vision for such a concept.
EA would lose way to much money on initial hardware investments, and in the long run they would also sell much fewer games if they only sold there titles on a single console.
They currently make insane am,ounts of cash whoring out there games to any console that plays games, why would they risk that in R&D for hardware, manufacturign costs, then actually getting peopl to buy the damn thing... even if they did, they couldn't make all games exclusive because they have no toher income. Sony and Microsoft both have many other revenues of income far greater than the console market, the only reason nintendo is still around is because of innovation and extrodinary popularity in the casual market, if they had gone for a traditional console liek Sony and MS, they wouldn't be around anymore. Sega and the dreamcast is an example of what happens when a company simply runs out of cash, and the same thing would happen to EA
...the initial difficulty of maxing out the power of the PS3 plus the cost of making games this gen is why Sony are focusing a lot more on internal games (I think)... whether it will be to their hurt is unknown. Microsoft on the other hand, are letting go of their companies and instead are focusing on using that money to fund exclusives or advantageous perks. Microsoft's strategy seems to be the better strategy for early penetration, and Sony's for the long-haul. The difference will pan out when Sony's longer-worked exclusives start to come out more and more, as we seen with Metal Gear Solid 4, and now LittleBigPlanet, Resistance 2, SOCOM 2, and the soon to be released (and also already considered 2009's GOTY by some) Killzone 2.
Sony already said that they were prepared to invest in the long-haul. If their hardware can stand for seven or eight out of the ten years, the PS3 will be the winner hands down.
Whether the 360 can stand up to the PS3 that long and keep on with it's "pay to play" strategy regarding it's own exclusives and perks will be the question to consider for the 360's future and success.
On paper, it sounds like a good idea for EA to make their own games, but in reality it would doom them. What "mascot" does EA have? Microsoft has Chief, and at least every gen of the PS3 someone was considered a mascot. Crash Bandicoot for the PS1, Ratchet and Clank/Kratos for the PS2, and Sackboy for the PS3. EA has nothing with that appeal, unless you think a cute and cuddly madden would work...hey, it might.
Besides, EA puts out a lot of games, but very few are innovative. This year alone I can count only Dead Space as being the only groundbreaking game produced by EA. I can't count spore because it really didn't live up to the hype; everyone thought your character would evolve, and earn the evolve limbs and features that you get, not that you had the freedom to do what you want on each stage. That kinda wrecked it.
...but more of a bluff, IMO. I actually think EA and MS will end up partnering, with MS buying an interest in EA. Threatening to make your own console, is the best way to attract the attention of MS, if you're looking for a financier. EA didn't have the $$ to come up with a figure big enough for 2K; with MS's added might, it could happen.