Samantha Ryan, Senior VP and Group GM at Electronic Arts, believes that people do their finest work when they are passionate about what they do. She is the primary point of contact between the teams and EA CEO Andrew Wilson after a structural change at the firm. Samantha is also in charge of studios, including BioWare, Full Circle, Motive, and others. Ryan recently discussed why she believed it was so important for companies to concentrate on projects that they are passionate about in an interview with gamesindustry.biz.
Making the convergences happen
Ryan states how the decision to bring back franchises like Dead Space and Skate. Teams directly affects, creating them while talking about their future comebacks. She acknowledged that EA has a large number of IPs under their belt and that it was impossible to bring them all back, but that “when a strong group of developers has a particular passion, and we see that fans are equally passionate… the fates converge,” she asserted that it is her job to make these convergences happen. But it goes beyond these two headings.
A more collaborative approach
She claims that because gamers have advanced much, they know how incomplete and unpolished graphics are used in early game development. This allows for the earliest possible use of player feedback and, according to Ryan, a more collaborative approach to game creation with the player base. Examples include the closed playtest for the Skate relaunch and early development live streaming of EA’s planned Dead Space remake. Do you think EA did a great job encouraging passion projects? Share your thoughts in the comments
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