The Pyjack's Den! The ME News Discussion Thread

How EA is transforming the way it makes video games

Group GM Samantha Ryan on EA’s efforts to be more transparent and more open to what its developers want to create:

Towards the end of last year, EA made a small, seemingly insignificant, change to its executive team.
It made the firm’s group general managers -- the execs in charge of groups of EA’s various studios – report directly to CEO Andrew Wilson. And it was a move made for one purpose: to bring the company’s leader a step closer to those who are actually making the games.

“The goal is to give a stronger voice to studio leadership,” explains Samantha Ryan, who is the group GM for BioWare, Full Circle, Maxis, Motive and a new studio in Seattle. “The knowledge that folks like myself have from being in the thick of it with studios over 20 years is hard earned. Ideally that knowledge helps EA leadership to stay in closer touch with the needs of their studios.”


“Yes, we all need to be aware of market trends. Players and games are constantly evolving. But that doesn’t mean that we have to chase every trend willy nilly. BioWare can make amazing single-player games with strong stories. Full Circle can create a digital skate park that’s freely open to any player anywhere. They are each unique and will be stronger studios when they are true to themselves.”

This all sounds great on paper, but there are surely commercial realities that come into play. EA is a big corporation with shareholders to please and profits to deliver. How do you balance allowing developers to make the games they’re passionate about, with the commercial pressures that come with AAA development?

“I find our studios to be fairly practical,” Ryan answers. “They want to succeed. That means they have to deliver quality. They also want their work to be appreciated. That means they have to make games that many people want to play. If they do both, it is easier for commercial success to follow.

The other change that Ryan is overseeing is through something called ‘radical transparency’; this is where EA has been increasingly showing games in very early stages of development and getting feedback much earlier in the creation process.

"We need access to feedback early enough that means we can actually react."
“To do this, we're changing the status quo in how we bring our games to players, by empowering our dev teams to adopt radical transparency and a more collaborative approach with players. It’s a process that has been evolving over time."

During development of the Mass Effect Legendary Edition, BioWare formed a 'Community Council' of fans to ensure they were heading in the right direction. And with Dead Space, Motive hosted livestreams to showcase in-development footage."