EA Games Just Made A Mockery Of Games
Summary
TLDRThe video discusses Electronic Arts (EA) Investor Day 2024, focusing on CEO Andrew Wilson's strategy to impress investors with AI advancements. Despite video games being EA's core business, the real focus for investors is the company's embrace of AI technology to drive future growth. The video critiques the presentation of user-generated content platforms and AI tools that promise efficiency but may compromise game quality. It highlights the growing role of AI in the gaming industry and its potential to alter traditional game development while catering more to shareholders than gamers.
Takeaways
- 📈 Andrew Wilson, EA's CEO, presented at the EA Investor Day 2024 with high stakes, as the company's stock is near an all-time high.
- 🎮 Investors are not just concerned about good games; they want to see EA’s strategy for future growth, with AI being a key talking point.
- 🤖 EA showcased their 'Imagination to Creation' AI technology, demonstrating how players can create in-game assets with simple text commands, aiming to be like Fortnite or Roblox.
- 🛑 The scripted AI feature appeared forced and cringe-worthy, especially with phrases like 'make it more epic,' suggesting that it lacked genuine innovation.
- 💰 EA is pushing the idea of user-generated content with AI at the core, intending to reduce dependence on game developers and increase profitability.
- 📊 Investors were targeted with ideas of growth and shareholder value, but the reality is that AI might not translate directly into successful games.
- ⚽ EA is integrating AI into its sports games, like mapping 150 stadiums and 11,000 players in their college football game, which shows practical use of AI.
- 💡 Despite the hype, many of EA's AI initiatives resemble machine learning techniques that have been around for years but are now repackaged as 'AI' to appeal to investors.
- 🧠 While AI can improve workflows and content creation, it risks being misused by executives who don't fully understand the gaming industry, leading to subpar results.
- 😬 EA's investor presentation exposed a disconnect between corporate goals and consumer expectations, with a focus on impressing shareholders over delivering genuinely enjoyable gaming experiences.
Q & A
What is the significance of EA's Investor Day 2024?
-EA's Investor Day 2024 is significant because it's the first time in 8 years that the event is being held, during which EA CEO Andrew Wilson has to convince investors, like pension managers, that EA's future strategies, particularly involving AI, will ensure growth and shareholder value.
Why is it important for Andrew Wilson to impress investors at this event?
-Andrew Wilson needs to impress investors because if EA’s strategies, especially around AI and user-generated content, don’t resonate with investors, the company’s stock could fall, leading to negative press during his scheduled TV interviews.
What role does AI play in EA's future strategy?
-AI is a central part of EA's future strategy, as demonstrated by their focus on generative AI tools for game creation, which they showcased during the event. EA aims to leverage AI to create user-generated content efficiently, potentially leading to exponential growth in content creation without relying on large development teams.
What is the 'imagination to creation' system showcased by EA?
-The 'imagination to creation' system is a tool EA demonstrated that allows users to create game content using simple text prompts, which is then translated into game assets. This AI-powered tool aims to streamline the content creation process, allowing users to create their own game experiences.
Why are investors drawn to EA’s AI strategy?
-Investors are drawn to EA's AI strategy because it promises a new level of efficiency and scalability. With AI and user-generated content, EA aims to solve the limitation of needing more game developers by having users create content, which could lead to increased profitability.
How does EA plan to integrate user-generated content into their games?
-EA plans to integrate user-generated content by offering tools that allow players to create and customize their own game environments and experiences using no-code systems, similar to platforms like Fortnite or Roblox. This system is powered by AI, allowing for infinite content creation.
What concerns are raised about EA’s AI-driven content creation strategy?
-There are concerns that EA’s AI-driven content creation strategy could lead to low-quality, unbalanced gameplay experiences. Critics argue that good games require thoughtful design and balance, which AI-generated content might not provide, leading to 'slop' rather than well-crafted games.
What recent changes in EA’s gaming portfolio were highlighted during the event?
