Kotaku: frank gibeau

EA To "Revitalize" Medal Of Honor, Other "Blockbusters"

Michael McWhertor — Mon, 09 Nov 2009 18:20:00 MST

Electronic Arts will be revealing its plans to "revitalize" its more successful "core IP"—specifically the Medal of Honor series—in the coming months, EA Games label president Frank Gibeau said today.

The currently dormant Medal of Honor series—the most recent entries, Medal of Honor: Airborne, Medal of Honor: Vanguard and Medal of Honor: Heroes 2, were released way back in 2007—is certainly due for a revitalization. Whether that means a modern day reboot of the series, rumored at one point to be set in Afghanistan, remains to be seen.

Given competitor Activision and EA developer DICE's success with bringing things up to date, we wouldn't be surprised.

Gibeau didn't offer much in the way of concrete details on what a "revitalized" Medal of Honor means, much like his boss EA CEO John Riccitiello. At least we know it's out there somewhere.

Following EA's losing quarter and its the company's plans to shed some 1500 employees, close studios and cancel a dozen projects, it's not surprising that the publisher is shifting to what works.

EA "Launched Too Many New IPs" In 2008

Luke Plunkett — Mon, 29 Jun 2009 22:30:00 MDT

Last year, EA tried something new: they released a number of titles based off brand new intellectual property. Perhaps, in hindsight, too many.

In an interview with Gamasutra, EA's Frank Gibeau has said:

I think in the spirit of your question, I think we launched too many new IPs all at once in Q3.

I would have spread them out and found better windows for them. I would have had longer marketing for them. The marketing cycles were fairly short. We didn't have enough assets to really build the fanbase, build the community, and get that long lead demand built.

So I probably in hindsight would have picked a couple different windows for Dead Space and Mirror's Edge.

In hindsight, yeah, I bet you would have. But you know, for all the people getting down on both those games...in the 6-9 months since their release, word has spread. Both were, for their quirks, excellent games (probably my two favourite from 2008, even). So when the sequels roll around, things will be different. People will be ready. Ready with money.

A Different Track: Frank Gibeau Talks Strategy [Gamasutra]

Dead Space, Army Of Two, Battlefield: Bad Company Sequels Planned, Sun To Rise

Michael McWhertor — Thu, 23 Oct 2008 16:40:00 MDT

According to EA Games president Frank Gibeau and EA Redwood Shores general manager Glen Schofield, EA is planning on producing sequels to recent hits Army of Two, Battlefield: Bad Company and Dead Space. We'll agree that it's about as shocking as finding one's nose still attached to one's face, but it illustrates just how important original intellectual property is to the company. That's why they've been doing all that brand building recently, y'know.

In recent interviews with Variety, the two EA bossmen loosely confirmed plans for new franchise iterations, with Dead Space looking to have its property further whored out to toys, novels and even a big budget, live action movie.

It's our understanding that the next Battlefield: Bad Company is planned to ship as early as next summer, in EA's fiscal fourth quarter. A "game of the year" style edition would precede Battlefield: Bad Company 2, one that includes paid and free downloadable content.

Why so early? To keep Bad Company on the brain. Or, in marketing speak, to "settle the franchise on the console market.

As far as an Army of Two sequel, we agree with Variety that the naming convention may be the biggest hurdle. Army of Two 2? Ick. We'll go with either Army Of Too, Look Who's Army Of Two-ing Now, Army of Two Also or Navy Of Two. Or Coast Guard Of Two! How fantastic would that be?

Army of Two sequel, Dead Space movie talks, and more on EA's new approach to original properties [Variety]

More Skate, Burnout, Mass Effect Coming From EA

Michael McWhertor — Tue, 12 Feb 2008 16:30:46 MST

From the Duh Files comes news that EA plans to ship "extensions" to its financially successfully Skate and Burnout series, by way of EA Games prez Frank Gibeau. He also says that a proper Mass Effect sequel is already in the works. What those extensions may be wasn't defined, GameSpot reports, but could easily mean proper sequels or handheld spin-offs. And while downloadable content most likely isn't out of the question, Skate producers have gone on record in the past saying the title wasn't built with DLC in mind.

Another Burnout wouldn't come as a shock to just about anyone, but it would appear that EA is not going to give up trying to unseat the current Madden of skateboarding, Tony Hawk. He told investors "these are the fights that EA knows how to win," which I'm sure has Activision execs losing control of their bowels in fear. You're welcome for the imagery.

New Burnout, Skate on the way [GameSpot]