An Open Letter to EA Marketing - Why EA's Controversial Ads Harm the Industry - Extra Credits

Look, EA, we got to talk. You were a big part of our childhood. I loved games like Starflight, Buck Rogers, Centurion, Rings of Power. Pretty much your whole Genesis yellow clip collection is still sitting on James' shelf. Even his first copy of M.U.L.E. has your stamp on it. And while I think you've made a series of strategic missteps in the last half decade, to this day there are games that you've that I praise, even here on the show. But there's something you've been doing lately that we have really, really got to talk about. No, it's not the buying of companies that clearly don't fit into your corporate culture. No, it's not even about what it takes to kick off new IP. We have got to talk about your marketing. You got to stop this. You've got the biggest, most powerful marketing arm in the industry, and you're using it to set us all back. It's not helping anyone, not even you. No, not even in the short term. Let's take a brief look at your recent history, shall we? Starting with Dante's Inferno. You had an opportunity here to do something great with the medium,

something truly moving. You were working with one of the most compelling pieces of literature in the Western tradition, but instead you gave us this. And then you made Dante a Templar, and I don't even But all right, all right, not the end of the world. Yes, you were missing a monumental opportunity, which was frustrating, but hey, no harm, no foul. But then you started to market it. First, you started here. You hired fake protesters to pretend to be religious zealots picketing your game. You got these fraudulent Christians to stand outside your headquarters waving signs and chanting, pretending to be morally offended that you would treat their religion in such a flippant way. You even had some of them carrying signs saying hell is not a game. Nice touch. Who are you helping by mocking and belittling people's faith? Every negative thing people say about the maturity level of games and gamers, you are reinforcing here. We shouldn't be paying people to say that games aren't the right medium to talk about any subject, especially when you had no intention of treating that subject with respect yourself. After that, you ran your sin to win contest. Here's a picture of the actual contest announcement. Yep, pretty

classy. An advertisement on a girl's chest with instructions that read, "Commit acts of lust with any booth babe, prove it, repeat." All this for a grand prize of a sinful night with two hot girls, a limo service, paparazzi, and a chest full of booty. Is there any more tone-deaf a way of presenting us all as the worst stereotype of adolescent boys? And you know what? While no one really cared about your subpar game, your marketing set us all back five years. The outrage over the Comic-Con incident spilled far past the traditional gaming press. And while you did try to tone it down after that, you even managed to piss off the International Nanny Association with fake reports that the game would include an achievement called Bad Nanny, awarded for killing a yet undetermined number of unbaptized infants. You know how hard it is to piss off people who watch other people's five-year-olds for a living? Now, you may have laughed all of this off, that you limit the future audience for games and give ammo to the people who say that games are nothing more than a way for children to waste time. Maybe you don't really care about that. So, rather than talk to you about all the high and noble things you can do with the medium, I'm going to talk to you about something I know you care about, your bottom line.

Let's skip ahead a few months to the relaunch of Medal of Honor. This was another mediocre title that should have passed like a whisper in the night with nothing but the sighs of disappointed fans to see it on its way. But, it didn't. The US Army took umbrage with the idea that Medal of Honor allowed players to play as the Taliban. And you know what? They were in the wrong on that one. You, EA, were in the right. And you know what else? Many of us in the gaming community were willing to fight night and day to see that your game wasn't censored based on the medium that it was in. Many of us were willing to stand with you and fight for the idea that there is no subject that other media can address that you shouldn't be able to. But, you left us no ground to stand on. The Army simply pointed to the generally juvenile perception of games and said, "People are giving their lives. You will not treat this with the frivolity of a game." In the end, you caved. And the Army said, "We don't care." and banned it from being sold on US bases anyway. Between all those soldiers and their families, that's a lot of lost sales for a game that last I heard barely pushed the 2-million unit mark. So, that brings us to the present. A newly humbled EA, finally understanding the impact they've been having on gaming's image, tries to move the medium

forward and improve their bottom line with a series of respect- Oh, come on, EA. Oh, gosh. I think it would make a person become insane. This game is an atrocity. It's revolting. It's violent. It's everything you love in a game. And your mom's going to hate it. Why would they even make something like this? Why, indeed. Dead Space 2. See what you did? You just marketed an M-rated game to teens. Good job. Not only that, but you did it in a way that everybody hates. You threw all of gaming under the bus for an ad that any member of your audience over 13 is going to find patronizing, grating, and frankly stupid anyway. You're not even going to improve sales with it. If Dead Space 2 sells, it'll be on the merit of the game despite the ad, not because of it. So, EA, please, you've you've got to stop. You're selling short gaming's future for what? For a few dollars today? Not even that. It's for some desperate attempt to demonstrate that you're still relevant,

that you're still a driving force in this industry. But, you know what? If you want everyone to know that you're still one of the most important forces in gaming, make good games and show the world what gaming can become. That's all we need, and I promise we will rally around you when you do. One last thing. As I sit here writing this, I have in my lap an ancient copy of M.U.L.E., and with it came this statement from Electronic Arts. We are an association of electronic artists who share a common goal. We want to fulfill the potential of personal computing. Looking at that reminded me of one other old artifact I had, an aging magazine with stiff, browning pages. Let's read it together. Can a computer make you cry? Right now, no one knows. This is partly because many would consider the very idea frivolous, but it's also because whoever successfully answers this question must first have answered several others. Why do we cry? Why do we laugh or love or smile? What are the touchstones of our emotions? Until now, the people who ask these questions tended not to be the same people who ran software companies. Instead, they were writers, filmmakers, painters, musicians. They were, in the traditional sense, artists. We are about

to change that tradition. The name of our company is Electronic Arts. We are a new association of electronic artists united by a common goal, to fulfill the enormous potential of the personal computer. In the short term, this means transcending its present use as a facilitator of unimaginative tasks and a medium for lasting aliens. In the long term, however, we can expect a great deal more. These are wondrous machines we have created, and in them can be seen a bit of their makers. It's as if we'd invested them with an image of our minds, and through them we're learning more and more about ourselves. We learn, for instance, that we are more entertained by the involvement of our imaginations than by passive viewing and listening. We learn that we are better taught by experience than by memorization. And we learn that the traditional distinctions, the ones that are made between art and entertainment and education, don't always apply.

In short, we're finding that the computer can be more than just a processor of data. It's a communications medium, an interactive tool that can bring people's thoughts and feelings closer together, perhaps closer than ever before. And while 50 years from now its creation may seem no more important than the advent of motion pictures or television, there's a chance it'll mean something more, something along the lines of a universal language of ideas and emotions, something like a smile. The first publications of Electronic Arts are now available. We suspect you'll be hearing a lot about them. Some of them are games like you've never seen before that get more out of your computer than any other games have. Others are harder to categorize, and we like that. Watch us. We're providing a special environment for talented independent software artists. It's a supportive environment in which big ideas are given room to grow. And some of America's most respected software artists are beginning to take notice. We think our current work reflects this very special commitment. And though we are few in a number today and apart from the mainstream mass software marketplace, we

are confident that both time and vision are on our side. Join us. We see farther. This is who you were and who you can still be. And if you want to be that again, we will be with you every step of the way. See you next week.