Is it time to say game over?
Electronic Arts' dominance of video games makes resistance futile for competitors
And if EA's game competitors didn't have enough to worry about, it looks as if the company may be getting ready to re-enter the M-rated, or mature, category, which accounts for about 12 percent of the market. The company hasn't released a game in that segment since 2000, but at the E3 show, EA watchers expect the company to officially announce it has secured the license to develop games based on the Godfather trilogy. The family-friendly company's absence in the category has been a continual sore spot for many analysts. "Kids like blood, and it's a part of the market EA has been conceding," says analyst Michael Pachter of Wedbush Morgan Securities. Probst stresses that should EA again publish M-rated titles, any sex or violence won't be "gratuitous" or "sleazy."
So let's see here: EA is the major force in a fast-growing industry and--even better--looks to be making a power play in the one sector it doesn't dominate. Perhaps Probst should start holding meetings in one of the company's other conference rooms--the one nicknamed "Resistance is Futile."
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