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EA in Vancouver sees 'small number' of layoffs
EA's studio in Vancouver, home to EA Canada and Black Box, was hit with layoffs while the studio goes through a "transformation." Apparently it's a lot of transforming, since variants of "transform" show up a lot in the following statement about the transformational studio."EA in Vancouver is transforming its studio to align with EA's transformation to high-growth digital formats, including online, social gaming and free-to-play," an EA spokesperson told IndustryGamers. "The Need for Speed World team in Burnaby is leading the digital transformation with 11 million registered players. As the BC studio makes this transformation, a small number of employees are being impacted while most others are being retrained, redeployed and rolling-on to new projects."EA recently reported a net loss of $205 million in the third quarter, but is seeing significant positive transformation in increased digital product sales.
Interview: EA Sports Active 2.0 executive producer Tarrnie Williams
Tarrnie Williams, formerly of Relic Entertainment, now spends his days working at EA Burnaby on EA Sports Active, which now has him wearing plastic peripherals and extolling the virtues of exercise in his role as executive producer on EA Sports Active 2.0. He's definitely very eager about working out, and he's eager to shake the image of chubby dudes playing games in their parent's basement. He wants them to be fit while they're down there. We talked to Williams at the EA Sports Opener at GDC where he deftly dodged questions about the Xbox 360 version, and didn't give up much information on the iPhone and iPod Touch versions, other than the fact that "they're online enabled." We'd sure hope so. He does talk about the peripherals and future plans for the property, which includes monitoring your brain. So jog beyond the break to read the full interview.
EA Sports Active 2.0 coming this fall to Wii, PS3 and iPhone
EA Sports' "Season Opener" event at GDC contained one major announcement for the developer's bevy of franchises: EA Sports Active will receive the sequel treatment this Fall with EA Sports Active 2.0 (working title), an updated version of the exergame for the PS3, Wii, iPhone and iPod Touch platforms. The console versions of the game will come equipped with two motion sensors and a heart rate monitor the player can strap to their arms and legs. User information in this new game can be shared over an online social network, allowing fellow players to keep track of how frequently you've been skipping out on your demanding workout regimen. EA Vancouver is reprising its role as developer for the title. We'll let you know when we hear more about 2.0 -- like, for instance, why the game is apparently skipping out on launching on the 360.
EA Sports Active earned publisher $125 million
EA Sports Active for the Wii, the third-party publisher's sweatier response to Nintendo's best-seller Wii Fit, has earned the company $125 million. Gamasutra reports that at the conclusion of Electronic Arts' fiscal year (which is at the end of this month), the company believes the product will be one of the "top 20-selling ... Wii titles of all time." Of course, with Nintendo's dominance on its own platform, EA Sports Active is likely closer to the 20th position than the first. Despite some hiccups, EA Sports head Peter Moore says that he and the EA brass are still "great believers in the Wii." He notes that the publisher has seen the most success on the platform with "specific experiences that are built around that consumer." He then announced EA Sports Mall Walker ... kidding!
EA Sports Wii/DSi accessory bundles announced
Because your EA Sports games need that extra oomph, EA has signed a deal with Sakar International to produce a lineup of attachments for your Wiimote and -- wait, DSi? Sure enough, the press release mentions "realistic-looking EA Sports golf clubs, tennis rackets and baseball bats for the Wii and Nintendo DSi as well as fitness gear for use with EA Sports Active" as part of a deal EA announced last month. Tiger Woods PGA Tour 10 and 11 on Wii will get a series of golf club attachments for kids on up to adults -- extendable up to 24 or 36 inches depending on the set you acquire -- and Sekar will also offer baseball and racquet accessories for other Wii games like Grand Slam Tennis. As for the DSi, the press release mentions five-in-one carrying kits themed around football, baseball, basketball and soccer -- each kit will include a game case, skin, stylus, and clip-on earphones or headphones. Then there's the EA Sports Active stuff, which comes in two flavors: Starter Kit and Gym Kit. The first will retail for $19.99 and comes with a Wii Balance Board bag, yoga mat, fitness cord, armband and legbands, while the Gym Kit will set you back a bit more at $39.99 and includes a gym bag, yoga mat with a fitness cord and wrist and ankle weights. While we can't really comment on these proposed attachments without at least seeing them first, we just hope EA reads the internet every now and then. Some attachments are great, while others are just a painful memory you wish you could forget.
