EA has hinted at online-based expansion for Spore. Does it indicate bigger things?
It seems like there was never a time when games sales charts weren’t full of expansion packs to The Sims. Even recently, the ungodly alliance of The Sims 2 and Ikea has been selling like mad to those who want to surround their Sims in Scandinavian opulence. So, it’s unsurprising that EA plans on serious monetisation of the Spore franchise down the line.
Part of an extensive financial conference call from EA covered thinking that the company may eventually need to evolve Spore into a label, much as it has done with The Sims. It reinforces just how central Will Wright’s evolution game is to the ‘new’ EA. After all, Maxis is often held up as the shining example of how EA wants to run its development studios. This, however, combined with other news of significant online focus for Madden (which is returning to the PC), and the announcement that the company had acquired Napster creator Shawn Fanning’s Rupture social networking software, and it really looks like there’s a strategy to deal with PC piracy at the core.
We’ve already seen EA try to implement stringent back-to-base checks with Bioware’s Mass Effect and Maxis’ Spore – a move it then backed down on after widespread online outrage. There’s also been serious public complaint from Crytek about the impact piracy had on the EA-published Crysis. It seems like the logical step to somehow integrate online functionality into the games that would render piracy as undesirable a method of obtaining a game as possible. Let’s face it – copy protection gets cracked and frequent online interaction with game software is the best possible way for a company to maintain control of its IP.
While it sounds far fetched, it’s a model that works fantastically with Valve Software’s Steam. Despite initial worries, the secure distribution system has worked well for not only Valve’s titles but an increasing number of third-party developers as well.
EA has had a pretty appalling history when it comes to pay-to-play games – such failures as Earth and Beyond, Need for Speed: Motor City Online, and even The Sims Online lay in its past. In fact, one could argue that the only really successful MMO property EA has ever overseen has been Ultima Online – now a very old title.
That is due to change with the impending launch of Warhammer Online. The combination of veteran developer Mythic and a non-rushed development phase is meaning that this is the most promising MMO that EA has been involved with. In fact, it is so polished that it’s apparently already good enough to ship.
While it’s not been the favourite game company among many of us for some time now, EA’s showing at E3 was strong and there is every sign that the company is making a serious return to form. If it can combine this with sensible integration of online features, then we could well be spending time playing PC games again, rather than just wondering when one will actually come out.
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