EA is planning on transforming all its brands into “online universes.”
The announcement came from Keith Ramsdale, EA Northern Europe’s top dog during EA’s showcase this week. FIFA, Battlefield, Medal of Honor, Star Wars, The Sims and Need for Speed are all receiving the new treatment.
This new approach goes beyond the ability to play these games online, and instead points to a wealth of interactivity between platforms.
Ramsdale used FIFA as a way to demonstrate exactly how this might work:
“Imagine a player gets up in the morning and plays an online match on his 360 before going to work,” he said. “On the bus, on his way to work, he practices his free kicks on his tablet. At lunch he looks at the transfer window on his PC. On the way home he chooses his kit on his smartphone. “
“Here’s the thing: when he gets home to play again on his 360 that evening, all those Achievements and upgrades will be alive in his game.”
Ramsdale said this approach would allow a player to play “how he wants, when he wants, and on the device he wants”.
“We’re very focused on transforming all of our brands into these online universes. That gives the consumer full control of how and when they play in a rich world of content.”
This has already been seen in Mass Effect 3, in which players are able to add to their galactic readiness in the retail game by using the Mass Effect Datapad on their iOS devices.