Two EA Sports Active games due Holiday 2010
Just before today's sure to be thrilling investor's call, EA released a fact sheet to the folks gearing up for the hour-plus finance-a-thon -- a fact sheet that revealed two "TBA" EA Sports Active games set for release on consoles in the third quarter of the company's fiscal 2011 (October 1 through December 31, 2010, in human being time). We've yet to hear anything on a new EA Sports Active title for the Wii, though we did hear some rumblings at E3 last year that the franchise would be headed to Sony and Microsoft's respective motion-based outings. And considering the unannounced titles are set for release in line with the announced release of Microsoft's Project Natal, and perhaps just after the PlayStation Motion Controller, there's a good chance that these pending EA Sports Active releases are for those platforms -- maybe one for Natal and one PlayStation; or one for Natal and Playstation and one for Wii.
NPD: DJ Hero best-selling new IP of '09, by revenue only
Activision has announced that DJ Hero was "the #1 new intellectual property by revenue in the U.S. and Europe for calendar 2009, according to the NPD Group." Lest you sped through that proclamation, take note of the two key words: "by revenue" -- in other words, the total amount of money spent by consumers. Considering DJ Hero debuted at $120 for the standard turntable bundle and $200 for the Renegade Edition, it's no wonder that it managed to bring in the most money (though not necessarily the most profit, and certainly not the most units sold for a new franchise). NPD representative Anita Frazier clarified for Joystiq the performance of last year's new IPs in terms of actual unit sales. As you might have guessed, DJ Hero wasn't quite #1 in that category, but managed a respectable 789,000 units in U.S. sales. Still, it was soundly outsold by other new IPs, including Borderlands and Dragon Age: Origins, which sold 1.11 million and 1.14 million units, respectively. Besting them all, however, was EA Sports Active, which amassed 1.2 million units sold. And get this, if we consider new IPs that launched before 2009, then Wii Play and Wii Fit were technically the best-selling new IPs in 2009 in terms of unit sales and revenue, according to the NPD. Finally, we should point out -- as did Frazier -- that NPD data only covers the U.S., despite Activision's claim that the group provided European sales data regarding DJ Hero.
EA Sports Active price pretty slim on Amazon today
If you're among those who resolved both to lose weight and procrastinate more in 2010, you've got a perfectly opportunity to belatedly begin your regimen today with Amazon's Gold Box deal: EA Sports Active. The fat-fighting gamercise is available for $40 right now, $20 less than its usual price. It's a shame to have to break one of your resolutions to keep another one, but you sadly can't procrastinate too much on this deal: It'll disappear by day's end.
Rumor: EA Sports working on manly football fitness game for men
EA Sports Active may be fine for the ladies, but we want to get trim with more manly pursuits, like lumbercraft and bronzemanship. According to a rumor posted by Destructoid, we may just get our wish. The site reports that, according to sources close to the project, EA Sports is creating NFL Trainer for Wii, which will help players work on their technique and get fit with a variety of football drills. As if that weren't manly enough, there's talk of an included football peripheral to plug your Wiimote into. Can you imagine the rush of pretend-throwing the old virtual prolate spheroid down the e-gridiron? If that's not enough to put hair on your chest, we don't know what is.
EA Sports Active stores open in Boston and San Francisco
If you live in Boston or San Francisco and are curious enough about EA Sports Active to go into a retail store devoted entirely to the fitness game, you're in luck! And maybe you've also learned something about the amount of curiosity you have about EA Sports Active. On November 15, EA opened two EA Sports Active stores, featuring demo units of both Active and the new EA Sports Active: More Workouts, "Active Trainers" who will show attendees how to use the game, and even a supply of games to lend out to visitors so they can try it at home. The stores also take reservations for workout sessions. They'll be open until December 14. EA invited some bloggers to the Boston location for a tour and a workout. Not us, but fitness bloggers. You know, the people that someone might listen to if they cared about being healthy. Luckily for us, those bloggers took plenty of pictures of the inside of the Boston store. If you'd like to visit, the addresses of the stores are posted after the break.
EA Sports Active inspires 'More Workouts' with success stories trailer
The newest trailer for EA Sports' upcoming Active line More Workouts retail expansion is live (after the break) and features some heartwarming stories. Well, heartwarming might be a strong word but it definitely features people wearing EA logo shirts describing how EA Sports Active is the best thing to happen to them since the discovery of Pringles. EA Sports Active: More Workouts hits stores this November. The new version of the exercise title includes over 30 new workouts and a new six week challenge mode, which can be customized for personal tastes.
EA Sports Active gets More Workouts Nov. 17
We've always thought slapping a number at the end of a title is a pretty unoriginal way to name a sequel, but EA has lowered the bar, perhaps even digging out a bar-shaped hole in the soft earth below and jamming said bar down into it with EA Sports Active More Workouts. Yeah, that's the real name. EA Sports Active ... but more. The expansion's 35 new exercises -- like water skiing and paddle surfing -- will focus on abs and add a warm-up and cool down feature. Look for EA to strike a blow against creative nomenclature on November 17.
