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Apple Reportedly Talked With Electronic Arts About Potential Acquisition

The first EA title I ever bought was Archon for my long-lost Atari 800, almost 40 years ago. Back then, EA was a breath of fresh air in the home computer market. I'm sitting here trying to think of the last EA game I bought and I *think* it was Sim City 4 and I remember being disappointed in it.

EA, IMO, needs more than a fresh coat of paint but, if anyone could turn it around, I suppose Apple could. They have a different business model than EA but we all know about 'the Apple Tax' so I don't know how this would work out.

Not that this is likely to happen...
 
jav6454 said:
EA was considered evil due to the insane amount of micro-transactions they now make. Basically, a base game that doesn't work unless you pour more money into it. Furthermore, many of their legacy games came out badly designed and reviewers were not kind to them. (See SimCity always-connected ordeal).

EA lost itself to profiteering instead of making their games the best ones.
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I am a scientist that works on how organisms adapt behaviour to get reward. Mark my words: the way these games are set up virtually guarantees addiction (e.g., loot chests). These micro-transactions (some of which in the industry are not so micro - here's looking at you, Scopely) are not the issue. The issue is why people would continue to pay. The answer is that they have been conditioned to by sleazy companies creating addicts.

Anyway, hopefully if Apple acquires EA that would translate into decent gaming in MacOS.
 
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mnsportsgeek said:
Microsoft has already declared war on the gaming industry. The consolidation of gaming studios to a handful of large companies is just beginning.
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And yet we are at the same time in a golden age for independent games. The number of truly awesome games written by indi developers out there to play, even without micro-transactions are phenomenal.

All one has to do is look a little. Start with the winners of the IGF winners over the last 10 years.
 
Trusteft said:
What is stopping game publishers like EA, from already releasing their multiplatform games on the macOS? It can't be performance, right? I mean aren't the latest M1 computers at least as powerful as the Nintendo Switch?
Is it a matter of not being X86? Something else?
How would acquiring someone like EA change any of the issues blocking the release of games on the macOS?
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Money.
 
VulchR said:
I am a scientist that works on how organisms adapt behaviour to get reward. Mark my words: the way these games are set up virtually guarantees addiction (e.g., loot chests). These micro-transactions (some of which in the industry are not so micro - here's looking at you, Scopely) are not the issue. The issue is why people would continue to pay. The answer is that they have been conditioned to by sleazy companies creating addicts.

Anyway, hopefully if Apple acquires EA that would translate into decent gaming in MacOS.
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Well, I agree. The thing is EA went down that route as sales were down. Why were their sales down? Well, their games started to suck. So a new revenue model has to be put into place.

It's sad to see such beloved titles become slaves to micro-transactions.
 
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i would have loved this primarily so I could get NHL on MacOS (i'm hoping Apple would work to start making Mac ports of their games if this went through).
 
jav6454 said:
Well, I agree. The thing is EA went down that route as sales were down. Why were their sales down? Well, their games started to suck. So a new revenue model has to be put into place.

It's sad to see such beloved titles become slaves to micro-transactions.
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New IP is a risky thing to put money on, so they rehash the same games year after year. Maybe with microtransactions they can skip coming out with the same game year after year and still get money to come out with new content.

Plus Apple is pretty good with making money from micro transactions so they could help steer EA in that process?
 
It would be an easier sell if they didn’t bungle the Battlefield 2042 launch in so many different ways including dropping voice chat (for a team based FPS), dropping the score board (yes you read that right)
 
diamond.g said:
New IP is a risky thing to put money on, so they rehash the same games year after year. Maybe with microtransactions they can skip coming out with the same game year after year and still get money to come out with new content.

Plus Apple is pretty good with making money from micro transactions so they could help steer EA in that process?
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There is nothing wrong with rehashing old games as long as it's done right.
 
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Makes absolutely no sense to even consider. MAYBE to flood Apple Arcade with EA ports, which sounds terrible and will do nothing to bring more customers, even with new exclusives going forward.

I'm curious how many people actually pay for Apple Arcade. I used the 3 month free trial when I got my last iPhone and played a handful of games. They were okay for iOS games, but I have my Xbox and PC for the real games.
 
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The main reason I feel Apple would be involved is to integrate EA Play subscription to Apple Arcade. They already integrate the sub with Xbox Game Pass, so they would have to compete with that even if they pulled it. First-party titles like Battlefield would make money. EA has their own Frostbite engine, so they don't pay those Epic Unreal costs.
 
jav6454 said:
EA was considered evil due to the insane amount of micro-transactions they now make. Basically, a base game that doesn't work unless you pour more money into it. Furthermore, many of their legacy games came out badly designed and reviewers were not kind to them. (See SimCity always-connected ordeal).

EA lost itself to profiteering instead of making their games the best ones.
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Their corporate culture also.

Heck there's a whole wikipedia article about the criticisms of EA

The only game publisher i can think of that could be worse than EA is maybe Zynga.

Edit:

I rather enjoy this passage from the wikipedia article:

Just prior to the game's full release in November 2017, Disney, which owns the Star Wars intellectual property, warned EA to disable the game's loot boxes until they could devise a non-pay-to-win system, fearing the loot box system could be seen as encouraging players, including children, into gambling.
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Something is pretty wrong when Disney is taking the moral high ground over EA
 
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frownface said:
Their corporate culture also.

Heck there's a whole wikipedia article about the criticisms of EA

The only game publisher i can think of that could be worse than EA is maybe Zynga.
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Well, their corporate culture suffered due to what plagues several good companies.

Good management fails to promote internal candidates and bring in external people for higher management. These people do not understand the company's core values and end up screwing everything up in the name of profits.

My old company suffered that fate and several former coworkers tell me that things in finance and moral are bad.
 
Damn, that would show me they’re very serious about making gaming a thing on the new Macs. I would love to see their sports line on Mac, as well as their BF line.
 
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Pmperry said:
Damn, that would show me they’re very serious about making gaming a thing on the new Macs. I would love to see their sports line on Mac, as well as their BF line.
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Same..

EA is bringing a Golf game back and an NCAA FB game back..
Good times ahead for the sports gamer
 
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