-EA announced several changes to their gaming portfolio, including a third Jedi game, Skate entering Steam Early Access in 2025, Apex Legends regaining player sentiment after changes to its business model, updates to Battlefield with multiple studios working on it, and continued updates for Sims 4 without a Sims 5 release.
What is EA’s goal with Project Air?
-EA's Project Air is designed to create characters and interactive experiences using AI. This project aims to allow consumers to have dynamic interactions with AI-generated characters, showcasing the company’s AI capabilities to investors. It is part of EA’s broader push to demonstrate the use of AI in enhancing user experience.
What is the key message that EA wants to convey to investors regarding AI?
-The key message EA wants to convey to investors is that AI is not just a buzzword but a fundamental part of their business strategy. They aim to use AI to enhance content creation and improve game development efficiency, which they believe will drive future growth and profitability for the company.
Outlines
📈 Stock Market Pressure on EA's CEO
Andrew Wilson, CEO of EA, is under pressure to deliver a successful presentation at the EA investor day on September 17th, 2024, as the company's stock is near its all-time high. The narrative highlights the importance of investor relations and the potential consequences of failing to impress, such as a stock price drop and defensive TV interviews. The script also touches on the broader gaming industry and the influence of AI, suggesting that Wilson needs to convince investors like Jim, a pension manager unfamiliar with video games but aware of the industry's significance and the impact of AI.
🎮 EA's Vision for Infinite Content Creation
EA envisions a future where a system with a vast library of assets allows user-generated content creation similar to Fortnite or Roblox. This approach aims to address the imbalance between the limited number of game developers and the vast potential consumer base. The script critiques EA's demonstration of this concept, suggesting it appears unpolished and lacks the finesse of carefully designed games. It also points out the disconnect between what impresses investors—efficiency and growth potential—and what makes a good game, which is not just about quantity but quality and balance.
🤖 EA's AI Initiatives and Investor Perception
The script discusses EA's AI initiatives, such as Project Air, which allows for the creation of characters and experiences using AI. It highlights the company's attempt to showcase AI as a key part of their strategy to investors, who may not fully understand the gaming industry but are enticed by the potential of AI. The narrative also includes a humorous example of EA creating a non-existent investor character named Ace Toai to demonstrate the capabilities of their AI. The script suggests that while EA's AI efforts might seem impressive to investors, they may not necessarily translate to better games or experiences for players.
📚 The Reality of AI in Game Development
This paragraph delves into the practical applications of AI in game development at EA, such as using machine learning for asset creation in EA Sports College Football and content curation in The Sims. The script contrasts the realistic uses of AI in game development with the exaggerated claims made to investors. It also addresses the ethical dilemmas and potential misuse of AI, suggesting that while AI can enhance creativity, it can also lead to the production of low-quality content if misused or misunderstood. The narrative concludes with a critique of EA's investor day, suggesting that the company's focus on impressing investors may come at the expense of creating quality games.
Mindmap
Keywords
💡Investor Day
💡Generative AI
💡User-Generated Content
💡Apex Legends
💡Shareholder Value
💡Project Air
💡No-Code Development
💡Efficiency
💡AI Husk
💡Monetization Platform
Highlights
Andrew Wilson, EA's CEO, faces a pivotal moment during EA Investor Day 2024, with the company's stock near its all-time high and AI as a key focus.
The event is the first EA Investor Day in eight years, emphasizing the importance of the day for the company’s future growth strategies.
Investors are looking beyond just good games; they want to hear how EA is incorporating AI and how this will shape the future of the company's business.
AI is seen as a crucial component by investors like Jim, a hypothetical pension manager, who is more interested in tech advancements like AI rather than specific games.
EA announces a third game in the Jedi series and other major game developments, such as Skate hitting Early Access in 2025 and Apex Legends adjusting its business model.
Despite positive player sentiment, Apex Legends missed its revenue targets due to a reduction in monetization tactics.
Battlefield is in development with four studios and has been tested internally for over a year, with public testing expected in 2025.
No Sims 5 is planned; instead, EA focuses on ongoing updates for Sims 4 and introduces new multiplayer and mobile experiences.
