GDC: Innovation is key to survival - EA

EA Los Angeles' vice president and general manager, Neil Young, warned GDC attendees that even large companies cannot survive in the industry without further innovation and original IP.

Speaking in a session entitled "Creating: Inventing Feature IP and Understanding its Benefits", Young outlined examples of EA's implementation of feature IP, such as the Gameface character customisation technology introduced in Tiger Woods 2004 - which Young asserts boosted North American sales by USD 21 million.

More importantly, Young said, the technology was not limited to a single franchise, and could therefore be applied to a number of different titles (including The Godfather) to increase functionality and potentially replicate the surge in sales demonstrated by Tiger Woods.

Other examples offered were the implementation of Aspirations in The Sims 2, which "added a new dimension to the gameplay, because it gave you objective-based gameplay without breaking the game," and Rockstar's change from a 'top down' to a 3D immersive world for GTA III, drawing the player into the game universe in a new way.

According to Young, it's important for developers to consider features early on in the development stage, and the development process needs to be adapted to allow for this. "You test your ideas, spend your time, and have the discipline and patience to try out new things. Let things fail, let new pieces of feature IP float to the surface," he stated.

Young also suggested that in place of large creative teams, small cells - creative teams of half a dozen people - were ideal for the fluid creation, design and testing of feature ideas, stating: "It's a lot easier to be creative when you're in a small group of people than when you're in a large group of people. If you think about it, there aren't that many rock groups that have more than seven people."

"You can add a lot of value with feature IP," Young asserted, confirming that the company will be using the approach to grow its Battle for Middle Earth II title from a 30 million PC franchise into a substantially more lucrative console franchise.

Stressing the importance of focus in the creation of feature IP, Young suggested that one to three innovations were the foundations of a hit game, rather than hundreds of less than impressive features that may be overlooked or ignored. "Large companies have to innovate, or else they'll stagnate, and people won't buy what they make. Finding ways of doing this will be very important and very valuable," he concluded.