EA Originals, the label created by Electronic Arts in 2016 to publish indie games made by partner developers, is reportedly moving away from niche titles toward bigger releases. Speaking to GamesIndustry.biz, GM of EA Partner Jeff Gamon said:
We've discovered a desire for bigger, better, and more innovative titles that complement the EA portfolio. So where we started off with smaller, indie games. We are now graduating to independently-created games of all shapes and sizes and scope and budget. We are moving away from niche and towards bold and audacious. And we are attracting a lot of positive sentiment from press and consumers. We are riding high on the success of It Takes Two, but even the other titles we've released in our history have been critically very well received.
We trade on our reputation. I think EA Originals is unique in the industry in the way that we partner with studios. Everything that we do is in collaboration with the studios we work with. We open the doors to all the resources and talent that any of our internal studios have and channel that into our partner studios. All the while, we shield them from the bigger EA corporation and make sure to protect their creative freedom.
Indeed, looking at the upcoming lineup, EA Originals is set to publish Wild Hearts and Immortals of Aveum, both of which look far bigger than Unravel or Fe. That said, Gamon promised indie games will still be a part of EA Originals.
We are making games of a bigger scale, but we are also still partnering -- and we have one or two in the pipeline -- on smaller games as well. Those fundamental values still stand. The structure of any deal is completely bespoke.
The opportunity is there for any small or large partner studios to access the same resources as our internal studios. It's like a menu. It depends what they want and when they need it.
Other than the aforementioned games, EA Originals also announced at E3 2019 it will publish Glowmade's co-op action RPG Rustheart.
About the author: With over two decades of experience in gaming journalism, Alessio Palumbo has led the gaming vertical at Wccftech since August 2015. He started working at a young age for Italian websites like Everyeye.it, Gamestar.it, Nextgame.it, and Multiplayer.it before kickstarting the indie English-language publication Worlds Factory as its founder and Editor in Chief. In the last decade, he has coordinated the overall output of Wccftech's gaming section, managed PR relations, assigned reviews, produced daily news coverage, edited gaming content as needed, and delivered game reviews. Arguably, his trademark content is the long series of exclusive developer interviews that have been cited by Wikipedia and by the biggest news media and gaming publications. His passion for technology also makes him knowledgeable when it comes to gaming hardware and tech. His favorite genres include RPGs, MMORPGs, and action/adventure games.
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