The concept of generative AI plays a central role in EA’s future, with tools enabling user-generated content akin to Fortnite or Roblox.
AI tools like 'Imagination to Creation' allow users to create game elements with simple commands, though it’s met with skepticism from gaming purists.
Investors are more focused on how EA can increase efficiency and profitability through AI, rather than the quality of the games themselves.
Project Air is revealed, an AI initiative that allows consumers to interact with AI-generated characters, showing EA's commitment to AI.
AI and machine learning are already being used to map 150 stadiums and 11,000 players for EA Sports College Football, showcasing practical applications of AI in game development.
Investors are increasingly interested in companies with AI strategies, seeing it as a future growth driver, similar to how they viewed the rise of Nvidia and Microsoft.
Despite embracing AI, EA is criticized for promoting gimmicky and cringe-inducing AI implementations, like the Jude Bellingham AI promo for EA Football Club 2025.
Transcripts
Andrew Wilson is about to step on stage
he's EA CEO and the company's stock is
near its all-time high that's good news
but Andrew knows what's on the line he
knows that if their plan does not land
the stock will fall he knows that if
that happens he'll spend his already
scheduled TV interviews having to play
defense the day is September 17th the
event is EA investor day 2024 and it's
the first time they've held this event
in 8 years you and me we think video
games we think just make good games they
will sell well and your investors will
be happy but I think we both know that
it's not really like that in reality
generically we can judge someone by how
they treat service staff in a situation
like this we can judge an executive team
by how they talk to investors because
it's not about you or I if Dragon Age is
good that won't fundamentally change the
business of EA it won't trigger a stock
rally a stock rally that will be great
for the shareholders which of course
does include the executives because they
in large part are compensated with stock
now that paints a dramatic and
simplistic view of things in reality
it's a bit more like this Andrew needs
to convince Jim now we don't know Jim
but let's just say that Jim is a pension
manager Jim doesn't exactly know what a
video game is but he does know the
gamees industry is pretty important Jim
also knows that AI is Big so when Jim
thinks about where he puts his pension
fund as the fund manager well Jim's
going to want to hear what Andrew's got
to say about Ai and that is how today's
story happens and if you don't want to
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investor day 2024 then look I care about
The Games first so here's what we
learned on the games front before we
jump into uh the delicious fun there is
going to be a third Jedi game skate will
hit steam Early Access in 2025 they say
that Apex Legends regained player
sentiment when they altered their rather
reviled business model to make it a
little bit nicer but uh because of that
well they have said that they've missed
their revenue targets uh in the game
because uh you know sad reduction in
cash grabbing as for Battlefield well
it's got four Studios and a tack team
working on it there's a game with single
player multiplayer and alleged BR
features that has been tested internally
for over a year with public testing next
year and finally for the games this Sims
there will be no Sims 5 Sims 4 gets
constant updates a mobile and
multiplayer experience alongside a movie
and a brand wide platform thrilling
stuff but uh you know not the point
today in investors are the point
investors do want more games more
widgets but they also know generative AI
is important and uh well that's why
everybody else is a bit angry at EA I
hope you're ready to make it more epic
and yes make it more epic is a quote
here extracted by Jeff key alongside a
video showcase of what EA call
imagination to Creation which is pretty
cringe we see in this a chatbot
interface face and a game engine pretty
simple you give it text tell it what to
do and it places stuff you ask for some
characters for your game a little popup
appears you select your characters and
our demo sees a grenade based
multi-level box maze PVP experience
that's lots of fun but Fun's not enough
we need spectacle and that is when the
words happen make it more
epic wow are you seeing this yeah that's
awesome yeah you heard it make it more
epic and uh a pyramid appears in the
Horizon for some reason so to make sense
of this here's the plan give this system
a massive library of assets and cod wrap
it in a user generated content product
akin to say fortnite or Roblox players
make things using no code and uh there
you go infinite content of course I look
at this you look at this and we think uh
that's slop we know that a good game
needs fine-tuned balance we know it's
the design that makes something
something good not just what's
generically learned from an EA data set
this is not Halo forge this is not
mapping and time Splitters or some
unhinged Gary's Mod map no it is none of
