Despited games costing millions of dollars to the developers and publishers, EA’s budgets have “peaked” and are on their way back down.
“I’ll never tell a developer how much their game will cost, they’ll bring it to me and then I’ll evaluate whether or not it makes sense from a business standpoint with regards to the potential of the idea. If they happen to make a lot of money based on that budget, great for them. If they come up short and have to cover some of it – y’know, they’ll be smarter the next time they do it.”said EA Partners VP and group GM David DeMartini during an interview with GI.biz.
“But I think budgets for games have actually peaked and are starting to move in the reverse direction again. I don’t think there’s any one right budget for any game. It kind of depends on how big the idea is and what the team needs to be able to make a 90%-rated game with the idea that they’re working on.”
“The core business model that we always go after is quality and value. Always seeking teams that have had a long-standing history of success, and then always looking for the next emerging group that is going to bust out and potentially be the next Valve or Insomniac,” he said.
Which brought him to talk about downloadable games like Deathspank and Shank.
“In the downloadable games market those are a couple of very strong emerging companies that may well say ‘gee, now I want to take my IP to the main console, do you want to do that?’ And based on success at a lower level, that might be the next step for them.”