Alain Tascan – the guy who said Gears needed innovation

Alain TascanGamasutra has an in-depth feature on Alain Tascan, the EA Montreal General Manager who is most famous for having said that Gears of War brought “nothing in terms of innovation to the shooter… Like, zero,”

Yes, comments about innovation from an executive of EA, a huge company known for annual sports titles. It’s very much an understatement to say that some people got a bit miffed about what Tascan said. Judging from the Gamasutra feature, it’s probably safe to say that he knows it. Here’s Tascan’s words:

We are around 300 people now including EA mobile upstairs, and there is space to grow. We are working right now on three things: Army of Two, the new IP which better be good, otherwise people are going to kill me after my comments about Gears of War; SSX on the Wii, which is due in March; and another new IP which IÂ’m not able to talk about.

The feature goes on to emphasize that EA has heard the complaints, and that it has realized that in order to say on top they really have to start betting on original IP. The feature also goes on to explain why the EA original IP move is set in Montreal. Tascan says that there’s just this energy about Montreal. There’s this air of creativity in the area. Here’s how Tascan explains it:

It couldnÂ’t be done in Portland or somewhere like that. But at the same time it couldn’t have been done in Dusseldorf or Paris; itÂ’s this understanding of the North American culture, and at the same time this little twist that makes it special. And thatÂ’s why weÂ’re here. ThatÂ’s why Ubisoft are here, A2M are here, all of the animation companies are here; this energy that is understandable at a worldwide level but at the same time with a little twist.

Oh, and speaking of Ubisoft, crazy rabid, acrobatic prince, killer assassin Ubisoft, here’s Tascan’s take on Ubisoft Montreal vs. EA Montreal:

We’re both big companies for different reasons, I guess. You have a family based French company, started by five brothers, against an American company who belongs to nobody. Ubisoft was until recently completely owned by the people who started it, and I think they still own about 90% of it. Compare that to a company that is about 95% public. So while in EA everyone has to report to somebody, at Ubisoft, there is a level where if they want to do it they could do it, and nobody can tell them different, so sometimes theyÂ’ve reacted differently to the market than EA would.

The interesting thing that I notice is that now Ubisoft sounds like itÂ’s trying to be more like EA, to be more aware of the market, while EA is trying to do more original things, like Ubisoft.

For more on the feature, feel free to use our read-link below.

Alain TascanGamasutra has an in-depth feature on Alain Tascan, the EA Montreal General Manager who is most famous for having said that Gears of War brought “nothing in terms of innovation to the shooter… Like, zero,”

Yes, comments about innovation from an executive of EA, a huge company known for annual sports titles. It’s very much an understatement to say that some people got a bit miffed about what Tascan said. Judging from the Gamasutra feature, it’s probably safe to say that he knows it. Here’s Tascan’s words:

We are around 300 people now including EA mobile upstairs, and there is space to grow. We are working right now on three things: Army of Two, the new IP which better be good, otherwise people are going to kill me after my comments about Gears of War; SSX on the Wii, which is due in March; and another new IP which IÂ’m not able to talk about.

The feature goes on to emphasize that EA has heard the complaints, and that it has realized that in order to say on top they really have to start betting on original IP. The feature also goes on to explain why the EA original IP move is set in Montreal. Tascan says that there’s just this energy about Montreal. There’s this air of creativity in the area. Here’s how Tascan explains it:

It couldnÂ’t be done in Portland or somewhere like that. But at the same time it couldn’t have been done in Dusseldorf or Paris; itÂ’s this understanding of the North American culture, and at the same time this little twist that makes it special. And thatÂ’s why weÂ’re here. ThatÂ’s why Ubisoft are here, A2M are here, all of the animation companies are here; this energy that is understandable at a worldwide level but at the same time with a little twist.

Oh, and speaking of Ubisoft, crazy rabid, acrobatic prince, killer assassin Ubisoft, here’s Tascan’s take on Ubisoft Montreal vs. EA Montreal:

We’re both big companies for different reasons, I guess. You have a family based French company, started by five brothers, against an American company who belongs to nobody. Ubisoft was until recently completely owned by the people who started it, and I think they still own about 90% of it. Compare that to a company that is about 95% public. So while in EA everyone has to report to somebody, at Ubisoft, there is a level where if they want to do it they could do it, and nobody can tell them different, so sometimes theyÂ’ve reacted differently to the market than EA would.

The interesting thing that I notice is that now Ubisoft sounds like itÂ’s trying to be more like EA, to be more aware of the market, while EA is trying to do more original things, like Ubisoft.

For more on the feature, feel free to use our read-link below.

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