EA seems to like to talk about everything, doesn’t matter the topic EA or members of EA have an opinion on it. Today they felt it was necessary to tell us why they seemingly have only been working on sequels and refuse to launch any new IPs. According to EA Labels president Frank Gibeau, EA is working on multiple new IPs it plans to launch on the next generation of consoles, but they will not release these games on current generation consoles because there is basically “no reward” for doing so.

“The time to launch an IP is at the front-end of the hardware cycle, and if you look historically the majority of new IPs are introduced within the first 24 months of each cycle of hardware platforms, Right now, we’re working on 3 to 5 new IPs for the next gen, and in this cycle we’ve been directing our innovation into existing franchises.

“As much as there’s a desire for new IP, the market doesn’t reward new IP this late in the cycle; they end up doing okay, but not really breaking through. We have to shepherd the time that our developers spend, as well as the money that we spend on development in a positive way, so we’re focused on bringing out a bunch of new IPs around the next generation of hardware.”

Then he went on to agree with other game developers, stating that this current console length has gone on too long and that is why the industry has stagnated. ”This is the longest cycle that any of us have ever seen, and we’re at the point where a little bit of fatigue has set in, and people are wondering what they can possibly do next,”

And EA wonders why the gaming community hates them so much, what it all comes down to is that Gibeau and EA believe a new IP would not sell ten million copies right now so it is not worth their time to put new IPs out. EA has gotten it in their heads that every game they make needs to sell a minimum of five million copies or making the game isn’t worth it.

Gibeau earlier this year basically said that if Dead Space 3 doesn’t sell five million copies they will probably end the series. What they don’t seem to understand at EA is that not all games start off selling great on their first iteration. The original Mass Effect game didn’t even come close to five million copies, but each sequel sold better than the next.

This idea that every game needs to sell like Call of Duty is top of the list on reasons why I hate EA so much. The fact they are refusing to put out anymore new IPs this generation for fear of lack of sales is ludicrous. They have no guarantee that the next generation of consoles will sell well right out of the gate, meaning that all those new IPs they are saving for next generation could easily flop.

So I don’t honestly get where this confidence comes from that new IPs do well on new consoles, it all depends on attach rates. It all just comes down to EA hoping that one of those new IPs they are working on becomes the next Gears of War on the next generation of consoles. When that doesn’t happen they will lean on all their sequels to save them, just make sure nobody tell them that sequels don’t often make the transition between consoles generations well.