During the opening keynote of this year's Develop conference, Andrew Wilson, the worldwide head of development for EA Sports, said that sooner or later publishers will have to loosen their restrictions and allow gamers to play the games they buy on any device they own.
In his speech, titled Gaming 3.0: Moving the Goalposts, Wilson suggested that EA Sports games will eventually follow a model similar to the one employed by Amazon's Whispersync feature which allows customers to pay once for a digital book copy then read it on all devices they own (Kindle, PCs or smartphones) without having to pay again for the extra versions (in different formats).
"It's about handing over control to the gamer," he said. "Ultimately, what we want to get to is this concept where we break down the barriers between the franchises. John Riccitiello our CEO says it seems like such a waste - we spend $20-40m making each of these games, but most gamers only ever play one, because the business model is an impediment. So how about we drive toward a model where every gamer can experience everything we make without paying that much more money."
"You've got to recognise that given the opportunity, the consumer will play and they will bring their friends."
