EA: European developers more creative than American developers

by Scott Jon Siegel { Dec 11th 2007 at 6:30PM }

Americans, bust out the boxing gloves; Europeans, bust out the champagne. A representative from EA has stated that European game developers are inherently more creative than American developers. This is either a tad insulting, or a very nice compliment (you know, depending on where you're from).

Nick Button-Brown, director of business development at EA Partners, spoke with GamesIndustry.biz recently, and admitted that U.S.-based game studios are less willing to take chances than their European counterparts, and are therefore less likely to innovate in the industry.

To be fair, he also argues that multiculturalism plays a big role in the creative output of Europe. Still, Button-Brown states that a paradigm-shifting game like Grand Theft Auto would have never come out of America. Stand up for yourselves, America! There are obvious exceptions to Button-Brown's argument. What games are the pride of the United States?

Tags: america, ea, europe

Reader Comments (Page 1 of 2)

mr nimblewick (SegaDF - Jogurt Ring) @ Dec 11th 2007 6:38PM

I spent five minutes trying to figure out which country "EA" was short for.

Geist @ Dec 11th 2007 7:56PM

Oh good, I'm not the only one.

AirIntake @ Dec 11th 2007 6:38PM

What about Canada? We have Bioware, EA Big......must be some others too. Bioware's fairly creative, aren't they?

Geist @ Dec 11th 2007 7:56PM

Ubisoft. Though technically a publisher...eh.

WTangoFoxtrot @ Dec 12th 2007 12:39AM

Canada has way better developers than the US i rekon. Bioware and the Ubisoft montreal div are amongst the group.

carg0 @ Dec 11th 2007 6:39PM

whether that statement is true or not is irrelevant. what caught my attention (and made me laugh my ass off) was the source.

who the f&^k is anyone from EA to talk about creativity?

Spartacus @ Dec 11th 2007 6:40PM

My sentiments exactly.

Mr.ESC @ Dec 11th 2007 6:53PM

I support that statement.

sifer2400 @ Dec 11th 2007 6:57PM

lol your 100% right on the money.

TrenchyC @ Dec 11th 2007 7:39PM

I didn't know creativity was region locked.

Undead Priest @ Dec 11th 2007 7:47PM

It's creative to buy out talented developers then dissolve them, effectively eliminating competition.

The Purveyor of Justice @ Dec 11th 2007 10:20PM

Uhh... yeah. Like EA has a clue what creativity is. Hypocrites!

milestailsprowe @ Dec 11th 2007 6:40PM

Creativeness is subjective because you can look at many different things that come with but BIOSHOCK CAME OUT OF AMERICA so this argument is irrlavent

Mats @ Dec 11th 2007 9:14PM

You mean that game that is a reskinned System Shock?

milestailsprowe @ Dec 11th 2007 9:33PM

it was still a very creative and art-ful game

Marduk @ Dec 12th 2007 12:02AM

@Mats

If you want to get nit-picky, nearly every game is derivative in some sense. Even the "ground-breaking" games are really only variations on a theme.

JohnnySocko @ Dec 11th 2007 6:42PM

At least I can rest easy in the knowledge that EA is a publisher that is doing everything within its power to reduce the homogenization of output from U.S. game studios.

Hey, WAIT a minute...

sifer2400 @ Dec 11th 2007 6:44PM

WII screams epic fail in a long list of shitty games

mr nimblewick (SegaDF - Jogurt Ring) @ Dec 11th 2007 6:50PM

GoldenS1104 @ Dec 11th 2007 6:55PM

umm... relevance?

wait, did u mean WWII or Wii? cause if u meant WWII then I guess it's relevant.

Shagittarius @ Dec 11th 2007 6:47PM

Hear that American developers? You don't make enough footie games.

How about a footie game set in WWII?

Poisoned Al @ Dec 11th 2007 8:27PM

God, what what was the name of that fuck-awful Stallone film where WII POWs escape during a footy match against the Nazis?

Anyway, my point is, no matter how shit an idea, Hollywood has been that low before you.

Tony @ Dec 11th 2007 8:47PM

Lol it was called Victory.

Ignatius @ Dec 11th 2007 6:47PM

EA's just a diamond in the rough in a sea of dull---

Wait, we're talking about the biggest megalomaniac company that gulps up intellectual property.

Whoops.

gonk @ Dec 11th 2007 6:47PM

great pic

but yeah this source is bullshit

Xlorep DarkHelm @ Dec 11th 2007 8:29PM

Wait, is the terminal FIMS from Sony Execs contagious?

xFenixKnightx @ Dec 11th 2007 6:49PM

Ok........can you give us an example? Lets take maybe uhhh the crappy Timeshift devs Saber Interactive VS Infinity ward or Epic Games? More creative I think not good sir!!

Spartacus @ Dec 11th 2007 6:49PM

Valve
Blizzard
Bioware

Suck it Europe. No really, you guys are cool ;-)

mr nimblewick (SegaDF - Jogurt Ring) @ Dec 11th 2007 6:51PM

Now if only Blizzard would make a new IP.

Mr.ESC @ Dec 11th 2007 6:57PM

Screw that I want Diablo 3.

