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E3 06: Electronic Arts' Spielberg connection

  • By Daniel Terdiman, News.com
  • Posted May 12, 2006 1:24 pm PT

EALA boss Neil Young takes us inside the inner sanctum--where Spielberg crafts an upcoming flight of games for EA.

From News.com

These are not to be games related to Spielberg's films but will, in fact, be entirely new creations. EA is hoping it can leverage Spielberg's story-creation chops and put together a winning set of brand-new titles.

The chief advantage of doing so, beyond the obvious marketing potential? Such games could go a long way to helping EA challenge the notion that it only creates games based on its successful franchises such as Madden NFL, Harry Potter, and so forth.

One of the chief architects of the deal to bring Spielberg on board is Neil Young, the general manager of EA's Los Angeles studio.

Young sat down with CNET News.com at E3 for a one-on-one talk about the Spielberg project--though he wouldn't give any specifics about the games themselves--as well as the Los Angeles studio, the other games it's currently developing, and its future plans for expansion.

CNET: For EALA, what's the big news here at E3?

Neil Young: We've got Medal of Honor: Airborne for Xbox 360, and Battle for Middle-earth 2 for 360. It's interesting in that it's the first time we've tried a traditional [real-time strategy game] for a video game console. And it works. The feedback we're getting is that it works.

CNET: Why wouldn't it have worked?

NY: If you think about RTS games, the two challenges to bringing them to console are, first, the console itself--RTS games traditionally work with a mouse and a keyboard. The second challenge is the distance from the screen (since consoles can be on the other side of the room from the player). But with high definition, that problem goes away. Between the innovation of the controller and HD, we've gotten to the place where, for the first time, it's able to work.

CNET: Who do you see as the competition for EA's LA studio in particular?

NY: We see it as the entertainment companies in general. Long term, we want to be the number one entertainment company. The tip of our spear is the video game business, and we're very focused on being the best we can there. But as the entertainment business grows and matures, you'll see [intellectual property] properties--just as we've seen them go from the screen to games--I think it's likely we'll see more and more IP properties from games to the screen. Therefore, the competition is the people capable of creating IP. And we're very focused on trying to make games, but we live in a talent pool where we're competing with the entertainment companies for talent. And the pipeline for creation of games and [screen] titles is [similar].

CNET: What is it like to work with Steven Spielberg?

NY: It's going very well. Steven's at the studio every week. He collaborates very closely with executive producer Doug Church and myself and the team we've created. We're getting the first game rolling, and we want to understand what that is before we get going on the second. And Steven's great. He's humble but has strong opinions about story and also about game design. He's also flexible. We iterate the story and the game design almost every time we're together. Now we're almost at the point where we have a good understanding of what the game is and a good understanding of what the game mechanics are.

CNET: Who's driving the process? Is Spielberg an equal partner or just offering opinions?

NY: It depends. The great thing about the partnership is that Steven really respects that we're the experts in making games. But that doesn't mean his opinion isn't valid. We have long meetings on game mechanics.

An example of the tools we're using for working through ideas is that over the course of two to three brainstorming sessions, we collected a whole bunch of ideas on the mechanics of what players can do. We created cards with ideas on what players can do and put them on three boards: Steven's board, Doug's board, and Neil's board. Then each of us goes to the other boards and writes "definitely not," "maybe," "cool," or "definitely" on each card. Then we go through a filtering process, and then we go over the common ideas. It's pretty collaborative. One thing Steven said as we came out of one of these meetings is that this is the exact same process he goes through when he's creating a film: the merging of story and mechanics.

CNET: EA has taken some criticism for focusing so much on franchises like Madden. So how important are the Spielberg games to combating that impression?

NY: We need to operate a balanced portfolio, and we're going to have new IP we've built, as well as long-term [franchises] and short-term [franchise titles] that might be one-off things. If you look at the portfolio as a whole, everybody would wish we would increase the original IP things we're building. But Army of Two and Spore are big, new, original products. And Black, I think, is important. So, I would absolutely not hang EA's new IP hopes on a single title. Also, the LA studio is only one end of the spectrum. With Battle for Middle-earth, everything is new IP.

CNET: We've heard the EA LA studios have a lot of empty space. What's the plan for that empty space?

NY: The first thing is that with the acquisition of Jamdat, we'll probably be up to around 700 people, out of a capacity of around 1,100. Today, it's like 500 people. But in terms of growing the studio, what I'm really focused on right now is making sure Battle for Middle-earth II for Xbox 360 knocks it out of the park. Also, we want to bring the Command and Conquer franchise back in a big way. And so it seems to me that being successful at those things are going to be drivers of growth. So are we going to double the size of the studio? Absolutely not...I'd rather have eight teams of 40 and figure out new ways to develop the content and figure out the right way to develop efficiency.

