Tag Archives: John Schappert

This week, we’ve decided to blather on for 15,000 words about PSN and the Royal Wedding. Kidding. Mostly.

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EA COO John Schappert has left the publisher to take an executive post at Farmville and Cityville developer Zynga, according to Reuters.

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John Schappert has nominated cross-platform inter-connectivity and social features as a higher priority for EA than rushing to adopt 3D

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EA MMA has gotten off to a “slow start”, EA COO John Schappert revealed in the publisher’s Q2 financial call last night.

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EA COO John Schappert has said allowing customers to play the company’s games on whatever device they wish is its “charter”.

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EA CEO John Riccitiello mentioned during the company’s call to investors last night that software sales for the high-definition console market were up 14 percent to $1.1 billion year-on-year.

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EA COO John Schappert has said Online Pass is helping the company keep consumers from purchasing its sports games used.

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Tell us, how does said “hot cakes” taste like? Do they taste delicious?

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Electronic Arts COO John Schappert has been speaking enthusiastically about PS3, going as far to say “it’s on fire.”

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Speaking at GDC earlier today, EA COO John Schappert said he was “disappointed” with Activision over the way its handling an Infinity Ward legal situation which has seen bosses Vince Zampella and Jason West fired for apparent “insubordination”.

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EA’s COO, John Schappert, gave a speech at DICE this week chatting about 20 years of technology transitions in the gaming industry.

During it, he admitted that both Dead Space and Mirror’s Edge weren’t given enough of a marketing push.

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EA has revealed that it’s to rely less on third-party titles in the future and will instead shift its focus on publishing internal projects.

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Don’t have the internet? Captain EA says you’re a fool, sucker. Every game the publisher brings to market in its next financial year will have connected functionality, the firm said last night.

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EA’s confirmed its bringing EA Sports Active off Wii and onto other hardware this Christmas.

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John Schappert has left Microsoft to return to EA as its new COO, beginning July 14.

Replacing John Pleasants, who left EA to pursue other interests, Schappert began his stint at the company as a software engineer in 1991 before moving on to Microsoft, where he is credited with the launch of Xbox 360′s online services division.

Eventually, he became VP of Microsoft’s Interactive Entertainment Business, overseeing the launches of Halo, Gears of War and the New Xbox Live Experience.

“We are thrilled to welcome John Schappert back to EA,” said EA’s John Riccitiello. “He has a great track record as a leader and innovator in our industry. His years of experience with EA and in Microsoft’s Xbox business provide him great insight into recognizing what consumers want.”

Schappert has stated that he is looking forward to “helping [EA] grow the business on new platforms and in new markets.”

“After nearly two decades working in or around this company, I’ve got EA in my blood,” he said.

More through the press release below.
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Corporate vice president of Xbox Live, John Schappert has told the BBC that now the Metal Gear franchise is heading to Xbox 360, the company now has “all the franchises” and “the best games.”

“The Metal Gear Solid franchise was the last franchise that we were really truly looking to get on board,” he said

“We’ve got the best games and we’ve got all the franchises that might have started their lives on other consoles coming to the 360.”

Piers Harding-Rolls, a senior analyst with Screen Digest, said the reason for the lack of exclusives is because of an open market.

“When the PlayStation 2 was the dominant platform, it was less of an issue for developers to tie up an exclusive deal,” offered Piers.

“Today developers want to maximise their sales and that means making a game to go out on all platforms.

“There is no denying that Microsoft has done well in improving its relationship with third party developers and the Metal Gear Solid announcement is another notch on the old bedpost.”

More through the link.

Speaking to MCV, Xbox Live boss John Schappert has said that New Xbox Experience will offer up a retail space that traditional brick and mortar sellers can’t provide.

“There are games coming that would not get the space at retail, and that’s a big part of why we’re refreshing the system,” he said.

“We want to widen the content to make it more accessible for different users. It’s pretty hard to get retail distribution these days, and shelf space continues to be a challenge and people are opting for that – Penny Arcade is a great example of that.

“Look at Geometry Wars 2, Castle Crasher and Braid.

“They’re seeing tremendous success. That’s exactly what we want on our service – when retail gets pressured, you can go online.”

He added: “We’re going to continue to see a great mix. At retail, you can find casual games, RPGs, action games. We are like an online retailer in essence with our Arcade, and you are seeing those titles.”

Just a hunch, but we suspect the phrase “retail gets pressured” may take on a slightly different meaning in the next few years.

There’s a full interview here.

Scooparama. MCV’s posted a quote from Xbox Live boss John Schappert saying 360 has enough grunt to handle MGS4.

“I can’t speak on behalf of Konami, but I can shed more light on the fact that we definitely have the power to run MGS4,” he said.

“I’m certainly in the fan club that would love to see Kojima-san’s masterpiece come our way,” Schappert added. “It would be wonderful to play Metal Gear Solid on the Xbox. It could become another of the many franchises that started their life on another console that are now coming our way.

“There are a lot of recent examples that are in true high-def on our platform and aren’t on PS3. We’ve got an amazing amount of horsepower and graphics power.”

This is so happening. More through the link.

Speaking to the Wall Street Journal at TGS, PlayStation boss Kaz Hirai has issued a note of caution to recent quotes saying the games trade will easily ride the wave of global recession, but has said it will be more resilient than standard manufacturing industries.

“I wouldn’t go so far as to say we’re recession-proof, but we expect to be hit much less than an auto company, for example,” he said.

“We expect to do very well in the year-end shopping season.”

Microsoft’s John Schappert added that the financial downturn is likely to make people wary of spending, pointing to recent 360 price cuts as a boon for the system.

“When you look at people, who are certainly more price-conscious than ever, that price is something people are going to be looking at,” he said.

More through the link.

According to this IGN story, Xbox Live boss John Schappert said at TGS today that there aren’t any plans to remove badly performing titles from Live itself.

If you recall, Microsoft said in May that XBLA games that were either selling poorly or had received bad review scores would be removed from Live.

“We have no immediate plans to act on de-listing,” he said, adding that the firm had merely “set parameters by which we can delist” games.

More through there.