EA Sports is drawing inspiration from games like Guitar Hero and Rock Band with plans to include special peripherals with some of its future releases.
Speaking at the Paris Game Developers Conference, EA Sports Vice President David McCarthy said, “We expect to see more [peripherals] at EA Sports.” While he didn’t offer any details about when the devices may launch, or even what they’ll be, he was firm in his statement that the division would begin to employ a Guitar Hero-style strategy of offering purpose-built peripherals with its games.
“You will see EA Sports – even over the course of the next 12 months, I would think – use that peripheral strategy to some extent,” he said.
McCarthy added that EA Sports was taking a careful approach with the idea to avoid putting itself out of the reach of its customers. “I would say [you could] push this a little too far. I think you want to do a peripheral if it really does enrich the experience of gameplay. And that it doesn’t create a barrier to entry for your consumers,” he said. “So, you know, a Rock Band box is cool, but it’s big and it’s expensive. You’ve got to be careful with that approach. It’s obviously appealing to a large audience, but you’ve got to be careful. It’s not always the solution you want to do.”
When asked by Next-Gen for more details about the company’s plans, McCarthy said, “It really depends on the game, honestly. We’re not ready to announce any of this stuff we’re working on.”
“Anything we put out for sports would enhance the experience,” he continued. “I can tease you a little bit. One of the things we’re doing is looking at just playing with the Wii remote in a different way, using a whole new peripheral that’s out there, kind of thing. So, basically enabling control for the user in a much different way.”
“You could see something around E3,” he said. “Definitely something in the next few months, for sure.”
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