EA wants market leadership on Facebook

Dominance of Facebook and overtaking Zynga are now two of Electronic Arts' primary goals, according to EA Sports president Peter Moore in his MI6 keynote address.

"There's a big dog in front of us," he said in reference to FarmVille maker Zynga. "But we aren't far behind, and we're confident that we can catch up. What we can bring to the market in terms of blue chip IP is phenomenal."

As reported by Gamasutra, the theme of Moore's keynote was digital gaming - where he claimed that, "no company had spent more investing in the future than Electronic Arts."

"Our competitors scoffed when we invested in social gaming, by buying Playfish. They scoffed at our direct-to-consumer models. But we are number one in mobile games, number one in casual games and number two in social games."

"There is a nervousness about change," admitted Moore. "People want to know how they can keep getting $60 for games while social and online games are free or when iPad games are a fraction of the cost. But change is good. Change brings more consumers into gaming. Consumers are driving the changes and, in the end, they always win."

Moore also revealed how EA Sports would be instituting persistent gamer profiles across all its titles. "Regardless of where you are, what platform you have, what game you're playing ... you're constantly connected," he said.

According to Joystiq profiles and achievements will be carried across from one iteration to another.

Madden NFL 11 and 12 were used only as an example and Moore failed to reveal which title would see the system implemented first. Although he did indicate, "it's not far away".

"This is how we envision the future of our industry, and this is how we at EA Sports individualise and personalise this as the future of our brand and ultimately the future of what Electronic Arts as a whole is going to do across all of its titles," he added.