EA: Riccitiello made original IP like Dead Space possible

A couple of years back, nobody imagined Electronic Arts could/would come out with an original IP like Dead Space (Xbox 360, PlayStation 3) – not even the folks within the company themselves. That is, until John Riccitiello entered the scene, shook it up a bit, and went for an all-in approach towards original IPs.

EA’s new direction towards original IPs is all thanks to John Riccitiello. This is the credit gameplay engineer David Yee gives to EA’s CEO in an interview with Videogamer. And in fact, it is thanks to this new direction that made Dead Space (Xbox 360, PlayStation 3) possible.

Says Yee,

It was easy from our standpoint on the ground to be like, ‘Well, we’re not really too sure. This new guy just came back in’. But we’ve really seen that , over the course of Dead Space. A few years ago Dead Space would have been… there’s no chance it would have happened. And we’re seeing lots of other opportunities where people are able to explore doing new and original IP, which is really exciting.

In hindsight, this whole new strategy does make a lot of sense for developers, especially if you factor in the cost of creating licensed games. Chimed in senior producer Chuck Beaver,

If you look at the actual financials behind the intellectual properties, we’re not paying the license fees out, like on some of the previous properties we’ve had. Because of course the royalties go out the door on those and that affects your return, your final turnover. So we’re trying to become more efficient. The other reason is, ‘You know what? Let’s make our own properties. Let’s own these things.’

The two also touched  on a few more interesting tidbits about Dead Space, such as the many psychological scares and drama that they’ve set up in the horror game, as well as game development and more.

To check out the full interview, just click on the source link below.

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Via Videogamer