quote Jon Robinson - IGN

Check the Xbox Live Marketplace recently? You may have noticed a few additions from EA Sports, including two new stadiums for Madden (classic LA Rams and Seattle) as well as video strategy guides explaining everything from running the ball to playing better run defense.

With classic stadiums costing 300 MS Points and strategy guides costing 160 MS points, EA is betting consumers will continue to spend money on the various sports titles in their library.

In a sample of what's to come, EA promises throwback jerseys in both Madden and NCAA Football as well as new courses and pro shop items in Tiger Woods.

I sat down with Chip Lange, VP of Online Commerce for EA Sports to talk about this new strategic initiative.

IGN Sports: What's your strategy heading into the Xbox Live Marketplace?

Chip Lange: The preface of it is, we're just getting started. The development teams have started to look at supporting the premium content market on the Xbox 360, and frankly, I think people are hungry for it. I know I certainly get excited when I'm on my 360 and I see stuff that will add to my game. We've been giving the studio that feedback and they came back with some pretty cool stuff to get started with, so I'd look at this as the begging of the EA Sports support of the Marketplace, which is something people have been clamoring for.

IGN Sports: Aren't you worried about a backlash from gamers who used to get alternate uniforms for free, but now you want to nickel and dime us for every throwback?

Chip Lange: Yes. Worried about that and that's all being built in to our pricing strategy, which hasn't been finalized yet. There are prices for stadium that haven't been available before and for strategy guides, but we haven't announced our pricing strategy on the jerseys. I'm looking at it as, we're getting started and we're certainly sensitive to the market and to other ways we can get this out to consumers, whether that's on a disk or something like that, but I look at it like this: I'm a Madden 360 gamer, I have my game, and we have all this content. The pipeline we get this content to customers after we finish the game is the Marketplace. How the Madden team works, once the game is done they are already cranking on how to make next year's better. So now they're off working on next year's product, designing that, and the good news is now we have a secondary team working to keep a pipeline active for the existing game. That to me, as a sports gamer, is a good sign because after I buy the game I'll still be able to go to the Marketplace and find cool stuff to add. Whether it's taking some jerseys and moving them into high-res or actually building out some exclusive uniforms or stadiums, that to me is a cool lineup of stuff to indicate a start. That's the point I want to impress, we're just getting started. It will be cooler next year, it will be cooler next month, but the pipeline has started with some pretty cool stuff to begin with.



IGN Sports: I read how your strategy for Tiger Woods includes the ability to buy new courses. Does that mean you're holding courses back intentionally from consumer who buy the game in order to force them to purchase courses separately and spend more money?

Chip Lange: The Tiger team is taking a creative approach to it. You can either unlock or buy the courses, depending on your gaming preference. We look at this a lot like other stuff that goes on in the industry. IGN does this with premium subscriptions where there's a subscription service and you can get guides to games. I can pay for a subscription in order to unlock some stuff so I don't have to play the game all the way through, or now I can go this route. It's just another way to allow gamers the choice on how they want to play the game. That's the way the Tiger team is approaching this.

IGN Sports: How thorough are the video strategy guides?

Chip Lange: They are very focused on various aspects of the game. They are about five or six minutes each, and they're covering a pretty diverse lineup of gameplay, from running to passing. It's pretty detailed, and it's from the guys who win the Madden tournaments and know how to play the game the best. If you're watching these videos, you're going to be a better runner or passer than you would be if you were to simply play this game out of the box. Imagine sitting down with the best people we could find in the world at Madden and listening to them tell me how to run the ball effectively. That's something that we've consistently heard time and time again that gamers want, and now they have the option to check it out. It's just another format on how to pickup tips and tricks.

IGN Sports: Is this simply an EA Sports initiative or is this going to crossover to games like Godfather?

Chip Lange: What we're talking about today is EA Sports, but the whole studio is taking a real close look at premium content. We've done some stuff on Lord of the Rings, that's up there right now, some new maps. So I would look at it like Electronic Arts is getting the premium content pipeline turned on. Each team is doing it differently, and we're going to pay real close attention to what consumers are responding positively to, what do they want more of, and we'll be pushing that into our plans for the next six months.

