Peter Moore unveils All Play range for Wii
"Our games can be too hard sometimes."
News by	GamesIndustry International, Contributor
Updated on 7 May 2008
EA Sports boss Peter Moore has lifted the lid on the new All Play range of Wii software and another new brand titled Freestyle.
The artist formerly known as Microsoft's corporate vice president of interactive entertainment made the announcements at a press event in Vancouver. He spoke about how the games market has evolved, and how his new paymasters plan to exploit the emerging opportunities.
"As we look at the make-up of the new consumer coming in, it's very important to us at EA Sports that we have the ability to have something for them that really allows them to pick up and play and have fun immediately, while at the same time not forgetting our core consumer," Moore observed.
"Our games can be too hard sometimes. And while we have no intention whatsoever in dumbing down the experience we all love and that is driving a multi-billion dollar business for us here at EA Sports, we still have an issue here of approachability."
As a result of this thinking, EA is launching the new All Play range later this year. The first batch of games will be Wii-specific versions of FIFA, Tiger Woods, NBA, Madden and NCAA. In Madden, you'll be able to use Mii characters and direct your team's movements by 'drawing' paths with the Wii remote.
"We're still an intimidating entertainment experience and we have to break down the barriers," Moore stated. "The idea of accessibility - when you've got the controller in your hand, it doesn't look like a foreign object of buttons and d-pads and sticks and triggers, and allows people to get in and instantly have fun."
He also unveiled new EA Sports brand Freestyle. Again it'll have a casual focus, but will cover "IP that isn't normally what you'd see from us, that isn't fully licensed, that isn't a full, authentic simulation of the game experience itself".
Like Facebreaker, for example - the cartoon-style boxing title set to be released under the Freestyle brand later this year.
"We want to present a different persona for some of our games - looking at this new consumer, bringing in more pick-up-and-play, more inclusive, more social games," Moore continued.
"It's part of the bigger story about what EA Sports needs to do to continue to grow past our core. Under no circumstances are we walking away from the core experience of what we've known and loved over the past two decades and been able to build as a sports brand. At the same time we recognise that our industry's changing, that the consumer is changing and we need to be able to bring new experiences."
GamesIndustry International
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