Jeff Gaimon on expanding EA Originals beyond just indie games: "It's like a menu. It depends on what devs want"
Started as a label for indie games, EA Originals has now shifted its focus to publishing bigger projects rather than smaller niche titles. Here is what’s behind this transformation.
Immortals of Aveum
Jeff Gamon, general manager of EA Partners, opened up about the future of EA Originals in an interview with GamesIndustry.biz.
The company revised the program terms when it realized that it wanted to publish bigger and more innovative games from third-party studios. “We are moving away from niche, and towards bold and audacious,” Gamon noted.
So the biggest change is that EA Originals is now open for teams of different size and ambition. This doesn’t mean that the company will stop working with indie creators. Of course, deals with bigger projects might not be as developer-friendly, but EA still plans to provide any team with access to the same resources as its first-party studios.
Everything that we do is in collaboration with the studios we work with. We open the doors to all the resources and talent that any of our internal studios have, and channel that into our partner studios. All the while, we shield them from the bigger EA corporation, and make sure to protect their creative freedom. general manager of EA Partners
EA has already announced two bigger games that will come out under the EA Originals label, Ascendant Studios’ shooter Immortals of Aveum and ARPG Wild Hearts from Koei Tecmo’s division Omega Force. These are some AAA level projects, which initially didn’t fit into the EA Originals conception.
What is EA Originals?
- Electronic Arts announced the EA Originals program in June 2016. It was positioned as the company’s commitment to “finding great new games that we know players are going to love, and working with small developers to make sure those games get discovered and into the hands of players.”
- Under the EA Originals label, Electronic Arts funds production and promotes a game. The good thing for developers is that they not only keep the IP rights, but also receive all revenue once their project recoups its investments.
- The first game released under this label was Coldwood Interactive’s platformer Unravel, which later received a sequel.
- EA has released a number of indie / niche games under this label since 2016, including Fe, Sea of Solitude, and projects from Hazelight Studios. The latter is best known for its co-op hit It Takes Two, which recently hit 10 million units sold.
Garmon noted that the terms of the EA Originals program and opportunities it offers will depend on what partner studios need and are able to do in terms of production and marketing. “It’s like a menu. It depends [on] what they want and when they need it.”
Another key pillar of the program — to move from the first partnership to the next one — isn’t going anywhere either. The company is interested in working with good studios and helping them release multiple games under the label.
