EA: Music games are "robust", more in store for the future

Speaking at the Goldman Sachs Technology and Internet Conference yesterday, EA COO John Pleasants said that music games are set to become a huge segment of the industry, and one that both EA and Activision are actively pushing to innovate in.

"There are lots of other things you can do with music, and we're working on interesting things, and we know our competition is working on interesting things", he said.

"When we look back five years, the fantasy of being a rock star by punching the buttons that are flowing down the screen is going to be one implementation in what is going to be a very large category".

Without admitting to anything currently in the oven or, he did say that "it's a robust category" and in the coming years there will be "lots of things we will do in the music category."

He also shrugged off Activision claims that Guitar Hero was a clear leader in the field.

"They're both big behemoths," he said. "In calendar year '08, Rock Band 1 was, I believe the leading music SKU across all platforms and Rock Band 2 was the highest-quality product with a 92 Metacritic."

More here.