Peter Moore explains absence of EA Sports games on PC

PC News | Console popularity, online downloads and piracy among the reasons.

Back in April, we reported that Electronic Arts was looking to discontinue some of its sports titles on the PC. In response to the uproar from fans, EA Sports boss Peter Moore has explained in his official blog why we won't be seeing the likes of Tiger Woods or Madden on the PC this year.

"I've been reading the constant flow of comments regarding our position this year on sports games on the PC, and at the risk of once again opening the floodgates of people comparing me to the devil incarnate, I will try to address what I see as the core issues that continue to be up for (very spirited) debate," Moore writes.

Moore lists the shift from PC's to consoles, the growth of online downloads and piracy as some of the "core issues" behind EA's decision.

"The PC as a platform for authentic, fully-licensed, simulation sports games has declined radically in the past three years as the next generation consoles, with their high definition graphics and 5.1 sound capabilities have attracted millions of consumers to eschew the 'lean in' PC sports gaming experience for the 'lean back' full room console experience," Moore explains.

He sees the "business model for PC games ... evolving from packaged goods to a download model," and ultimately believes that piracy "is an issue".

On the latter point, Moore says: "I know many of you disagree with me on this, but the numbers don't lie. Companies spend millions developing content, and deserve to see a return on investment for their risk. The employees developing the game design, writing code and creating art deserve to get paid for their work. Period.

"In order to make fundamental shifts in an ecosystem, you sometimes have to hit the reset button. That's what we have done this year at EA SPORTS as regards some of our franchises on the PC."

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9 Comments

Lord Haart

3 years ago

I'm willing to bet that more people pirate EA's games out of spite than out of any twisted desire to actually play the cursed things.

This is one publisher the PC is most certainly better off without, until they drastically change their ways. The very fact that they are leaving PC because their eyes are only on money should worry customers. Sure, they are a company. But their product quality, service, support and PR are terrible because they can't take their eyes off the green.

Passa

3 years ago

Oh garbage, EA Sports PC games sell so poorly because they're downright terrible ports. I can't get FIFA 2008 to run on either of my two gaming systems. I used to play every FIFA iteration on my PC (since FIFA 2000, which was awesome), and while initially they were never good ports to begin with, they've gradually decreased in quality to this point now.

And they wonder why they're experiencing a drop in sales of EA Sports PC games..

The Brett

3 years ago

You see guys, EA aren't pulling support just because there won't be an immediate profit of revenue vs. cost for each individual game. Part of assessing value is to also consider the effect on company reputation, customer loyalty and relationships etc so clearly they are pulling support and considering that the costs far outweigh the benefits in both a short term monetary and long term strategic sense. It's not all about the green, it's all about the shareholders. The company is legally required to act in the shareholders' best interests. They're not going to make your stupid game because they feel sorry for you.

Face the facts, people play sports games on consoles. If you want to play sports games on your PC, you're going to have to expect no better than stick cricket given the size of the market.

oracle128

3 years ago

Lord Haart wrote

I'm willing to bet that more people pirate EA's games out of spite than out of any twisted desire to actually play the cursed things.

Yes, because if you really hate a company and their games, the best way to get back at them is to break the law anonymously downloading their products, purely so they sit on your hard drive and do nothing. That'll learn 'em!

Lord Haart

3 years ago

^It was a joke. I have more of a life than to do that.

My point was that EA is failing to make money or please there shareholders because their customer relations, support, and product quality all suck. There's a reason that EA is so hated. I'm against bandwagons, but when there's a legitimate cause for complaint, that's not a bandwagon. Bandwagonning is when you believe in something simply because it's popular.

Fly

3 years ago

oracle128 wrote

EA have a form of market domination on the sports market, with very little competition where really if you don't play FIFA then you play UEFA and it's either or. Therefore a pirates thinking could be "since EA are bastards I'll pirate this so that their market share dwindles and they'll be forced into a decision."

Unlike "consumers" you're more likely to get more individuals pirating to force a reaction then trying to convince enough people that said product is not worth it and to boycott it to then force a reaction. So in a twisted sense of progression, those who pirate could have that line of thought, where if you then pirate and spread the yarr, thus forcing EA to scale back their PC ports you then effectively filter the crap (while also screwing those who enjoy EA's products) but also force a redesign of their next releases because if it happens again they'll get the same reaction.

While this is the vast minority, it's not inherently a base idiotic idea, as obviously there's some form of tracking taking place for piracy so it's just another avenue for possible consumers to try and force change.

Skiller

3 years ago

I bought BF2142 last week and played it for 10 min before it crashed, and now everytime I try to load a level it crashes, I agree that it's EA's piss poor PC support that's costing them sales, it's pathetic, they don't even fully support 16:9 or 16:10 resolutions either

.

Not only that but I had to sign up for an EA account about 8 times to get the damn thing to work and none of the accounts seem to be accessable from anywhere but where I signed up, and none of the games I've previously registered seem to be visible either despite having used the exact same e-mail, username and passwords on all accounts (none of which seem to be accessable from anything but the games). And the non optional EA download manager thing for updates doesn't think I have any account at all even when it's being told to update 2142 from 2142 which signs in no problem

EA just don't seem to know what they are doing when it comes to PC

thebigm

3 years ago

"We can't release a roster update and expect them to buy the game" is the first thing I thought when I saw the topic (even though they would never say such a thing).

But if you're not willing to put the effort into ports, please don't change anything about your PC-Centric developers either.

LeonJ

3 years ago

I'd say it's just down to priacy and trying to maximise the revenue. EA is all about the bottom line dollar it's that is reflected in their products.

I personally will never buy a EA sports title because they don't deserve my gaming dollars for developing on yearly iterations with mimimal changes.

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