Is it true that the people that created Diablo aren't working for Blizzard anymore?

gonk @ Dec 11th 2007 7:09PM

i think they went on to make hellgate

and I have the feeling that wow is really diablo 3 in disguise

Lord Malvern @ Dec 11th 2007 7:17PM

Bioware is Canadian.

ColossalHat @ Dec 11th 2007 7:31PM

"Bioware is Canadian"

Last I checked, Canada was on this continent called North America.

Spartacus @ Dec 11th 2007 7:33PM

Lord Malvern,

I know, but I figured EA meant North America when they said "America". Besides, everyone knows Canada is the 51st state ;-)

Ants @ Dec 11th 2007 8:37PM

does halo count?

canada is in america

Alex K. @ Dec 11th 2007 9:50PM

really, this is ironic because EA is the the main creativity lacking publisher in america.

such a blanket statement is silly - the US has more independent developers than any other country.

finally, i'll list some very creative US game developers.

Retro Studios
Bethestda
Cyan Worlds
2K Boston/Austrlia (okay that's half and half)
LucasArts
Maxis (!!!)
Monolith Productions (F.E.A.R., Tron 2.0)
Naughty Dog
Neversoft

...The list goes on

Penguin Warlord @ Dec 11th 2007 10:42PM

@ Alex K

2k isn't really half / half, it's more like half, since australia isn't part of Europe.

And as for us Canadians:
http://www.bustedtees.com/shirt/canadaamericashat/male

Easo @ Dec 11th 2007 6:51PM

Isnt Rockstar games based in New York City, New York? And while Rockstar didnt create the original GTA game, they did make GTA 3, which is the game in the series that caused "paradigm-shift" that is sandbox gaming.

Poisoned Al @ Dec 11th 2007 6:56PM

GTA is a Scottish creation. Stuffing the Seven bridge in one of the games is a SLIGHT hint to that. There are a lot of other jokes in GTA only the British will only get too.

Neil Christie @ Dec 11th 2007 7:00PM

Grand Theft Auto was originally developed by a company called DMA Design, based in Dundee, Scotland. That company was bought by Rockstar Games in the late 1990s and rebranded "Rockstar North". That same company has moved about sixty miles south to Edinburgh, Scotland where the games are still made today. Sure, some of the development goes on in New York (voice acting etc) but the real game development happens in their offices in Edinburgh.

To the person with the football comment: both of the top selling football franchises, PES and FIFA are not developed in Europe IIRC. PES is Japanese and FIFA is made by EA Canada I think.

Poisoned Al @ Dec 11th 2007 6:54PM

I live in the UK, and I think this is rubbish. There ARE creative games coming out of the US. It's just that they are all downed in a sea of uninspired crap the publishers know will sell.

opnickc @ Dec 11th 2007 6:56PM

Ever play a PC game? John Carmak, Will Wright, Gabe Newell, any of those names ring a bell? Heard of Sim City? Or Doom? Or Civilization? Or, more recently, Portal?

I don't know why, but American developers shine on the PC platform. Probably due to its more open nature (little to no bureaucracy - if you make it, you can sell it, even if you can't get a publisher).
For some reason, we don't do as well on the consoles. I'd think it's because, as a (at least formerly) non-socialist country, we're not used to having to go through a bunch of bureaucratic BS just to get something published (hence why PC would be so appealing to US devs), but this is just a guess on my part.

Jeff @ Dec 11th 2007 6:58PM

Considering they just published Crysis, by German developers Crytek, I can see why they'd say that. Although I'm sure everyone will attack me and argue that the first game to actually add something to the FPS genre in a while isn't creative at all because it has aliens in it. =P

Tombstone @ Dec 11th 2007 7:04PM

Half-Life series is from America, I think its creative.

Easo @ Dec 11th 2007 7:04PM

GTA is a scottish creation. GTA 3, the game that invented the sandbox style of gaming, is an American creation.

ThornedVenom @ Dec 11th 2007 11:36PM

Just because the original GTAs were in 2D doesn't mean that it wasn't sandbox gaming.

Otis Whitaker @ Dec 11th 2007 7:07PM

US Strong points:
Action and graphics
US weak points:
Character design, story, presentation, musical score
(In general, now, there's exceptions.)

Canada, the UK, France, Japan, and Ireland all do things better than us. ESPECIALLY story. Seriously.. it's very rare that we can pump out a story that's worth a crap.. and even more rare when we can design characters that aren't a total piece of crap. Or enemies that aren't total pieces of crap.. or really anything that requires artistic merit that isn't a total piece of crap.
We're not very artsy people. We want to set things on fire. A lot.

hotnutz @ Dec 12th 2007 8:11AM

You nailed it on the head. Good one.

baby sea tuna @ Dec 12th 2007 9:16AM

You left out AI and usability/control, another two points where NA games rule.

And story?! When was the last time where you played a Japanese game where the story made ANY sense at all (aside from maybe RE4, where the story was like 80% less convoluted than the rest of the series)? Even the games that are known for their stories, like MGS and FF, tend to devolve into incomprehensible messes about halfway through.