45 Comments

  • mrklorox

    Posted Jul 9, 2007 3:46 pm GMT

    Somebody please kill me. Please... Hollywood needs to keep its grubby cocaine and semen soaked fingers off of videogames.

  • jakeboudville

    Posted Aug 26, 2006 9:18 pm GMT

    cool

  • albroc

    Posted Jun 6, 2006 9:26 am GMT

    yes...because ps3 is really making a great impression on the industry....

    Spielberg is cool and he knows how to make a good story, so im having great hopes for this team up.
    Imagine Spielberg worked with Crytek and made Crysis so fricken awesome it got like a 9.9 on GS!

  • DevJin

    Posted May 15, 2006 10:00 pm GMT

    they should only release thair games at PS3 only if they want to sell BIG.

  • mariomaniac92

    Posted May 15, 2006 5:29 pm GMT

    Same here mattmarr.

  • Lost2017

    Posted May 15, 2006 11:55 am GMT

    I.M.O I think people are missing the boat about the Ea/Spielburg deal we should first know that Neil Young's approach to new Ip is not only to prove that they can do better games other than Madden or Harry Potter it is to try to show that they can cater to a new audience of gamers that steer away from licnsed products.And if you look at his strategy he could have the pottntial to create short running franchises or long running franchises give or take.And also i f he can push his employees at eala to try to push innovation and gameplay by also keeping up the quality in the titles,then we could have a company that doen't just waste money on James Bond Or Madden but it's up to the gamers to decide whether eala strategy works or fails.

  • Sandman100

    Posted May 14, 2006 7:40 pm GMT

    I heard Peter Jackson didn't like working with EA so he went to Ubisoft. EA better not mess this up. That is true PJ didn't like working with EA so that way he did go to Ubi. But Steven Spielberg has worked with EA before on the Medal of Honor game the first one. So I'm pretty sure that there be ok, and the game will be fine.

  • Sandman100

    Posted May 14, 2006 7:35 pm GMT

    Maybe like a Scifi FPS like Halo. Or create a Epic FPS title set in a universe similar to Lord of the Rings. Or a FPS set in modern day. Or an action adventure game like God of War.

  • Sandman100

    Posted May 14, 2006 7:31 pm GMT

    I think the Spielberg is a great director, and he a very creative person. Hopeful he doing a FPS title, and Action Adventure games. Hopeful the people at EALA are listen to Spielberg, and taken in his ideas. It good that EA is developing new IP. That something that they need for a long time.

  • nemes1s3000

    Posted May 14, 2006 3:10 pm GMT

    Should be good if a genious mind is at work.

  • XtremePhsyco

    Posted May 14, 2006 1:29 pm GMT

    i heard peter jackson didnt like working with EA so he went to UBisoft. EA better not mess this up

  • wizdom73

    Posted May 13, 2006 9:49 am GMT

    I hope Spielberg can bring some of his movie creativity to these new projects. Holla

  • j05l33

    Posted May 13, 2006 8:19 am GMT

    some good stuff

  • Wolf7040

    Posted May 13, 2006 6:48 am GMT

    ^II'm pretty sure they just published those games. Btw, am I the only one who would like to see a War of the Worlds game.

  • imprezawrx500

    Posted May 12, 2006 10:59 pm GMT

    Why do so many people hate EA. They make some of the best games, Burnout Revenge & NFS Most Wanted were two of the best arcade racing games last year and then there is The New Battlefield and Crisis coming out this year. Don't judge Ea just on their sport games that are basicly the same every year with graphic and roster updates.

  • el_rika

    Posted May 12, 2006 10:49 pm GMT

    Spielberg should work with Kojima 'cose they are both extremely talented directors, i think that'd be awesome

  • goat2001

    Posted May 12, 2006 9:14 pm GMT

    Unless Speilberg is passionate about this project (Medal of Honor), it is tough to expect a fantastic game from this pairing. The story might be fantastic but that doesn't mean it will be a fantastic game. EA sure could use another flag ship title as theirs are starting to wear pretty thin right now.

  • i_love_my_ds

    Posted May 12, 2006 9:08 pm GMT

    Spielberg should be making great movies, not games for the least innovative company out there.....

  • spydrman5472

    Posted May 12, 2006 8:51 pm GMT

    IP = intellectual property

  • belgarath2323

    Posted May 12, 2006 8:32 pm GMT

    Intellectual Property

  • fartsimpson

    Posted May 12, 2006 8:01 pm GMT

    dont flame me for this but.......What do they mean by "IP?

  • NeoJedi

    Posted May 12, 2006 6:32 pm GMT

    Spielberg with EA, great news right there. Let's hope the games are worth playing and especially buying now.

