‘Saints Row’ Movie Coming

3D Could Become Big Growth Driver, But Not This Year, EA Says

June 17, 2010 by Jeff Berman|Top News

LOS ANGELES -- Stereoscopic 3D “may well be one of the next and one of the most important drivers for growth” in the game industry, but not this year, Electronic Arts CEO John Riccitiello told an investor briefing at E3 Wednesday. One hurdle is that “the installed base of 3D televisions is still yet to be seen,” EA Sports President Peter Moore said.

Riccitiello doesn’t think stereoscopic 3D gaming is “a 2010 story in any way, shape, or form in a meaningful way, but as we move through 2011, 2012 it’s likely to be an opportunity both for additional growth and perhaps premium pricing” for games that support the technology, he said. EA is “very positive” about the Nintendo 3DS, he said, calling it a “very, very, very interesting device.” Coming EA games for the 3DS will include entries in its Madden NFL and FIFA series, Moore said.

With 3D, EA has “to look at it from a development perspective of using the correct camera angles to make sure” the technology adds “extra value to the consumer experience,” Moore said. One issue with team sports games is that “the further the camera pans back, the less the value for the consumer is,” so “we're looking at ways to be able to bring 3D to life” using “different camera angles,” he said.

The publisher is also “positive” about Kinect for Xbox 360 and PlayStation Move for the PS3, but is “a little indifferent” about which motion control system does best among those and Nintendo’s existing Wii, Riccitiello said. “We're happy if Microsoft and Sony win -- we tend to do better on those platforms,” but “we're increasingly doing better on Nintendo” platforms, he said. But he predicted “the broader thesis of 3D” may be “the bigger driver for the industry."

EA won’t put every sports franchise on PlayStation Move, Moore said, noting Tiger Woods PGA Tour is the first one it’s bringing to the system. The same goes for Kinect, he indicated. “One thing we've learned is to not just throw existing franchises against these motion control mechanisms and platforms because the great majority of them are not applicable to the motion itself. So, we are being very deliberate and very precise and very prescriptive where we go,” he said.

The publisher’s new Online Pass initiative is “off to a good start” since launching last week in conjunction with the release of Tiger Woods PGA Tour 11, Todd Sitrin, group vice president of marketing for EA Sports, said. “The program has been incredibly well received by both consumers and media,” he said. EA is seeing “more connected consumers than ever before” among PS3 and Xbox 360 users, based on initial data, he said. EA is also seeing that “a larger percentage” of consumers who are buying the retail packaged version of the game are “playing online than ever before” versus prior Tiger Woods games, he said. Online Pass gives gamers access to online game features and bonus content, and will help EA “monetize digital services,” he said. The company plans to offer Online Pass for other, non-sports PS3 and 360 titles also, it said. Based on comments made by rivals, Sitrin predicted that “others in the industry will seek to emulate our success soon.” EA also hopes to lower its cost of acquisition and increase retention with its new Gun Club rewards program for shooter games, said Katrina Strafford, senior director of online marketing.

Rival THQ’s recent release, UFC Undisputed 2010, is likely seeing weaker-than-expected sales (CED June 16 p4, June 4 p4) because THQ didn’t figure out a way to convince consumers about the benefits of buying a game being released only a year after the prior entry in the series, and because it was released the same week as Take-Two Interactive’s Red Dead Redemption, which is off to a strong start, Moore said. “They got themselves in a very unfortunate window with consumers. Even though they had strong pre-sales, it seems to me that pre-sales may have been flipped over to Red Dead Redemption,” he said. Moore predicted a similar fate wouldn’t befall the first entry in EA’s new mixed martial arts series, EA Sports MMA, when it releases Oct.19.

THQ CEO Brian Farrell defended UFC Undisputed 2010 at his company’s separate E3 investor briefing Tuesday. The company ran “a very effective marketing campaign, we believe” for the title. “We do have additional marketing dollars left in our budget to continue to drive sales” for the title, which THQ shipped 2.6 million copies of so far, he said.

THQ also said a movie based on the publisher’s Saints Row game series is being made by “a major filmmaker.” Danny Bilson, THQ executive vice president, Core Games, didn’t name the filmmaker. The movie will be released “ideally” on the same day that THQ releases Saints Row 3, he said. The game, however, isn’t slated to ship until some time in THQ’s fiscal year ending March 31, 2012. THQ didn’t show any game footage from the title at E3, Bilson said, telling investors the company spent an extra year working on the title’s technology, and video from it won’t be shown until the Spike Video Game Awards in December. THQ is “going to have a collectible card game” based on the game, as well as books and other merchandise, he said. The company is “going to build this thing out into the biggest transmedia blowout ever seen,” and “most of these deals are already in place,” he said. The various SKUs of the third entry in the series will include a version for the Nintendo 3DS, he said.

