EA has announced that Peter Moore will be heading up a newly formed Competitive Gaming Division.
Battlefield, Madden NFL, FIFA, and other games will all have their own "global esports competitions." Speaking to IGN, Moore, who's switching from his current COO role and to Executive Vice President and Chief Competition Officer, said, "We’re already very engaged with our development teams around the world to make sure our games have got modes that lend themselves very well to competitive gaming, built-in from the get-go. Not as something that’s put in as an add-on mode or a last-minute afterthought."
As part of this eSports drive, competitve gaming features will be included in numerous games that are coming out between now and fiscal year 2019.
EA plans to further keep players engaged for longer, both through live events and in the actual game.
"There are things you don’t need anymore that are going to be replaced by eSports modes," Moore added. "And I’m not saying you’re cutting things out of the game. But our dev teams look at engagement every step of the way, and there are things that just don’t get played…. The data doesn’t lie. So you eliminate that, and you put whatever resources were against that, and put them toward something people are going to engage with."
As such, EA plans to develop games specifically targeting the CGD's plans for the future.
"I think there is a huge opportunity to build a game from the ground up that says, 'this game is gonna have five modes, like capture the flag and tower defense.' I don’t know, things that people love, we’ll figure all that out."
He added that there's room for both the "Player First" concept and tailored competitive design for professional players to co-exist.
