EA's Schappert shares five money-making tips

EA Chief Operating Officer John Schappert dropped five tips for making money in the industry over the next three years on the D.I.C.E. audience today. Before getting to those, though, Schappert acknowledged that EA didn't give Dead Space or Mirror's Edge the marketing support those titles deserved. He confessed, "We could have done better and these titles deserved more." He referenced the Dante's Inferno Superbowl ad and the marketing deluge for Mass Effect 2 as examples of the kind of marketing the publisher should be doing for more of its games.

As for Schapper's tips:

1. Commit yourself to quality. (Okay, that's fairly self explanatory and definitely a motto all publishers should practice.)

2. Get more from your marketing. (In other words, don't do what EA did to Dead Space and Mirror's Edge.)

3. Invest in the future. (EA's pushing this one with its sweeping DLC and online strategy.)

4. Don't abandon your consumer base. (Digital distribution is important, but Schappert believes that discs aren't going the way of the dodo anytime soon. He warns, "Don't jump off that shiny disc too soon.")

5. Illegitimi non carborundum. (A polite translation might be: "Don't let the cynics get you down," even when things look really bad. A more colloquial expression of this phrase: "Don't worry, be happy.")