Electronic Arts Strategy

With the trend in video games moving toward online play, can Electronic Arts be effectively competitive in the future while refusing to design games with this capability for the XBox 360? Being the biggest selling online gaming console system on the market, is it wise to challenge Microsoft’s policy of no royalties or subscription fees paid to developers? Electronic Arts may need to look past this challenge in upcoming years or face the very real possibility of losing massive market share. As more and more gamers look to play their console games online, it may be wise to fold to Microsoft’s demands and cash in on the profit of the additional units they would be able to sell to the large customer base that is now skipping over EA games because of their inability to play online. This may also allow them to develop a better relationship with Microsoft, which may prove to be a valuable commodity if they do end up forcing one or two other major competitors out of the market as console producers have many times in the past.
On the same note, as Electronic Arts focused their efforts on the upcoming systems in the early part of the decade, should they now focus more on developing more strictly online play or downloadable games that will be just as player friendly as the disc and cartridge games they are producing? With a market turn already beginning in this direction, the company may consider putting more money into research and development of strictly online games, downloads, and add ons as opposed to cartridge games. A company that already has established itself as a reliable online developer may have a significant competitive advantage when the transition is finally completely made. They should still focus on their market dominating sports line as it is a huge money maker, and assisting smaller studios with development and production as it does not cost them as much money as making their own, but it might be advantageous to take some of the