IGN Sports: What about things like updated rosters? Will people be forced to pay for these updates as well in the future?

Chip Lange: That's not on our plan. In general, our strategy is to find stuff on the next-generation games that the customers don't have today and figure out how to get it to them. To extend the gaming experience in a way that keeps the game fun and exciting.

IGN Sports: $600 for a PS3. $400 for a 360. $60 a game. Throwing down your credit card at the Marketplace. Is gaming becoming elitist in terms of how expensive it is getting?

Chip Lange: I don't think so. I think what it has done is expand its offering. You could go out and buy a PlayStation 2 for $99 and a copy of Madden for $39 and have a great time. I think the gaming business has expanded its price offerings to a wider range of consumers. The early adopters have always proven that they'll pay more for the early adaptive technologies. Whether it's high-end computers, beautiful big screens, brand new, next-generation gaming boxes or the games that go into those boxes. At the same time, there is a lower end customer who comes a little later in the price lifecycle and he's more interested in a $99 PS2 and a reduced cost version of NHL. I think it's good for the business because it has diversified the offering to a wider group. One of the things to keep an eye on, certainly from an online standpoint, is the cost infrastructure of supporting online services is real. You look at a game like World of Warcraft. In order to support the infrastructure that keeps that game alive, there needs to be a price model for the customers. I think consumers are starting to understand there is a cost of development and therefore a cost of acquisition.

IGN Sports: But some of the things you are talking about, like jerseys and stadiums, I think people have grown to expect that for free.

Chip Lange: I'm hoping when people see what we are offering, it's stuff they wouldn't expect for free. It wasn't free to make and it's stuff that we've done after the games have been done. When I look at it, and we've talked to Madden customers, we've talked to NBA customers, and would you rather have access to this stuff or not? We can go build it, and you know what, I don't like going to Marketplace and not seeing stuff for the games I love to play. This is what they've been asking for and that's what we're trying to give them.



IGN Sports: What other stadiums are going to be revealed in the future?

Chip Lange: We have two that we're talking about right now, that's the LA Rams and the old Seahawks stadium. We have more coming, but we're not talking about those today. That's part of the fun. I dig going to Marketplace every night and see what is up. What's my new quest in Oblivion, what's my new map in Lord of the Rings, I think that's part of the Marketplace.

IGN Sports: How does the ESPN integration tie into Marketplace? Are the ESPN features something we'll have to pay extra for in the future?

Chip Lange: Not that we're announcing today. Again, I think if we're going to leave you with something, it's that EA Sports is paying real close attention to the marketplace right now and we're staring to roll out our content for it over the next 18 months. As we start developing more types of content that can get out there, we'll figure out the right way to get it to customers. We're not talking about anything specifically with ESPN today.

quote

IGN Sports: But some of the things you are talking about, like jerseys and stadiums, I think people have grown to expect that for free.

Chip Lange: I'm hoping when people see what we are offering, it's stuff they wouldn't expect for free. It wasn't free to make and it's stuff that we've done after the games have been done. When I look at it, and we've talked to Madden customers, we've talked to NBA customers, and would you rather have access to this stuff or not? We can go build it, and you know what, I don't like going to Marketplace and not seeing stuff for the games I love to play. This is what they've been asking for and that's what we're trying to give them.

i think the stadiums are overpriced (un less its 300pts for several stadiums)

and the strategy guides are.....funny, because itrs live 160pts for some *bleep*ed video

This is a disgrace, money for tips... jeez. Best thing to do is not pay for them and wait for some poor shmuck/nice guy to get 'em for you and upload 'em onto the web!

I think everyone by now has seen EA's attitude become somewhat of a beast in the industry. This is what happens when you are the largest publisher in the world of games and force your product down everyone's throats. NBA Live has got my hopes up and smashed them for too many years in a row now so of course I'm not gonna spend money on something so simple as retro jerseys when they should be free anyway. Whats really funny is how much boasting they did about this year's Madden being the fastest selling Madden ever. Well guess what, its the only damn football game on the market assholes! If people want to play football videogames then they're more likely than not, going to buy Madden, no matter how it plays. I think Def Jam 3 and NBA Street 4 are going to be the only EA games in my library next generation..not that I have very many EA titles right now anyway.