"The pipeline” of THQ game development and release “got slower for a while” as the company sought to get costs under control, figured out ways to make games “more efficiently,” and closed various studios, Bilson said. But he said, “This year is the last year of the slow pipeline” and, “starting on January 1, 2011 … we will be delivering blockbuster product routinely and regularly for the next two years."

THQ tested Company of Heroes Online in China and then South Korea, and that game is “now tuned and polished” and will go live in North America and Europe in September, Bilson said. It “cost us almost nothing to adapt this game -- in the low single digit millions” -- to a “free-to-play” online business model, he said.

E3 Notebook

It still isn’t clear what form 3D movies for Nintendo’s coming 3DS handheld system (CED June 16 p2) will take -- whether they'll be available via download or on some type of physical, removable media. Nintendo of America declined to elaborate Wednesday. Separately, Namco Bandai Games Vice President Shin Unozawa said the 3DS uses a “new stereogram technology,” but didn’t say what that is. Nintendo hasn’t offered any specifics on the technology used in its coming handheld system. “We are convinced of the potential of the new stereogram technology on which the hardware is based, and we intend to make full use of it,” Unozawa said. Namco Bandai is developing five titles for the Nintendo 3DS, it said. Working titles for the games in development are Ridge Racer, Pac-Man & Galaga, Gundam Franchise, Dragon Ball Franchise and Super Robot Franchise. Final details will be released later, it said. The company will “further extend its presence in the 3D gaming arena with its ongoing program of research and development,” it said. This year “will be remembered as the year that 3D technologies finally became available on a consumer level, a breakthrough that Namco Bandai Games has anticipated with its significant research and investment in the field over recent years,” said Unozawa.

Most major U.S. retailers cut the price of the 120-GB Xbox 360 console by $50 after Microsoft said it would start shipping a new 250-GB SKU at the same $299 price that the current model has been selling for (CED June 15 p1). It wasn’t immediately clear if retailers made the reduction on their own or if Microsoft cut the price to help close out the model. Microsoft didn’t respond by our deadline to a request for comment. Retailers had yet to post the new SKU at their e-commerce websites.

Sony Computer will ship an all-in-one surround sound system with built-in subwoofer for the PS3 this fall. The system will cost $199 in the U.S., 19,800 yen in Japan including tax, and 199 euros in Europe, it said. The system features Sony’s S-Force PRO Front Surround Sound that it said “generates rich realistic surround sound over one front speaker.” It will come with two audio inputs -- optical audio for high-end home entertainment systems including the PS3 and analog audio for connecting portable devices such as the PSP. “Through the introduction of new peripherals, SCE will continue to further expand the PS3 platform,” it said.

Titan Gaming doesn’t see Virgin’s entry into the online game tournament arena (CED June 15 p5) as a threat, CEO John Maffei told Consumer Electronics Daily. There’s room for multiple companies and offerings in the space, and the business models of Titan and Virgin Gaming are very different, he said. While Virgin hosts online competitions at its own website, Titan said it offers a platform for game makers and content sites to offer cash competitions and tournaments, as well as skill-based matchmaking. Maffei was “super excited” to hear about Virgin’s entry into the business because Richard Branson wouldn’t be entering the business “if there wasn’t money to be made” in it, he said. Titan announced deals with several game developers and publishers at E3 this week. It formed strategic partnerships with the independent casual and massively multiplayer online game companies Good Pants, Mode 7 Games, Studio Digital Bee and Wicked Interactive to distribute and monetize their games via the Titan Gaming Platform, Titan said Tuesday. Two more content partners, Quepasa and Zam Network, were announced Wednesday. Titan’s skill-based gaming technologies will be incorporated into Quepasa’s Open Social Developer platform, making possible the availability and publishing of skill-based social games to Quepasa’s registered user base of over 14 million Latinos, the companies said. Zam, which Maffei was president of before joining Titan in September, is a portal for massively multiple online game news, data, forums and content. As part of that deal, Titan will distribute games across Zam’s network, “reaching an audience of 11 million gamers,” the companies said. Titan expects to announce more partners in late July and is “talking with large publishers,” Maffei said, but declined to name them.