Electronic Arts har lang tids erfaring i spil-branchen, og i de seneste år har de primært været forbundet med mange større titler af god kvalitet. Derfor kom det som lidt af en overraskelse, at selskabet bag den gigantiske serie Mass Effect og Battlefield på dette års E3 satsede på platformspillet Unravel.
At folk ikke så dette komme, har EA chief executive officer Patrick Söderlund fuld forståelse for, da spillet repræsenterer lidt af et vendepunkt for selskabet. Fremadrettet vil de nemlig satse på både store og små spil:
"We've had a lot of discussions inside the studios around our responsibility as Electronic Arts to push the industry forward and to help others. We can't just be a company that's only about gigantic big things siger Söderlund.
Samtidig skal EA dog ikke kaste sig over hvad som helst, men lige præcis Unravel, hvor man styrer en tøjdukke, der kan bruge det garn han består af som sit hjælpemiddel, faldt giganten altså for:
"I think Coldwood Interactive were showing Unravel to a lot of other publishers as well, and I think that we managed to convince them that we would be a good home for this, and that we would nurture it and take care of it the way it deserves. Meeting creative director Martin Sahlin and hearing him talk about the game, and how deep it is to him, and how important it is to him, and where it came from; this industry needs that, as well as the other things. A company the size of EA should be in both, I think" uddyber Söderlund.
Sideløbende med Unravel arbejder EA også med Josef Fares, der er igang med sit næste spil efter succesen Brothers: A tale of Two sons fra 2013. Söderlund forsikrer dog, at fansene af de store spil ikke kommer til at lide under firmaets nyfundne interesse for indie-spillene.
"We will always put a lot of effort into our AAA games, but it's good for us to have a portfolio that is maybe broader than what we've had in the past." avslutter Söderlund.
Hvad synes I om denne kursændring, EA nu tager?