Electronic Arts

The name of the game

Tue, 28 Aug 2007 06:59:59 -0400

The name of the game
The great thing about videogames is the chance to do everything over--to hit the reset button and make right all the wrong moves and poor choices you made the first time around. Real life offers few second chances, but this week Nokia will hit reset on its failed N-Gage initiative, formally reviving the N-Gage brand as a multiplayer gaming platform for its Series 60 smartphone series. Where the previous N-Gage phone/game system was infamous for its frustrating user interface and primitive gameplay, the new N-Gage platform arrives with titles developed by the likes of Electronic Arts, I-play and Capcom. Nokia also learned from its ergonomic miscues--according to The New York Times, the company sought the aid of Silicon Valley design firm Ideo and studied the habits and preferences of gamers to determine what consumers truly expect from the mobile gaming experience. (The original N-Gage, of course, was designed by the good people at Taco Bell, which may explain its many failures.)

Based on the New York Times profile, N-Gage seems like a gaming platform developed for maximum user appeal. The article reports that among the conclusions drawn from Nokia and Ideo's consumer studies is that gamers want to compete against their friends, so the new N-Gage enables players to see which game titles are downloaded to their friends' phones and whether or not they're online. Nokia also determined that gamers are sick of purchasing games that disappoint, so N-Gage allows users to sample before buying. Ideo even convinced Nokia to eliminate many of the N-Gage's legacy features and simplify access to those that remained, creating shortcuts on the main screen.

So if the new N-Gage is as different from its predecessor as it appears, why did Nokia retain the brand in the first place? It doesn't make sense. Imagine if Ford was to revive the Edsel, or if Coca-Cola released another New Coke--if the name carries universally negative connotations, it doesn't matter how good the new product might be. For all that Nokia learned from the gamer population, they failed to grasp one of the most elemental lessons of all: Hitting reset means making a totally fresh start. -Jason

Mitch Lasky has left the building

Mon, 26 Mar 2007 20:01:38 -0400

Mitch Lasky has stepped down from his position as Executive Vice President of Mobile and Online at Electronic Arts to become a partner at Benchmark Capital. Mobile gaming is a tough business (recall that Lasky was recently dissed on stage by Digital Chocolate's Trip Hawkins), so perhaps it's no surprise that Lasky's new role doesn't appear to have much to do with gaming. Lasky will be succeeded by Michael Marchetti, currently the COO of EA's mobile division.

QUICKLINKS: Nokia sues Qualcomm in Europe; How to intercept cell calls and text messages; Much more...

Mon, 19 Mar 2007 20:01:35 -0400

Nokia files patent suit against Qualcomm in Europe. Article

How to intercept cell calls and text messages. Article | Blog

Adobe launches Apollo. Only a matter of time before it goes mobile. Blog

Cingular unlocks Blackjack for free. Blog

Microsoft's Windows Mobile 6 Flash demo. Download

Europe is five years behind Japan. Report

EA launches Sports Link, a sports and gaming news portal. Article

Syware announces mobile developer tools for Vista. Release

Mobile gaming report: EA shrinks, Glu moves up

Mon, 04 Dec 2006 19:01:38 -0500

EA Mobile's share of the mobile gaming market shrunk to 27 percent last quarter, down from 32 percent the quarter before, according to an M:Metrics report. The report also shows that Glu Mobile has overtaken Gameloft for the number two spot.

QUICKLINKS: Smartphones continue to erode PDA market share; Mobile marketing to bring in $2.9B in 2011; and Much more...

Mon, 23 Oct 2006 20:01:35 -0400

Smartphones continue to erode PDA market share. Blog

Christian MVNO FaithFone offers mobile banking. FierceWireless

Will the smartphone kill the PC? Blog

Report: Mobile marketing $2.9B by 2011. FierceMobileContent

O2 to give away EA Mobile games. Blog

Celebrating 50 years of mobile phones. Blog

QUICKLINKS: Rumor: Sony PlayStation phone; Jamdat co-founders leave EA; Much more...

Mon, 11 Sep 2006 20:01:35 -0400

Rumor: Sony is working on a PlayStation phone. Well, at least the Apple iPhone will have some competition. Blog

Jamdat co-founders leave EA. Blog

Vivendi Games acquires mobile game developer Centerscore. Release

Most London theater patrons want their phones jammed. Article

BusineSMS launches MercuryXMS Mobile DRM SDK. Web site

Handango scores $60 million in funding. Blog

Metric: Top British mobile downloads

Mon, 04 Sep 2006 20:01:38 -0400

According to the ELSPA, a British software publisher's association, the top mobile downloads for the month of June are: EA's Tetris, THQ's Worms, Sega's Sonic The Hedgehog, EA's FIFA: Germany, EA's Sims 2, Glu Mobile's Who Wants to be a Millionaire 2, Eidos' Championship Manager 2006, I-Play's Fast and the Furious: Tokyo Drift, Gameloft's Block Breaker Deluxe and Glu Mobile's Monopoly. Article

Editor's Corner: Selling games and getting paid

Mon, 24 Jul 2006 20:01:39 -0400

In a recent interview, EA Executive Producer Travis Boatman spent quite a bit of time talking about mobile content distribution challenges. Boatman said EA is "doing all these great things with the products, but yet the method by which they're delivered to the consumer still isn't really evolving in the same way." I completely agree.

Boatman leaves most of the responsibility for distribution at the feet of the operators, but concedes that "there's going to be a growth in off-deck portals." Readers may recall that last month EA SVP Mitch Lasky appeared to be announcing a plan for EA to take it's games off-deck, before retracting his statements amid clearly more attention than Lasky intended.

As I said at the time, there's no reason that carriers should wield this much control over the distribution of mobile content. Even EA Mobile--which as Jamdat was an outspoken supporter of carrier portals--is eying off-deck revenue. It's only a matter of time. - Eli

Metric: Top 10 U.S. publishers

Mon, 24 Jul 2006 20:01:38 -0400

According to M:Metrics, the top 10 publishers for May 2006 are: EA Mobile (32%), Gameloft (9%), Glu (8%), Hand-On (7%), Namco (6%), Oasys Mobile (4%), I-Play (4%), Konami (3%), GOSUB 60 (2%) and SkyZone Entertainment (2%). (Also see the top U.K. mobile downloads)

Editor's Corner: Going off-deck

Mon, 26 Jun 2006 20:01:39 -0400

Last week EA Mobile Senior VP Mitch Lasky announced that EA Mobile is "going off-deck" and gave a presentation that appeared to show a consumer purchasing content on a desktop and transferring it to a phone, essentially cutting operators out of the loop. After his speech was covered in FierceMobileContent and other publications, Lasky clarified his remarks to say that EA Mobile was only planning to market games off-deck, but that the company would still direct users to the carrier portal to purchase them.

Did Lasky jump the gun when he talked about new EA Mobile applications for "selling directly to our customers"? Did operator goons leave a severed keypad in his bed that night? I don't know and, really, it doesn't matter. Whether it's just marketing or something more, the trend is clear: operators' walled gardens are crumbling down. Marketing, content discovery and delivery will all eventually move off-deck--it's a matter of "when," not "if." -Eli

P.S. I'm hosting a Webinar on "Staying Ahead of the Curve: New Threats and Opportunities to Securing Your Cellular Handsets." with Intel today at 2 p.m. EST. Join me live today or check out the archived version later.