Features

EA To Take A Leap Of Faith With Cricket, Badminton?

E365> Feature - Monday September 10 2007

E365 -- It's the craziest of times when games overtake movies and 11-year olds win international skateboarding titles, but here we are. So EA's decision possibly to expand into cricket and badminton games is so crazy it just might work. Or not. Let's take a look.

Peter Moore is the new face at the head of the EA boardroom table, and he's not closing the doors on any possible titles. The hunt of the new is nothing new in itself, but EA's trendsetting move of looking outside United States-predominated sports for their next big hit is indicative of the shifting horizons of the extreme sports gaming world. Even if it's badminton.

But just because some guy at the top reckons that Skate works as a game, all "fringe" sports are gonna work. Hello?

But skating's not a fringe sport anymore, champ. Skateboarding athletes earn more from endorsements and advertisements than from actual contests. Sheckles, White and Hawk earn a retarded amount of money in game appearances, commercials and "yeah this cola is cool" adverts every year.

Moore arrives hot off the payroll at XBox to spearhead the EA camp. So he's obviously clued.

"The traditional business of EA Sports is a very, very lucrative and desirable business if you are an outsider," Moore said to Reuters recently. "That business needs to continue to grow but the opportunity outside of the core licensed simulation games market is what excites me," Moore said. "EA is a powerful brand but it's maybe not even scratched the surface."

"There's one sport in India and that's cricket, and we'll obviously be looking at that. There are a bunch of other sports - badminton, for example, if you want to get really local," Moore said.

But in this age, where countries like India hold the reigns to a majority of the world's Internet publishing, and boast a population of 1,12 billion people, turns out cricket is a pretty big market after all. Especially in a country with its economy hardwired to the communications industry. In short? Easy pickings.