Activism: Moore 'delighted' to talk to female gamers
Speaking at the Edinburgh Interactive Conference this week, Peter Moore explained how EA Sports changed its business strategy in order to address a growing female demographic. According to Moore, the arrival of the Wii changed everything, thanks to its focus on gameplay over graphics. "We didn't even have arms any more, never mind superior graphics," says more, adding that games "became more about getting up off the couch." This led EA Sports to change its business model. Moore notes that EA pulled in $150 million "by talking to the female consumer and providing a solution to someone who perhaps can't get to a gym, or afford one, through EA Sports Active." He adds that it's "not only great business" for EA, but it's "changing people's lives through a game." He concludes that EA is "delighted" to be talking to girls and women. We'll bet the company is delighted. So delighted that it "indefinitely" delayed the Xbox 360 and PS3 versions Grand Slam Tennis in order to push out an expansion for EA Sports Active.
EA Sports Active player base split evenly between men and women
As you likely noticed if you've turned on a TV in the past few months, EA Sports Active is being marketed pretty heavily towards the female demographic. So you can imagine the company's surprise when, as they told us earlier today, customer satisfaction surveys from its research group indicated that the Active audience was split evenly between men and women. "Although we focused our marketing campaign on women, EA Sports Active was designed to accommodate everyone and our consumer base reflects that," Monique Gomel, marketing director for the game, told us. Unfortunately, there's no way to tell if this is a case of EA not reaching the women it's after or dudes just wanting to get tiny before they get huge and start wailing on their pecs. Let's hope it's the latter.
EA Q1 sales better than expected, still slow
We've been hearing recession tales of woe for months now in the video game industry. Today is no different, as EA is posting a net loss of $234 million for its financial Q1 sales year over year versus $95 million in losses during the same quarter last year. Unsurprisingly, titles like The Sims 3 and EA Sports Active -- you know, EA's best selling Wii game ever -- helped to boost sales, but overall game sales were lower "due to slowed hardware sales." Don't worry, though, as EA promises four new IPs for the holiday season (Dante's Inferno, Dragon Age: Origins, Brütal Legend and, presumably, Saboteur) and predicts increased revenue with tiny little titles like The Beatles: Rock Band and Madden 10 landing in the next few months. (We were so worried.)
EA Sports Active is EA's best-selling Wii game ever
Throwing stuff at stuff is okay, but what Wii owners really like is stretching. That's the takeaway we've gleaned from EA's quarterly financial results, which reveal that EA Sports Active, selling "over 1.8 million copies in the quarter," is not just a genuine hit -- it's the publisher's best-selling Wii title to date. If EA hadn't already announced that expansions and versions for other consoles were coming out, now is right about when we would say "there are totally going to be sequels to this." Although, we suppose, technically, the second EA Sports released a game was the second we knew there'd be another one in a year.
Moore says Metacritic not so relevant to Wii sales
We've heard stories of PR reps and devs obsessing over Metacritic scores, but EA Sports' Peter Moore's not sweating them, at least when it comes to Wii games. Noting that some titles in the low 70s can still move millions upon millions of units, Moore says that the people buying casual games and health titles like EA Sports Active aren't getting their info from Metacritic. Moore's bigger concern? User reviews on Amazon. We'd like to snicker, but that's how we buy vacuums, so what do we know?
EA Sports already working on Active for Natal/PS3 Motion Controller
EA Sports is the very definition of an early adopter. During a lengthy interview with us, the company's Peter Moore confirmed that his teams were working on how to bring the mega-successful EA Sports Active franchise to PS3 and 360, taking advantage of the PS3 Motion Controller and Project Natal respectively. "Absolutely," Moore said. "Natal is the perfect example of what you could do there. If you could imagine EA Sports Active done via Natal ... and we are working on that right now, we saw Natal a couple months ago and we started thinking about how we could bring health/wellness and fitness to a Natal-type experience. Same with Sony with the motion controller, how can you utilize what they showed on Tuesday to bring fitness to that. But I think Natal is a huge opportunity."
EA Sports Active gets active in extracting money from wallets
EA Sports was very happy to announce today that it's Wii fitness bundle EA Sports Active had a tremendously successful start, selling over 600,000 copies since its May 19 release. In case you were wondering why EA was so quick to put out an expansion, yeah, that's why. It's not like the company desperately wants you to lose those love handles, you know.
EA Sports Active expansion out this holiday
EA Sports Active seems to be quite the hit! So much so that, like the resistance bands that ship with the disc, the game is due for expansion. Even though the game just came out May 19, EA has already announced the first expansion pack. It's coming "this holiday, just in time to help you with your New Year's resolutions." If you resolve to buy more fitness games this year, EA wants to help! Peter Moore did say EA Sports Active was a "platform."
