Electronic Arts' Executive Vice President of EA Games label Patrick Soderlund said in an interview with MCV that developing new intellectual properties is important to the game publisher and that he may walk away from the industry if new franchises stop being created.
"There's nothing that we've announced but we are absolutely working all the time on new IPs," Soderlund told MCV. "To me, the day we stop doing new IP is the day we put ourselves on life support and then we're slowly going to die."
Soderlund said in the interview that new intellectual properties are not only need for the industry and the customers, but also for the sake of artistry.
"They need something different to think about," he said. "They have a lot of creativity built into them that they need to get out. The day that we stop thinking about new things that are not Need for Speed is the day that I'll probably leave the games industry."
In the interview he also addresses criticism from those who think that EA has done little for games in terms of innovation.
"A lot of people criticize EA for not being innovative," Soderlund told MCV. "But look at what EA has done with Battlefield 3. We said 'here's a game that looks like nothing you've ever seen before.' We looked at animation, we looked at audio, we looked at every single part of the visual experience and we said: how can we change this? I think if that's not innovation, I don't know what innovation is. Then you look at Most Wanted this year and Need for Speed really looks cool and different."
In another recent interview with CVG, Soderlund spoke about innovating the gamer's experience beyond the immediate involvement.
"We need to go back to the essence of these games and go from there to see how they fit beyond console and PC," Soderlund told CVG. "The idea of making a Need for Speed port on the iPhone, I just don't agree with it. What's the point? You have to play to the strengths of the platform that you're using."
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