those things it is awful looking it does
not appear to be fun but for investors
they don't understand any of that the
bull case for them is a true step change
in efficiency you see the company exists
to generate shareholder value remember
the embracer group I just love one of
the quotes from Lars who's the CEO of
basically you know our overriding
principle is shareholder value and that
is of course said in the context of all
the lovely things that embracer group
did but that's just how these companies
run and when one looks at the price of a
company often profitability and a
expectation of growth are priced into
the current price so if you want your
stock to go more than just sideways you
need a big exciting bull case you need
something to show people you need a
little bit of fomo saying this is our
Direction it is Big its results will be
big and it is not priced into the market
yet so if you're a rational investor you
should put your money here with us
because we are looking to the Future and
with a system like this they want to
solve the problem with the game's
business and that's game developers you
see the thing is you can only make so
many video games our species only
produces a small number of game
developers but every member of the
species is a potential consumer how do
you get around this problem we all know
the game projects don't always work out
sometimes they backfire and from that
excerpt from Jason tri's book that was
posted in Bloomberg well we know that
one of the CFOs who was thrown into
Blizzard Entertainment who uh came from
the soap industry that individual just
thought hey you can make more games by
opening up more development offices
which is obviously not how it works but
it does show that there's a class of
executive investor who genuinely does
not understand how this industry works
so so that's why a case like this a cell
like this in EA investor day is pretty
good-looking the idea is you build user
generated content tools you have people
make their own maps and modes you then
monetize the platform and give yourself
a massive split because of course if you
monetize the platform you can just
recruit your users to make the content
and if you do that successfully
congratulations you can now grow
exponentially as a technology platform
with content made by your users and you
don't really need to be constrained by
uh you know hiring good development
teams that's obviously the opposite of
why we like games but to investors it's
catnip especially for investors who want
more AI in their portfolio but they
don't want to be too Consolidated in
Nvidia and Microsoft and that's why
looking at this video it all looks like
we look at the UI we laugh at
the obvious fakery we look at how the
character select ction screen is
obviously a mockup and is pulling in
characters that just make no cohesive
sense but the investors are blind to
that instead they feel safe knowing that
in the face of Roblox and fortnite EA is
demonstrating a robust user generated
content strategy but one that is built
with artificial intelligence at its core
the best bit though for us is that we
can look at EA's recent track record
including a track record that they think
is so good they they can show it to
their investors for you and me though we
just get to have a free laugh EA
football club 2025 pretty awesome you
don't have to give FIFA licensing money
and you got all of the same Ultimate
Team Revenue this time though promoted
by the AI husk of coverstar Jude
Bellingham yes I want you to assume the
brace position imagine the plane is
about to go down you need to assume the
brace position because it's the only way
you're going to survive this cringe
let's see what Jude said
it's like a dream come true stepping
onto the pitch for the first time it was
a surreal feeling I mean I grew up
watching Real Madrid I even played as
them in EA Games with my brother joke so
to actually play for real in front of
all those fans it's something you can't
really explain EA actually did this they
thought this was shippable and a good
idea but it kind of gets worse it brings
me to project air you will love this Mr
Wilson assures me and you that quote AI
is not merely a buzzword to us you know
he has a deep passion and conviction a
passion and conviction that has led to
this here's how EA described project air
right project air lets us build
characters that we the consumer can have
experiences with I mean I don't know
about you fellow consumer but I enjoy
having experiences with characters but
as a cute flourish to really show off
their technology and action enter Ace
toi legendary investor world-renowned
venture capitalist who knows how to to
play his cards right stunning stuff but
that's just a character bio no as he a
themselves said we need to be able to
have experiences with Ace because while
Ace toai is not a real person Ace toai
has been created by EA's new project air
they entered the prompt I'm thinking a
high State PC who swims in the waters of
innovation with that prompt our man is
created Ace to sigh they then decide to
give Ace a challenge this of course is
