EA Sports aiming to boost fan experience

Sports games are Electronic Arts’ bread and butter, accounting for a third of the titles the video-game giant releases and a third of revenue. But in an interview by phone from EA’s Tiburon studio in Orlando, Florida, Pauline Moller explained that the future of the company’s EA Sports label may have less to do with video games than you might expect.

In March, Moller was named chief operating officer of EA Sports after serving as senior vice-president and general manager ofthe EA Canada studio in Burnaby, where she continues to be based. She told the Georgia Straight that the “vision for EA Sports is to become a leading sports-entertainment brand”.

“Our mission,” she explained, “is to provide what we call ”˜personal access to the emotion of sports’.”

For many, that means video games created for traditional consoles. Sports fans can already get up-to-the-minute information about their favourite teams and leagues delivered over the Internet to their consoles through partnerships EA Sports has with broadcasters like ESPN.

EA Sports also hopes to help people interact with their favourite sports through mobile phones or Web-based interfaces such as Facebook.

“There’s going to be a world where people who love football or love hockey”¦have the ability to immerse themselves in a world where they can access the experience through different portals, different devices,” Moller said.

One example is the FIFA Ultimate Team expansion pack for last fall’s best-selling FIFA 10. With this download, gamers can create and manage their own soccer squads using virtual trading cards.

There are also on-line versions of EA’s FIFA and Tiger Woods PGA Tour franchises. The sites operate on the freemium model, with basic access costing nothing and more privileged access available for those willing to pay for it.

FIFA Online is live in Asia, and in closed beta testing in North America and Europe. It offers a full suite of personalization options, allowing gamers to create their own soccer stars and teams, and is expected to include upgrade items—like improved equipment—that can be purchased.

By paying a greens fee, players can golf on any course in Tiger Woods PGA Tour Online, but with the purchase of a monthly or annual membership, they get unlimited access to all of the golf courses. By purchasing points, players can equip their virtual golfers with brand-name gear that will improve their performance.

The idea, according to Moller, is to create experiences that will enhance a fan’s “personal attachment to their particular sport”.

Moller said that part of her job will be to determine how EA Sports will expand its repertoire. “We don’t want to kid ourselves that we can build everything,” she said, adding that choosing the right partners will be an important part of the process. “And who knows who they might be?”