Developer/publisher Electronic Arts wants to develop and release games of the “gigantic action games” genre, like Assassin’s Creed and Grand Theft Auto, something executive vice president of EA Patrick Söderlund admits the company “is not known for.”
"If you look at the biggest segment in our industry, which is action, we don't have a lot," Söderlund told IGN. "EA is not known to make gigantic action games like Assassin's Creed or Batman or GTA or those types of games that are really big. The strategic direction that we put in motion is to expand our portfolio more into that segment, to see what can we bring to gamers that maybe hasn't been done before."
When asked if this new vision for large, action-oriented games means EA is looking to create open-world games, Söderlund said, “Maybe. I’m not suggesting we're going to go after GTA and sell 50 million units. We would love to! But what I'm saying is those types of absolutely AAA, big productions is what we want to do. And I think for us to do that, we need the right people.”
A new EA studio, Motive, headed up by Assassin’s Creed co-creator Jade Raymond is currently working with Dead Space and Battlefield Hardline developer Visceral Games on an unannounced Star Wars game that is being spearheaded by former Uncharted director Amy Henning. It is possible that game will be at least one of EA’s entry points into the action-oriented games Soderlund is looking to tackle.
Source: IGN
