Moore: EA had a "policy against communicating directly with consumers"

Because talking to people that buy your games makes no sense.

EA Sports boss Peter Moore has told Brand Narrative that the company directly opposed talking to the public when he first arrived from Microsoft in 2007.

“When I got here we not only had ambivalence but we had a policy against communicating directly with our consumers," he said.

"What we discovered is that the consumer has an expectation to hear from us, every day. Previously we’d give out a screenshot and, if you were very good and the pre-sales showed some life we might actually reward you with some footage.

"But that’s all gone out the window. Now we’re not afraid of opening the kimono to the dark art of game development."

Midnight openings and the like are just a piece in the jigsaw now, Moore said.

“We still have those ‘line-them-up-at-midnight’ campaigns but that is just the climax now rather than the whole launch, meaning that we are constantly communicating with our consumer what to expect as the process goes on," Moore added.

"We’re marketing 365 days a year and we’re measuring [results] hourly."

We'd love to see that hourly measurement.

"How's the marketing?"

"Up a bit."

There's a full interview here.