EA PS4 Meeting Recap: Between 8-10x Power, 1080p, 60FPS, "Unprecedented" Gameplay, Games Shown Before E3

The EA investor’s meeting focused on the PS4 is now over, here’s the highlights:

What is quoted is from EA’s CTO Rajat Taneja and Electronic Arts Chief Financial Officer Blake Jorgensen, and some of what has been said has been shortened and paraphrased for clarity.

“We are excited about Sony’s news”
“At EA, we have never been as prepared or more ready for the start of a new console cycle.”
“Not being at PS Meeting was not indicative at all. We’re maintaining a balance between other parties.”
“Between now and E3 you will see a lot from us… I’ve seen the new Battlefield and it is stunning. It is just amazing what the imagination of the game developers are allowed to do with that much power.”
“[PS4 and next Xbox are] between 8 and 10 times the power [of previous gen]”
“We no longer have to constrain our games. 1080p, 60FPS… [there will be a] level of gameplay that is unprecedented.”
“What used to take months in the past will now take days to do” [due to consoles being more like PCs].
“[There are] new IPs that we are building for this [upcoming] console generation.”
“100mil [has been spent on next gen] R&D. [EA will] moderate costs through cutbacks [(worrying)]”
“[EA is] assuming MS and Sony are more aligned in release dates.” [Basically saying the 720 will be out this holiday].
“Games have been in development for the past year” [for next gen]
“5-10% increase in cost [of next gen development]… “but cost will increase in the future as the games get bigger.”
They expect to make more money on the bigger next gen titles than ever before.
“We had too many titles… now less but bigger.” Around 15 core titles.
On next gen game costs – “We haven’t set price, but you will probably see a similar trend [where prices go up $10, but then fall back down]” (Update: EA have clarified to Polygon that they’re talking about how games have gone from $59 to $49, and that everything was hypothetical.)
On game user data – “We generate around 50 terabytes of game data every single day.” “We are applying techniques like machine learning, so that we can integrate [monetization and gameplay changes more effectively]”
There will be: “lower marketing expenses as we can connect directly to our core players [through existing games]”
“We all want more cash flow.”
Looking at “another publisher with two huge franchises [Activision]” and “continuing to support their own franchises, while investing in new IP”. Wouldn’t speculate on whether they think they’ll be able to have two franchises that bring in more than 50% of annual revenue.
On social – companies EA bought weren’t as successful as they hoped, but were not a failure. “PvZ and Bejeweled will continue to come to all platforms.”
While talking about social – “[But] we’ve seen the benefits of creating games like Battlefield and FIFA“
BF3 DLC brought in $150 million. Buzz behind DLC also led to new people buying the game.
On microtransactions: “We’re building into all our games the ability to pay for more, to unlock faster… trucks, levels, etc. microtransactions. Consumers love that.”