EA's Gibeau insists relationship with Sony 'is very good'

[MerrickG]

http://www.computerandvideogames.com...-is-very-good/

EA Labels president Frank Gibeau has said the publisher's apparent cosying up with Microsoft has been wrongly "perceived as strategic tilt", something he feels is a "messaging error" on his company's part.


EA Partners game Titanfall will be an Xbox console exclusive, while every Xbox One sold at launch in Europe will come bundled with a copy of FIFA 14 at no extra cost.

Additionally, FIFA 14 Ultimate Team Legends will be exclusive to Xbox consoles, while the first Battlefield 4 DLC will debut on Microsoft's new console.

But despite this impressive roster of Xbox exclusive deals, Gibeau insisted in an interview with CVG that EA is platform agnostic and enjoys a "very good" relationship with Sony.

"We're changing nothing in our policy about being platform-agnostic," he said. "One of the things that struck me this week is how a tactical deal with one of our platform partners has been blown out and perceived as strategic tilt - that's a messaging error on our part. There is no strategic tilt.

"The Sony platform and the Xbox platform are both very important to us. If you look at the previous generation we did tactical deals with both Sony and Microsoft throughout the cycle. Titanfall is different, it's an EA Partners game - everything else is platform agnostic."

Gibeau said it's in EA's interest for all platform holders to do well and praised Sony for the work it has done since the PS4 reveal in February.

"Sony has been executing exceptionally well on the next-gen transition. Their hardware's hot, they're clear and disciplined and consistent with their policies, they are showing some amazing things with indies, so overall I couldn't be more pleased with how they're executing."

He added: "It's a long cycle, and certainly there's potential with Sony exclusivity deals too."

http://www.neogaf.com/forum/showpost...&postcount=162
As famousmortimer put it:

EA got in bed with MS because of the DRM stuff and money. The DRM stuff is gone, the money has exchanged hands... and EA is looking at the same sales projections as everyone else. Of course they are making nice now.