The Doctors Will See You Now

I wouldn't call it a threat, I think to put the World Of Warcraft thing into context that's been running for seven or eight years. It's amazing how long is actually been going for. So just to hold where they held is amazing.

The trend for free-to-play doesn't supplant great top quality premium games that support a subscription. It's funny, even in Korea that's the case, where the free-to-play movement started ten years ago. There's still some games with subscriptions, some are free-to-play, it's bit of a mixture actually.

It's just an other option. It's obviously, from a developer's perspective, really nice because you can create very easy to sample stuff. You kind of rely on the quality of the build because people with stick with you or they won't, and then monetising is a whole other kettle of fish. It's not a threat, it's just part of the reality. Every business model you make, the game has to merit it, in other words a free-to-play game probably has a different standard and different expectation than a subscription based game for example.

I think the quality of volume and content that we provide I think fans will say "yeah, this is the kind of game that merits a premium subscription." And there's probably less room for games like that now, that's probably the reality of the play for free evolution and social as well, social games. There's a lot of alternatives for people's time and dollars now that didn't exists a few years ago, but we're building a premium experience with SW:TOR and we think the fans, at least our feedback from the beta testing research, is that they believe what they're seeing and playing does merit that.

We do believe in the play for free model too, like Wrath Of Heroes we've announced, and that's awesome fun, it's really cool. And that's an example of a really fun accessible 15 minute, pick up and play fast game. That fits a classic model of the play for free experience. And The Old Republic is on the other end of the spectrum, equally high quality but in a very different way. We believe in both business models, and we're doing social games as well, so we have a pretty diverse portfolio for Bioware now as a label, and obviously within EA as a larger company too.

It's the most exciting time. If we stayed in the mode of a developer from ten years ago then that wouldn't be evolving to meet the needs of the fans.

If we weren't adaptable we'd be dead. Like right now you will die if you're not adaptable.

This is the most exciting time to be in the industry, ever. Like in terms of the rate of change and just the number of people playing games, it's higher than it's ever been. The understanding, the consumers are savvy now and there's press that get the word about high quality games and low quality games instantly, so the speed of the internet really accelerates that, the virality of games. The digital distribution models, the play for free models, all the digital subscription models, these are all ways to get your games out to the fans alot quicker.

And that's why the free-to-play model works. I wouldn't say the information is perfect, but it pretty much apporaching perfection in that if something is great, people will hear about it. If it's free-to-play they may they get hooked on it and then you have the opportunity to monestise it. If you think about the old days I saw a flyer in a newspaper, I went to a store, I looked at a box. Now it's just such a tight loop and it allows a lot more flexibility. And being a developer you're going more direct to the consumer, I think that's one of the things that's very different too.

Historically we worked through second parties, third parties to get our games in people's hands, whereas now - which is funny, because when we first did Neverwinter Nights, we actually sold a module, someone used a credit card and we got money that day. Because the actual traditional gaming business, and it's interesting because you don't realise and it's something we counsel new developers on especially console guys, if you're releasing a game don't expect your money the next day. It actually takes about 6 months, and that's if you even make a royalty. it takes about 6 months, the store has to play the publisher, the publisher has to pay you, and they're allowed to take their time. In the digital business it's immediate, the moment someone buys it you have the money. Now we're both.

That's why we actually joined EA, to accelerate our ability to connect with consumers and integrate marketing and development more, and just have a more holistic view.

The other thing about all the different business models on new platforms is they're not a threat if you approach them in terms of a unified experience for consumers. We look at it as an IP universe and we have social experiences and play for free experiences and subscription experiences, retail packaged goods experiences, and they can all be separate or they can all be unified and integrated so you enable players to have a coherent experience that intersects across different platforms. You can enable players to play where they want, when they want, how they want. You can have continuity of experience, with cloud saving, and connecting different experiences together, you can have a mobile SKU that connects to a retail experience that connects to a digital experience.

And that's actually cool, so that's why the industry is more interesting than it's ever been I think.

The opportunities are greater than ever. Even when there's flux, that's when opportunity occurs, and if you're one of those people that grab that opportunity then that's a great place to be.