"Online is a massive and significant opportunity" - EA
EA wants to go online. Not even a little bit. Echoing comments made by EA Games president Frank Gibeau in San Francisco last week, UK EA boss Keith Ramsdale said in London this morning that online is clearly the way forward for games.
"Its a great time to be a game-maker, a game publisher," said Ramsdale, speaking as chairman of London Games Festival, which kicked off this morning.
"We know the audience is growing, we know the offerings get better - but fundamentally online is a massive and significant opportunity, and a ground-breaking opportunity for this industry."
Ramsdale also mentioned the range of gaming opportunities currently on offer, from EA's own Pogo platform to MMOs such as World of Warcraft and Warhammer Online.
"The next wave in gaming is to understand the trend, make sure that games are directly accessible to consumer on the internet - and key to us will be retaining those consumers once they come into our space. Whether that's a brand or a franchise space, we need to hold on to them.
"The way to hold on to them is to deliver them great, ongoing content."