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EA is building three to five new IPs for next generation systems, EA Labels president Frank Gibeau has told GamesIndustry.
According to Gibeau new IPs have the best chance of breaking through at the start of a new generation.
“The time to launch an IP is at the front-end of the hardware cycle, and if you look historically the majority of new IPs are introduced within the first 24 months of each cycle of hardware platforms,” Gibeau said. “Right now, we’re working on 3 to 5 new IPs for the next gen, and in this cycle we’ve been directing our innovation into existing franchises.
He added: “If you look at the market dynamics, as much as there’s a desire for new IP, the market doesn’t reward new IP this late in the cycle; they end up doing okay, but not really breaking through. We have to shepherd the time that our developers spend, as well as the money that we spend on development in a positive way, so we’re focused on bringing out a bunch of new IPs around the next generation of hardware.”
And this next generation of hardware could be something very special, believes Gibeau.
“When you launch a new IP it needs to do something really, really remarkable, and that’s easier to do when you have a new set of technology that gives you novel capabilities,” Gibeau says. “This is the longest cycle that any of us have ever seen, and we’re at the point where a little bit of fatigue has set in, and people are wondering what they can possibly do next. I’ve seen the machines that we’re building games for, and they’re spectacular.”
Only last week Gibeau told Bloomberg that the next generation consoles will be released around a year from now.
