It's probably been said, but while there were at least 3-4 EA published games at the MS conference, at the Sony conference, there wasn't even a hint of EA support anywhere to be seen. While Battlefield 3 was very much a PS3 promoted title, BF4 is front and center at MS' conference now, with timed exclusive content to boot. FIFA, a game that typically sells better on Sony hardware than MS and is huge in Europe, is now getting exclusive content on the XBO as well.

Meanwhile, EA ditches online passes at the 11th hour before MS announces their DRM strategy, but then EA says they never pressed for the used game DRM that Microsoft is implementing into the XBO.

Also, everything I've heard from E3 is that there was everything except signs with arrows on them going between the MS and EA booths to facilitate people moving from one to the other.

The whole layout seems a little too coincidental for me personally, but then I tend to enjoy conspiracy because it's usually at least laced with a bit of truth. Are the Sony/EA good times over and we'll see less content from EA on the PS4 because of policy disagreements, or is this just EA throwing a tantrum that they'll eventually get over?

I remember Criterion had exclusive Need for Speed stuff on PS3 for a while. SSX had like an exclusive Fujji mountain. Some of that had more to do about blu-ray than not.

So, yea. EA not acknowledging or marketing Sony any ever at all, might sway some franchise fans. Madden, FIFA, NBA Live, Battlefield, Battlefront, etc. EA's bag of stuff goes on and on. Then you get to XBLA download things. That's gonna be strange.

I never cared for EA honestly, so this does not bother me. This is just me though. I'm sure others might care.

There's a pretty big difference between not marketing, and not publishing, and EA is (for the time being) still publishing all its next gen games on the PS4 (so far as I know). And you can bet your sweet Aspercreme that if the PS4 gets an early lead in sales, EA will be changing its marketing policies.

E3 is nothing but smoke and mirrors. Obviously, Microsoft poured money into EA for the conference. Just because Sony didn't, doesn't mean Sony doesn't care.

Money talks. Microsoft had more of it this time.

Of course EA will continue to publish games on the PS4 even if their relationship is not so hot right now (and even that is just a theory). However if EA chooses to endorse the Xbox One with exclusives for Madden and Battlefield for example it could have a real effect the same way as those timed-exclusives for Call of Duty this generation.

Fuji was more of a timed exclusive if it was ever really intended to be one to begin. It quietly dropped as free DLC for the 360 some time after launch. Might have been some pre-order thing, but I'm not sure of that one.

EDIT: Old thread says pre-order exclusive in Europe.

I think after the MS PR disaster and consumer outcry that happened, EA is trying to say that they "didn't" push for to reduce public backlash against them. Sony probably pissed some of the publishers off with their anti-drm, but if the PS4 manages to outsell the XBOne by a good margin, I would not expect EA or any other publisher to out Sony. They will try to push for people to adopt games like FIFA on the XBOne, but if that fails or doesn't get the numbers they want I wouldn't expect EA to on MS' side for exclusive stuff unless MS pays out good sums of money into that.

If EA wants to put DRM in their games on PS4, Sony will allow it.

That may be the case. It may also be a matter of Sony intentionally not putting EA at the forefront of their hearts-and-minds campaign. This may be giving them way, way too much credit, but maybe they figured that they could blow their chance to capitalize on all the anger towards Microsoft if they came out and said "Fuck restrictions and DRM, we're all about gamers and developers and innovative indie games like Madden 25 andSimCity."

It's not, though. Plants Vs. Zombies: Garden Warfare is only coming out on Xbox One and 360. Think about that for a second - a hardcore, third-person-shooter adaptation of one of EA's most popular casual franchises, and they're putting it on the soon-to-be-outdated Xbox before they put it on a Sony platform. And it's a download-only title, so there's literally no reason for it to not appear on PlayStation unless Microsoft really wanted to pay for it.

True, we don't know the whole story there, but it does make you wonder.

Maybe pre-backlash. Probably not anymore.

I don't think that means they jumped ship. They probably took advantage of the fact Activision wasn't there to fill the void left by Call of Duty with some of their games. Also, Playstation is a lot bigger in Europe than in USA, and FIFA is one of the biggest franchises they have over there (and one of the few EA franchises that is still doing strong). I don't see many people jumping ships (specially with the reduced number of countries), and I don't think EA is willing to loose that market.

