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EA feels gamers are looking to mobile for innovation due to "demanding" console industry 

EA's Richard Hilleman feels gamers are turning to the mobile space for innovation due to the console industry having demanded too much from the consumer.

Speaking at DICE Europe, Hilleman said where at one time games created by Nintendo's Shigeru Miyamoto were the hot ticket, now it's portable, touch screen gaming.

"I thank Miyamoto for [his contribution to games] but he's falling down on the job," said Hilleman. "And for the past five years that job has been taken over by a dead guy [Steve Jobs] from Cupertino.

"We've asked for too much time, too much skill, and too much money, sometimes all at once. Customers today... are generally looking for a single fabric of play. They want their game where they want it, when they want it, and at a price they can defend to other people."

Hilleman believes next-gen can win its consumers back by adhering to new trends such as content creation.

According to his research, console games keep people playing for two hours or more, while PC games tend to keep people glued to their screens for 90 minutes. Mobile games only hold a gamer's attention for 90 seconds.

"Once I get your butt on a couch, I can get two hours for sure," he said to the audience. "That granularity means I cannot build the same game on every platform. I cannot build Battlefield on every platform.

"We are no longer in step function; we are in evolution. We are not changing every four years; we are in continuous change. Gen 4 will increasingly become a surrogate to the development of the platform overall, to the point where the hardware doesn't even matter any more."

Thanks, GI International.

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Stephany Nunneley-Jackson

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Stephany is VG247’s News Editor, with 22 years experience (with 15 of them at VG247). With a brain that lacks adhesive ducks, the ill-tempered, chaotic neutral fembot does her best to bring you the most interesting gaming news. She is also unofficially the site’s Lord of the Rings/Elder Scrolls Editor.

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