Sega Nerds

Simon Jeffery speaks his mind about EA - gaming world applauds him

Posted by Graham. Filed under G, Interviews, News. Tagged with Simon Jeffery.

If you had asked me what I thought about Simon Jeffery a month ago, I might have said “Simon who?” 

Yeah, I know he’s the President of Sega America, but back then he was nothing more than a blip on my radar.  However, in the last month, with all the E3 interviews going on, I have grown to love this man!

He seems so switched on, and pretty much speaks his mind - which is exactly what he did in a recent interview with American news agency, Forbes, where he compared EA to a “petulant child” - which is right on the money (in my opinion).

The interview asks questions about how well Sega is doing, and what their future plans might be, and also questions Simon on Sega’s biggest competitors.

When asked about gaming giants EA, trying to acquire Grand Theft Auto publisher Take-Two, Simon Jeffery had this to say:

“It feels like EA kind of needs Take-Two, but it probably shouldn’t have made it so public that it really needed it,” he stated. “I think that it’s losing some investor confidence. The stock price is at a three-year low. And it seems like EA has been the petulant child instead of the professional market leader.“

Though he did also admit that EA won’t suffer too much, and have the ability to survive in the market.

“However it’s EA, and it’s really good at coming back.”  He concluded.

When asked about other major rival, Activision-Blizzard, Simon had nothing but praise for the company, and their boss, Bobby Kotick:

“Bobby is one of the smartest people in the business. The way he’s constructed Activision is really admirable. So many companies in this business want to be number one right away. They want to grow, and they want to grow right now.

“Bobby has grown Activision in stages over a long number of years to get to this point. And it’s very calculating and very clever the way he’s done that. Activision has also managed to be the first company in this business to market games properly. Anyone who can turn a hardcore brand like Call of Duty into a 10 million unit seller is outstanding. I think that Activision is going to take some catching and their profitability is unmatched.”

Check out the full interview at the Forbes website.

On a personal level, I’m happy that someone in the gaming industry has made a comment like this on EA’s attempts to acquire Take-Two.  I think that EA is the bully of the playground, taking over other companies, but not giving much back to the community in comparison.

Endless scores of crappy sequels to half-decent original games, and an array of poor sports titles is what has made me dislike EA so much - I don’t think I have played a truly decent EA game in years.  Although Mirrors Edge does look quite appealing.  But how they are still top of their game is nothing short of a mircale really, (or perhaps just idiotic gamers buying their crap) when so many better, more original companies are struggling.

It would be good if more gaming industry types spoke their mind.  So, well done Simon, well done.

[Source: Forbes, Via MCV]