Writing for Edge, GM and VP of Hasbro Studios at EA Chip Lange has stated that there is “no replacement” for the classic board game experience even when bringing those board game properties into the digital realm.

In a Keynote, he writes, “You just can’t replicate that time-honored tradition, and we don’t intend on trying.”

Instead Lange states that Hasbro Studios at EA prefers a complimentary approach. Lange explains, “There is no point in treating this as a replacement strategy, but as a partner strategy. I genuinely believe that just about everybody who buys one of our products will have these board games in their closet and a large part of our marketing program is driving people back and forth between those two different play styles.”

Lange adds that partially as a result of this strategy, making a game based on a board game is “way harder than you might think.”

“We don’t want to create a Monopoly game that is unfamiliar, nor do we want to replicate the board-game experience. We realize the design challenge, and that’s why we’re putting world-class development organizations onto these games.”

Here is Lange’s full keynote.