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EA Still Has Faith in Mirror's Edge Franchise
Retail checks have been coming in that indicate EA's stylish first-person action game Mirror's Edge has fallen short at retail.
But despite the game's commercial performance, EA CEO John Riccitiello assured that the company isn't canning the new series.
"Mirror's Edge is one that was very strongly reviewed, that one's going to go forward," said the exec during a conference call. "We're probably going to look into some issues around the design to make sure strong IP is married with strong business."
Reviews were generally favorable, earning a 78 percent average review score at Metacritic, but the new IP had to go up against a tough slate of more recognizable franchises.
EA has made a point to bring more new IP into its product portfolio, balancing out licensed and older series.
"We're actually very pleased with a lot of our new franchises this year," said Riccitiello. He added that Spore and MySims have established strong foundations for future installments, and expects Warhammer Online to do well as time goes on.
Riccitiello also categorized the new sci-fi survival horror game Dead Space as a "long-term big winner" for the company.
But if EA knew the economic conditions it was due to face this holiday, perhaps the publisher wouldn't have relied so heavily on new IP.
"Many times with a new intellectual property, the first edition doesn't generate the units that subsequent editions could generate," the exec said. "I would argue that in this particular year, the consumer may have been more reticent to take risks that they may otherwise take because of the very clouded holiday.
"I think we've established value for EA and value in our franchises. We can build on that in our future."
Well...I did my part, I bought it. What's yalls excuse?
Frankly this game was crying sequel. Great new ideas, a bit of a rough execution...with another year, it probably would've been forever a classic. A sequel is exactly what is needed, now. I would expect with the proper marketing campaign and the expectations of critics, a second ME would sell better.
Mirror's Edge is a very disappointing game.
On the Playstation 3 a game like Mirror's Edge might stand out because the competition on the Playstation 3 is so weak.
But on the Xbox 360 a game like Mirror's Edge is not recognized because the competition is so much tougher. Performance standards for success are much higher on the Xbox 360. That often means games need to either be exclusive for the Xbox 360 or at least have the Xbox 360 as the primary development platform.
Remember, Mirror's Edge is a game where the Playstation 3 was the lead development platform. That means the Xbox 360 version was held back, because of the fact that the Playstation 3 GPU is so much weaker than the GPU of the Xbox 360.
Several industry insiders have actually started to say that EA is considering the possibility of no longer offering support to the Playstation 3 in several game genres, similar to the same way that they stopped working with Sega and the Dreamcast.
If EA releases Mirror's Edge 2, it needs to focus on the Xbox 360 and the PC for development. That way the graphics will improve, and it will be much easier to test new forms of gameplay. The development costs of ps3 are just too expensive.
Bravo. Your most biased / moronic argument ever. You simply don't have a clue about anything, seriously. Your comment is so full of false assumptions and bile that I won't even try to disprove it.
There. Now I'm spitting bile just because of you.
No offence, but you're a parrot at best.
kissgz is right on the money...sony's performance generation has been a major dissapointment, but they still have millions of units out there to support. EA ain't ditching them, no one is. the worst case scenario is already realized -- lost exclusives.
it's ridiculous at best to think EA or anyone would jump ship.
and for the record, I don't own a ps3, I own a 360. so no fanboy bias here.
Limanima is right there far too many quality games came out within 3 weeks of each other. Even 'weaker' games like Fracture and Legendary would have sold quite a few. not to mention Red Alert 3 etc. I would have got it myself if I did not have my heart set on Far Cry 2 and GeoW 2 (not enough money to go around at xmas really). Far too many games to buy on the xbox atm and ive goot Dead Space and Fallout 3 to pick up in January. Good luck to Mirror's Edge tho the more new IP's the better!
Its a real shame as Mirrors Edge was great new IP (i didn't like it personally) A important step in EA moving forward.
Similarly Dead Space was really good and a fantastic new IP for the company.
But EA's biggest issue and the cause of a lot of these problems is all the money lavished on NFS-Undercover which politely put is an embarrassment and rightly so has not sold well.
JR blames new IP for lackluster earnings but lets be honest NFS is a staple most years and sells bucket loads which is hasn't done this time.
Think its going to be a turbulent 2009 for EA employees
I think after the glut of the Christmas season games wears off, Mirror's Edge will get a lot of rentals and used copy sales. Reviews have been all over the board for the game and I think people will be curious to try it but reticent to spend full price in case they find themselves in the camp of those who don't enjoy it. While the rentals/used sales won't help EA in the short term, it will build a fan base that will be more willing to commit to a purchase of a sequel in the future.
This game is low on sales, only because EA chose the wrong time to release it. If this game would have been released in April/May or even September of 2009, the sales would be totally diferent.
Let's face it. The competition is just too strong. Resistance 2, GOW2, LBP, Motorstorm, L4Dead, Fable 2, Far Cry 2, Dead Space, Prince of Persia, Tomb Raider (it sucks, but people buy it), PES, FIFA, Fall Out 3, and the list goes on.
Some times christmas is not the best time to release games.
I want to buy Mirror's, but before that I have on my list: Resistance2, LBP, Dead Space and Prince of Persia. Killzone 2 is just aronud the corner. Probably Mirror's will have to wait until May.
perfect