Electronic Arts is stumbling, according to Business Week, and the thing that can save them is a wee bit of innovation, a very wee bit.

Business Week points to Spore as EA's possible salvation from franchise glut. But Spore is just the beginning, according to the article:

EA's ambitious goal is to create more such innovative, internally developed games while lessening the company's dependence on professional sports and Hollywood movie franchises.

I couldn't agree more. I know big companies like EA have it in them, they've just gotten too comfortable and complacent. I was talking to a insider at one of the more successful publishers out there recently about this.

We were talking about a post I had written about the need for his company to be more innovative. He said that it wasn't the duty of a developer to make innovative games, their duty is to make games they like.

His argument, I believe, is that like works of art, game creation should come from the heart.

While I see what he's saying, I do think that developers have some responsibility to the industry as a whole and gamers in particular to create things outside their zone of comfort.

I see game development more akin to movie making than painting or sculpting. And as with Hollywood, gaming needs to have a vibrant indie scene to thrive.

Can Electronic Arts [Cathode Tan]