Better Game Development Through Playstation 3? Electronic Arts Diagnoses the Problem, But Says It Has No Company-Wide Plans To Mandate the Cure

re: Better Game Development Through Playstation 3? Electronic Arts Diagnoses the Problem, But Says It Has No Company-Wide Plans To Mandate the Cure

ColbyCheese — Mon, 10 Mar 2008 13:28:53 GMT

This is an old problem for Sony, but still very interesting. I think it's rather the defining predicament for the PS3 (and maybe the company). They have good hardware and a TON of momentum now that they purch...er...won the format wars, but nobody (developers) wants to develop for their platform.

To paraphrase Rick James: "She's a very pretty girl, but not type the type to take home to your developers."

Ultimately, it will depend on whether or not the combination of Sony's QA efforts and the internal "coding Kung-Fu" of the development houses can crest this hill. This baby is old enough by now that it should be able to walk around on its own. If you believe Sony's song and dance about the PS3 being viable for 10 years, then that's not such a big deal. But they also said that hardware backwards compatibility was they next big thing, and they dropped THAT like a hot potato when it would save them a buck or two.

Good looking out. Keep doing ya thing man!

re: Better Game Development Through Playstation 3? Electronic Arts Diagnoses the Problem, But Says It Has No Company-Wide Plans To Mandate the Cure

Ginger Yellow — Mon, 10 Mar 2008 15:18:20 GMT

Presumably once the PS3 install base overtakes the 360 some time this year, they'll have no excuse. And for internationally aimed titles (ie FIFA and non-sports games), they should be leading on PS3 already. Maybe it's tied in to what we hear about technical liaison between Sony and publishers/developers being much worse than Microsoft. You'd think Sony would be doing everything they could to make sure EA leads on PS3.

re: Better Game Development Through Playstation 3? Electronic Arts Diagnoses the Problem, But Says It Has No Company-Wide Plans To Mandate the Cure

Evilbaby — Mon, 10 Mar 2008 15:59:42 GMT

It seems like this guy didn't really get your question. He seems to think that your implying that by choosing the PS3 as the "leading" platform, they are giving it preferential treatment. The reality is that it apparantly takes longer to create the same game if you lead with the 360. I wouldn't care except that few publishers(Valve being the noteable exception) will delay the 360 release when the PS3 version is running into trouble.

I thought that your question was more concerned with having more reliable release dates then it was with which platform is "better". To me it seems like gamers with either platform would want developers to start with the PS3 development, because that means that we get all the versions of the game faster.

re: Better Game Development Through Playstation 3? Electronic Arts Diagnoses the Problem, But Says It Has No Company-Wide Plans To Mandate the Cure

GordyNYC — Mon, 10 Mar 2008 23:08:17 GMT

I am guessing that EA will have to improve their Sport title's performance once the PS3's install base increases and their sales start to wane due to the perception that they make subpar Sony versions of their games. Right now they have the luxury of NFL exclusivity and a low PS3 install base.

re: Better Game Development Through Playstation 3? Electronic Arts Diagnoses the Problem, But Says It Has No Company-Wide Plans To Mandate the Cure

bfvaughn — Tue, 11 Mar 2008 16:50:20 GMT

You assume that Burnout Paradise was better because it was lead on the PS3. Maybe if Madden was lead on the PS3 both versions of the game would run at 30 fps. PS3 will not over take the 360's install base in the US where the 360 has a six million console sold lead over the PS3. Since most of EAs games are aimed at the US market why bother going through the trouble of leading on the PS3?

re: Better Game Development Through Playstation 3? Electronic Arts Diagnoses the Problem, But Says It Has No Company-Wide Plans To Mandate the Cure

N'Gai Croal — Tue, 11 Mar 2008 21:17:12 GMT

@bfvaughn: I haven't assumed anything. My post is based on what EA CEO John Riccitiello himself said; where EA has led development on Playstation 3, they "had no issue at all." As for whether or not it makes economic sense for EA to lead on PS3, if you look at the question that I posed to Electronic Arts above, you'll see that I incorporate that reasoning into the question itself.