EA Sports: ‘We must not screw up our next-gen titles’

The boss of EA Sports has warned his teams not to ‘screw up’ its next gen games.

EVP Andrew Wilson is wary of the impact new technology can have on the sports genre, describing new consoles as an ‘inflection point’.

Our first objective for the next generation is not to screw up,” he told MCV. We were here last generation and we screwed up. We must make sure we don’t lose the investment we have made to make great sports games. Don’t lose focus on the goal of making great games. Don’t let all of the ancillary fluff get in the way of making great games on these new platforms.”

He added: A new generation is an inflection point. You can get distracted by things. You can fall foul of new technology. You can not plan appropriately. What we have done is establish EA Sports technology with EA Sports Ignite upfront and in advance so that we are ready and prepared.

We are focused more than we have ever been. Especially more so than we were this time last generation. And we have teams now that are stronger than anything that we had back then. It is an inflection point, and it can be a positive one or a negative one.

We are engineering it so it will be a positive inflection point for us and for gamers.”

As well as introducing a new Ignite engine, the publishing label is also set to re-launch its basketball series NBA Live for next-gen, and unveiled its first UFC title.

We are going to give UFC a launch like it has never seen,” said Wilson. When I look at the last generation, Fight Night became a platform-defining title. UFC has the potential to be the next generation’s platform-defining fighting experience. And we have got to live up to that.”