Screw the swine flu, "climate change", and the return of '80s fashion. According to a few reports, Apple is thinking about buying EA.
EA, the publisher once hated and mocked by the gamer community has done a complete 180 in the last year to become what I consider the premiere publisher of quality games. Last year they gave us Battlefield: Bad Company, Mirror's Edge, Dead Space, an actually improved Madden, and the amazing NHL 09.
I see two different routes that Apple could go with this. In reality, Apple is not a software company. They are a hardware company that sells products that execute software. Extrapolating the Apple business model, this could mean that we might see an overpriced console with the Apple logo, motion controls, and expensive hardware refreshes every year. The acquisition of EA would give them a solid first-party lineup to move the platform.
Or perhaps this is Apple's attempt to turn the Mac into a gaming platform. Currently games are one of the few reasons to buy a Windows-based PC. It would surely be one way to up their hardware sales.
For me this is awful because I disagree with Apple's business model. They have the largest profit margin per unit of any PC manufacturer and have cornered the appearance-oriented consumer. Demand for their products is artificially high because of this, and that demand allows Apple to continue to gouge consumers. Beyond that, Apple still is truly a hardware company. They make their money on hardware and use software to move units. I fear that this approach will introduce basically another Wii.
What do you think this move could mean for the future of EA, Apple, and gaming in general? Are you ready for the MacBox?
Comments
@EarthThatWas - An EA console would be and interesting path for them to take. Given how poorly they've done with the EA digital distribution service, I'm not sure how well they could do.
EA has made a miraculous turnaround, I took great pleasure in tearing them a new one everytime they made another junk game, but I have to give them credit for reinventing the company. Having EA in Apple's hands couldn't be a good thing... besides, if OnLive takes off, all of these consoles makers are going to take a huge hit. Now's not the time to be getting into the gaming hardware business.
Until I can touch it, I'm going to remain a skeptic of OnLive. I'm still not convinced that the national infrastructure is in place for it yet.
I disagree that Apple isn't a software company. They simply create software for their own hardware. Much of their software has become industry standard - or was at one point (Apple Shake, Final Cut Pro, Quicktime). Besides, when it comes to blind loyalty and fanboyism, Apple would fit right in with the gaming community.
As a gaming platform, Apple has been rumored to be toying around with the idea for a few years now. Acquiring EA could be another step in that direction but they're still going to face the same issues that either Sony, Microsoft, or Nintendo do (2 of which began in other markets outside of gaming - and why no outcry against Microsoft?) They'll have to deal with an impulsive and often irrational yet educated gaming community and the willingness of third party developers to invest in a new, unproven system. If Apple expects to sell an overpriced system to gamers, they're going to have to provide some incentive to do so.
Apple sells hardware because their computers are powerful. Overpriced perhaps but still powerful. And they're sexy as hell. Software might move units but people don't buy iPods because they want to use iTunes - although I do... I like iTunes.
Which brings me to Scott's comment that iPods are inferior to which I have to disagree. Yes the headphones are crap. But just about any media player is going to come with crappy headphones. It's unlikely that you'd be able to sell a portable device if you raised the price by $200 just so you could include nice headphones. Aside from the phones, sound quality is going to be the same on any player. It's digital so if your music sounds like crap on an iPod, it's going to sound like crap on a Zune or a Sansa. Maybe I'm wrong, but I don't think that the player itself is going to influence the sound quality as much as the phones are. As for re-encoding... well there are preferences that you can change. Don't like AAC? Then change it. Neither do I see the price point to be a problem. I don't want to pay for a subscription and prices are often dictated by what the studios want. I think a dollar for high quality, DRM free music is a fair deal.
But then, I am a fan of Apple. I like iTunes - but Mac users don't have many alternatives for music players - and I like how iPods and everything else in Apple's system integrates seemlessly with each other. I'm not saying that I would dry hump a MacBox right away should one ever be released but I wouldn't discount it based on speculation either.
Gen_Warbuff
Sounds like a pretty solid business model to me! Can't really argue with something that works.