As stated before by EA’s Frank Gibeau, there is no strategic tilt to the publisher’s exclusives such as Titanfall or timed exclusives like Peggle 2 and Plants Vs. Zombies: Garden Warfare on Xbox One. Now, chief operating officer Peter Moore addressed the publisher’s relationship with both companies.
Speaking to Games Industry International, Moore stated, “We have relationships with both companies that go back many many years, so I think that what you saw [during EA’s gamescom conference] was, just from a phasing perspective, you saw a little bit more of the Microsoft stuff. We have a lot of partnership opportunities with Sony, with the PlayStation 4, which we have done for many many years, that maybe we should start talking more about.
“But it may have seemed that way, I don’t think that we’re favouring one over the other, we love them both dearly. It’s important to the publishing community that both are very successful and I think they will be very successful. I think the gamers, the fanboys, I’m an Xbox guy, I’m a PlayStation guy, they’re going to make their choices. I see a lot of talk about people who are going to try to get both.
“Microsoft has been very aggressive with us, as had Sony, we’re a very powerful publisher obviously, that has the ability to deliver great content and makes a difference on their platforms, and they want to make sure they get that.”
And the free FIFA 14 digital copy for every Xbox One pre-order in Europe? Well, that’s just to sell as many copies of the title as possible. “We look at opportunities to put as many copies of FIFA into consumers’ hands as we possibly can. We’re very proud of that game, we’re very proud of the fact that it’s not just a game that you play off a disc but the digital services, FIFA Ultimate Team, in particular is important to us, so the more consumers that own FIFA the better opportunity we have to interact with them, to be able to offer services to them, so it’s worked out well.
“Microsoft, particularly in Europe, feels it needs to catch up a little bit with the PlayStation brand and this is one way to do it. You take soccer and you add Europe to the mix and then you bring it together. And I suspect as well Microsoft is looking at ways to add value, as I’m sure Sony is here to make the price points feel a little bit more of a bargain. We sat down a while back and talked about this and that’s how it happened.”
We’ll have to see whether these strategic alliances – or whatever they may be – eventually work out for the Xbox One and PlayStation 4 when both consoles launch in November.
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