  • Maxd76

    Posted May 12, 2006 6:07 pm GMT

    Jab_Jackal, first of all the dig was a good game for the genra that it was in (which is now dead), and second spielberg worked on medal of honor: allied assault which is by far the best medal of honor game (i know thats not saying much with how the new ones are), but was still an amazing game

  • trancejeremy

    Posted May 12, 2006 5:51 pm GMT

    Oh great, just what the console needs - RTSes. They pretty much killed off PC gaming (along with the FPS).

  • BurningWreck

    Posted May 12, 2006 5:43 pm GMT

    There are lots of things in Speilberg movies you could play as, mattmar didn't scratch the surface!

    - One of the land mines in Saving Private Ryan (all of the WWII games missed that!)
    - Tom Cruise's talking cereal box from Minority Report
    - Building that gets crushed into rubble from War of the Worlds
    - The briefcase from Duel
    - Jeff Goldblum's daughter from Jurassic Park II
    - Bag of Reese's Pieces from E.T. (Avoid getting eaten by the evil alien! Hide in the closet!)

  • madgamer2000

    Posted May 12, 2006 4:45 pm GMT

    hey, whatever it takes to make a quality game. spielburg does cool movies, so maby he will help make a game with some nice story.

  • Jab_Jackal

    Posted May 12, 2006 4:19 pm GMT

    Hah, Spielberg should stick with movies. The last game he made was with Lucas Arts called The Dig. Talk about a load of crap. If by story he means a chain of (uneventful)events, and by gameplay he means boring then this will be a typical Spielberg game.

    All the dig really had going for it was the great soundtrack for its time. Hell, the soundtrack would even sound good today.

  • james_n

    Posted May 12, 2006 4:02 pm GMT

    "...we're the experts in making games..." Ha, yeah right buddy.

  • Lauryn2000

    Posted May 12, 2006 3:47 pm GMT

    Hmmm..... working with EA doesn't always mean sucess

  • MovieMan200x

    Posted May 12, 2006 2:32 pm GMT

    The last game Spielberg worked on directly was fantastic (The Dig). Hope this ups the ante.

  • Wolf7040

    Posted May 12, 2006 2:16 pm GMT

    ^Indeed

  • Snake90990

    Posted May 12, 2006 2:13 pm GMT

    It pisses me off that people talk about crap to Spielberg like "what does he know about games" and "he should stay in hollywood." Do you think you know games or good stories. Fact of the matter is that you should shut the **** up, because you don't know him, he could love alot of games and understand them on a creative level.

  • Reetesh

    Posted May 12, 2006 2:08 pm GMT

    Flight Games? Let us see if Spielberg can give a different touch to such agenre of games.

  • swedishc

    Posted May 12, 2006 2:07 pm GMT

    Hmmm a bit of a typo. EALA isn't working on Battlefield 2: Modern Combat like it says in the last quote, they are working on Battle for Middle Earth 2 for the Xbox 360

  • Mechfiend619

    Posted May 12, 2006 1:59 pm GMT

    spielberg doesnt know how to make good games

  • mattmarr

    Posted May 12, 2006 1:57 pm GMT

    I wish Speilberg would make games from his movies. After getting to play as the boat from Jaws, I would love to play as:

    The pile of mashed potatoes from Close Encounters of the Third Kind
    Sofia from The Color Purple
    Jeff Goldblum from Jurassic Park

    Goldblum...

  • hamm34

    Posted May 12, 2006 1:56 pm GMT

    wasnt he involved with medal of honor already?

  • santaman64

    Posted May 12, 2006 1:51 pm GMT

    RTS, belong to in your face PC.

  • santaman64

    Posted May 12, 2006 1:50 pm GMT

    RTS still dont't do well across the room, High-def or not...the texts for some of the actions and buttons are Too small, i have warhammer on my 56 DLP tv and it still hard to play on

  • AYANE69

    Posted May 12, 2006 1:49 pm GMT

    spielberg should stay in holywood
    what does he know about games

  • Hellisunreal

    Posted May 12, 2006 1:40 pm GMT

    let's hope the make good use of him.......

  • Cartman86

    Posted May 12, 2006 1:40 pm GMT

    Yeah sadly EA hasn't done the best job with some of there big games in the past couple years. They used to do very well, but we shall see.

  • mrbass208

    Posted May 12, 2006 1:39 pm GMT

    I love the idea that both EA and Spielberg are coming together outside of their comfort zones in order to try and make something great. The payoff for this sounds promising.

  • LordAndrew

    Posted May 12, 2006 1:36 pm GMT

    So Speilberg's working with EALA?

  • blackIceJoe

    Posted May 12, 2006 1:27 pm GMT

    nice but wish Steven Spielberg was not working with EA.

    I just hope what ever EA is making with Steven it will not turn out bad.

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