CGF'09 INTERVIEW: EA Casual's Harvey Elliott

CG.biz: For our readers who don’t know, could you detail your current role at EA?
 
Harvey Elliott: Ah... starting with a tricky one – nice! I am VP, General Manager of Casual, which is a division of the Play label here at EA, focused on games for family and young audiences. The other divisions of Play include Sims, Spore, and Hasbro.
 
In my role I am responsible for identifying and producing titles that appeal to our core consumer, and to identify new opportunities for business. It basically means I have a pretty diverse portfolio largely oriented around packaged goods – for example this year my division published the latest in the Harry Potter series – Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince and the second Boom Blox title – BOOM BLOX Bash Party. Many of my titles are reaching into new markets, and so we are using test markets to engineer for success and enabling us to build more bespoke campaigns – for example we are currently shipping Charm Girls Club in North America and recently announced Flips which is a series of interactive books coming for Nintendo DS this Christmas in UK, Ireland and Australia.

I also oversee a UK based studio, EA Bright Light, where we make the Harry Potter video games among others and a studio in Los Angeles, EA Curiosity, where we built BOOM BLOX and have a really exciting IP well underway for release next year.
 
What do you see as the major challenges facing the casual sector at present?
 
Historically the industry has been seen as recession proof – probably because many core gamers would skip a meal instead of missing the latest release. But the casual sector – well, even the name implies a take-it-or-leave-it attitude, which, when you’re trying to break new products for a new audience, means that you aren’t necessarily going to have a consumer waiting for your product when it comes to market. To maximise new products and opportunities takes a lot of confidence and investment – to see that commitment through can take courage given the risk profile can be much higher when compared against traditional hard-core games.
 
And what about the positives that the industry needs to embrace right now?
 
Whenever any market starts to feel uncertain traditionally they return to their core business until the uncertainty passes. The difference with interactive entertainment is that it always needs to be fresh and different, and that by just focusing on our ‘core business’ we run the risk of becoming outdated quite quickly. Opportunities we really need to understand are the influence and value of net-books, the unending scope of the social networks and figuring out where the consoles we already have can take us beyond the old fire-and-forget way of selling games. The real opportunity is for our industry to remember that our core business is not just stacking and selling more boxes; our core business is finding new and exciting game experiences.
 
Is there much integration between EA Casual and the other departments within EA, and how does that work?
 
EA is at a scale where each part of the business needs some independence to ensure they maximise their opportunities, without getting caught up in red tape. Of course there are common frameworks throughout the business as well as some centralised teams (e.g. IT, HR, Finance) but each division is able to approach its particular opportunity in its own way. That said, where we have groups tackling the same problem from different directions we often get those people to figure it out together.
 
Is the continuing convergence of casual and traditional gaming something you recognise, and how is EA Casual planning to address that as an organisation?
 
It definitely is converging, but that convergence isn’t at the cost of the industry as a whole. I believe our industry will continue to grow for many more years provided we continue to shape that growth beyond just selling more and more copies of our packaged goods games. A great ‘core’ game will have really strong broad appeal and could very easily find itself operating in the space we may call Casual. Some of the biggest ‘casual’ titles are anything but – Tetris is one that immediately springs to mind, with a very definite core gamer appeal (and history) that also happens to be pick-up-and-play gaming for anyone else.
 
What do you plan to address in your keynote at the Casual Games Forum?
 
I plan to talk about what is the essence of casual, and whether it feels like we’re each focussed on the right parts of the business or indeed the right customers. I have a feeling that we’re a lot more serious and determined about our business than even we give ourselves credit for, and perhaps that business is being defined in the wrong way.
 
What do you hope to take home from the event as an attendee?
 
I’m always surprised at how much events such as this can really help guide thinking on where the industry really is, and where it is headed. I expect to leave there with an understanding of where others see the casual space, and ideally the odd gap or two for my team to pursue...
 
Was there anything else relating to EA Casual you wanted to address here? Perhaps any announcements or future plans?
 
EA Casual is just one part of EA’s business that targets a Casual consumer. When you see EA innovate or create new products is when you see EA at its best. And when that innovation is pursuing a new market is when things get really interesting. Looking at the line-up we’re building towards for the next few years, and the direction I believe we can take at least part of EA’s offering, I believe we have a really exciting few years ahead.
 
And since you asked for an announcement... I would love to tell you about a brand new product we are launching exclusively via DSiWare on the Nintendo DSi platform, but, unfortunately my head of PR would kill me.

A big thing to remember about Casual is that we can scale our offerings to suit the opportunity – try things out – refine – and try again. If our new DSiWare title works as I think it will, you may be seeing the tip of a very exciting iceberg.

The Casual Games Forum is an unmissible industry event which CasualGaming.biz will be attending, taking place tomorrow. Click here for more information.