Current Issues in Digital Media and Game Design

In this week’s elective class, Bryan Neider, the Senior Vice President and Chief Operating Officer for Electronic Art’s Games Label, gave us a talk on the current issues in game industry. Prior to talking, he showed us the video of EA Games – Battlefield Bad Company, Spore, Spore Creature Creator, Warhammer Online, and Dead space. EA released many cool games this year.

The summary of current issues is as follows.

1. Current economic conditions
• o Today’s economy is in a highly unusual state of uncertainty and it has created heightened anxiety for consumers
• In past downturns, interactive has been less impacted by market slumps compared with other entertainment


2. Consumer buying habit patterns
• The number of casual consumer and online multiplayer, the demand for social experience is increasing
• Marketing is still gravitating to quality
• As the international demand for video games rises, it is important to localize games to meet consumer preferences and tastes
• The increasing demand for second hand games has risen significantly


3. Connected consumers
• Games are becoming a "service" – transition from only packaged goods, to a hybrid model, where the game is “always on
• Consumers expect online features and social interaction
  


4. Ongoing relationship with customers
• Customer service takes on new meaning - moving up the value chain from fixing "bugs" and providing "patches," to managing and refining the customers' entertainment experience
  
• Customers are starting to expect the interactive experience to evolve to meet their preferences and gaming "style"
  
• The interactive experience will begin to be tailored to the consumer
  


5. Impact to game design & team structure
• Teams are required to expand their design “horizons” and they are well underway in changing their designs
• Multiplayer, online, episodic, downloadable content are the core deliverables to tomorrow's games
  
• Data mining is becoming a core competency - understanding how people interact with games - this will allow improving play-balance and tailor the interactive experience to each consumer's style and skill
  
• The "user interface" is very important and now requires consumer feedback early in the design process
  
• More focus on high quality art/audio

Thanks to his talk, we were able to gain a more broadened perspective into the interactive game industry. He also presented us with Spore creature creator. We really appreciated his talks and the presents.