In the end, its all about sales. EA is denying involvement with the DRM idea as a reaction to the fan backlash on MS. Sony is the "cool guy" now so, if EA wanted to remove support, they are probably reconsidering it now; but if the DRM ends up working out for Microsoft, EA are among the first to jump ships. At the same time, if Sony's marketing work and it begin crushing the competition or FIFA starts loosing market share to other soccer franchises in foreign markets, EA will increase support to the PS4 too...

i find it funny that EA announced that in the 11th hour, it really sounded like they were only doing it cuz they "knew" xbox would have it instead so it was a good way to get some brownie points with the costumers.
but the hole ea not supporting sony due to that seems a bit stupid to me no offence this is how i see it.

if EA does not support sony that will result in less sales making them take a loss, forcing them to either down scale the cost of games and the amount of different games being made or severly reduced profit and profit margin and that does not sound like them.
and even so, xbox are not forcing drm on the games, they washed there hands and pushed it back to the developer, so either EA has to eat there words about the drm on there part, and enforce it again and take a massive amount of critic from the general public or not include the drm on the xbox versions, ending up at the same place they were at with sony. and if that happens it would be plain stubbornness not to include that console yet again.
and lastly sony has not said that they dont allow drm on the console, it will just be in the same line as online passes again making EA eat the pr announcement

granted this is just off the top of my dome and there could be a great amount of things that i have not thought of or holes in my trail of thinking but in the end EA will still make games for the ps4

i think the reason is the same as many other exclusives:

Almost every game at E3 was promoted by only one of the two consoles, even though hardly any were actual exclusives. EA is no different.

I bet their exclusive content and appearance with Microsoft had more to do with the money they were given than the current state of their relationships. EA can't afford to shun one of the platform makers for no reason, they need to play it very safe right now due to the horrible publicity they've had, the current transitional phase they're in, and the bombs they've made.

doesn't matter to me anymore. they've gutted every one of their franchises i cared about. picking the console on the opposing side of a hypothetical EA/Microsoft team is a no brainer.

For the people who matter at EA it is only about the money, and PS4 pre selling so well gives the CFO of EA a boner. If I were EA I'd be a bit more pissed at Microsoft for having the subtlety of a bull trying to unsuccessful mount a rain barrel to hump it. EA's board of directors doesn't give a damn who comes out on top, as long as they are on top too. People liking/trusting EA is worth something to the company they know that is worth just as much if not more than DRM for used games.

Know who gives a damn about PS4 and Xbox One? Joel Linzner or Rajat Taneja who are probably in charge of DRM, but mostly likely the guys under those two, so guys one step down from the Sr. Executive group. Those guys junior guys care because a DRM scheme could have been their baby, and it not working means they don't get the next step up the ladder. In other words the guys not yet in the inner circle who could have gotten ahead by shepherding a burgeoning program.

The PS4 will have an install base just as big as ever. EA will want a piece of that. They will include multiplayer modes and some form of account creation. I wouldn't be surprised to see online passes come back and just be rebranded. It's a business smart way of including some DRM, but working within the platform.

@vinone said:

I think that has more to do with the fact that Respawn is a small team and wanted to focus on one console and Microsoft probably gave then a sweet deal.

As for the rest of EA, I kind of wondered if they were going to pull some support for the PS4 as well, but it really sounds like most of the big games will come out on it. We'll just have to wait and see what happens.

I really think that Sony will be looked down upon by publishers. I mean, the Xbox One model does guarantee that publishers will see more money. How could they just ignore that and not play favorites when two consoles are intentionally doing things so drastically different?

I don't know. I do know I have Battlefield 4 preordered with my PS4.

Doubt it

Publishers don't have a choice, really. Install base is all that matters, no publisher can really afford to ignore half of the market - and what if they bet on the wrong console?

Especially considering the negative reaction to the Xbox One so far, and the PS4 pre-orders outnumbering Xbox One pre-orders. EA being "on the outs" with Sony over their DRM policies would be idiotic.

EA likes money. If a considerable amount of people get a PS4 they will publish their games there. The FIFA deal seems to be MS war money to push back on loosing in the European market. (With not supporting the TV features they will again loose in Europe.)

Not any more.

EA is not gonna miss the sales they would get from PS4. Case closed.

Absolutely not. After all the negative responses Microsoft got at E3 and all the praise Sony received in that same week, if they weren't gonna make games for the PS4 (which they were, because think about how many PS3s sold this generation), they would be denying themselves a HUGE portion of the market if they partnered exclusively with Microsoft. EA wants to make money. They'll go where the console sales lead them.

They might throw a marketing temper tantrum and demand more DRM. But Cash is King. They want to sell games and they will publish on every box that they can.

EA will support which ever console will make them the most money. Right now they think its Xbox. 3 years from now we will be back to EA releasing timed exclusives on the PS4.

As in they're not going to miss them if they're gone or they're not wanting to miss out on?

One of them is incredibly ignorant whilst the other is bang on the money. Which is it?