EA Executive Says European Developers More Creative Than Americans

Nick Button-Brown of EA Partners says that European game developers are more creative than their U.S. counterparts, because North American studios are more interested in making money than taking chances.

Speaking to GamesIndustry.biz, Button-Brown said Europe was fertile ground for independent studios with a more experimental bent than their American counterparts. "There's more creativity in Europe than there is in America," he said. "The Americans are much more refined in their processes, it's all about the money. There are less chances taken and there is more money being thrown at developers in the U.S."

"Taking less chances means there's less failures, but I can't see the U.S. having ever come up with Grand Theft Auto," he continued. "There are a lot of really good European developers and they all bring slightly different things and there are big cultural differences as well, that they are willing to exploit."

Electronic Arts became involved with German developer Crytek on their Crysis project, following the success of their 2004 debut title Far Cry, and Button-Brown said EA generally prefers to hook up with established developers than start-ups. "EA doesn't normally pick up complete start-up developers because it's quite risky, but Crytek is a good example. We signed them up as they finished off Far Cry and they'd done the hard work of setting up the company and we felt they were ready to deliver something big," he said.

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I'm as much of an EA hater as anyone, but I think this is a valid point. Obviously the North American market only gets a small portion of European-developed videogames, but what little I've seen over the years has impressed. It may sound fanboyish, but I honestly hope that the European development scene isn't "polluted" by American influences as companies like EA start casting their nets overseas in their search for the Next Big Thing.