the experience how about pitching him a
business idea and seeing if I can lock
in an investment now to be clear this is
not some sort of elaborate joke they
actually showcase this the idea of
making your own character have any
experience with him they thought they do
this legendary investor character as a
as a way to be cute towards the uh the
attending audience for EA investor day
2024 obviously if they were going to be
a bit more targeted to The Gamers they
would have made it altogether a lot more
steamy and related to the Dragon Age
franchise anyhow it's obvious
they want to get to a place where they
don't need to rely on game development
efforts and Patch cycles and content
cadences where they want this stuff to
just be existing and users creating the
content for themselves all in a way
where EA continually get paid obviously
though that is far off let's today talk
about what they're doing in the video
games right now so we've just survived a
whole bunch of investor buffoonery the
sorts of things that Andrew Wilson will
be saying to investors to basically get
them thinking that that EA is amazing
but let's talk about the concrete how it
actually impacts how we play games and
how games are made there's a few
examples whenever they talk about using
AI for EA Sports college football what
they mean is using machine learning
stuff right using photos to map 150
stadiums and 11,000 players they did
that as pre-production which then
allowed for the full development of the
game to start with all the assets that
they needed I think that's a really good
usage of that technology how else are
you going to get like college football
with 11,000 players and all of the
different stadiums how are you going to
get that in the game especially for say
your local team that is pretty cool
whenever EA president Laura melee says
that the Sims platform is going to use
AI to take a player request and surface
matching content from a library of a 100
million assets she is reasonable I mean
maybe that's standard machine learning
maybe they do use a large language model
to sort of process the uh the player
request but that's the kind of thing
that makes sense and in many ways has
existed for a long time because be it a
modern smartphone camera a Google search
or so many things that we've been using
for the last two decades it's existed
under the name of machine learning for
years and years and years the difference
is that to promote this to investors you
got to wrap it up in a sexier package
one that they can understand one that
looks similar to the thing that made
Nvidia explode in stock price and that's
why regular run-of-the mail machine
learning is just going to be called AI
even though its intelligence is so
singular and limited that it's not
really that and this of course extends
to techniques that enable better
upscaling that maybe agid you in
photogrammetry like we saw in sports uh
college football that enables your small
local College Stadium to actually be in
a video game but the thing is that to
investors those don't really matter
seeing AI matters and that makes our job
hard because by the definition that
companies use to sell themselves to
investors Blizzard Entertainment uses
Artificial Intelligence on World of
Warcraft well they actually do is they
use machine learning to resize helmets
to fit different races because that's
grunt work that no artist wants to do
and so we end up in this strange
situation where to the SE Suite AI is
just other chance to signal that they a
forward-looking investable company we've
been here with crypto almost every major
company talked up having deeply
integrated crypto plans how much of that
has actually happened in a way that has
moved the needle for a consumer I mean
it's basically not happened but what I
would say is that Ai and how it's
developing now is more powerful it
Sparks more ethical dilemmas and so in
the very best instance a professional
can work out how to use new technologies
in their workflow be that traditional
machine learning or yes even using a
large language model I do actually use
large language models a fair bit do you
know what it's for uh some copy editing
stuff red teaming my own work because I
just know that I have some pitfalls as a
writer and um just having a more
accurate spell check that's really
useful but the point is most of what
I've done for the last 10 years is
writing I know what good looks like so I
know how to use a new tool to make my
human creativity better but that's the
problem here that's the best case
scenario best is not default and right
now incentives steer Us in the opposite
direction that's why Electronic Arts
spent an investor day humiliating
themselves to their customers and to
their workers because for the workers
they see this they know it looks bad and
the best that they can expect is to
receive Half Baked tools made by
Engineers working to the specs of
Executives and that is why I even as
somebody who by default is a techno
Optimist have a little bit of a dim view
of where this stuff is going to go I can
see these things being used well I can
see the technology unlocking better
opportunities but I know the people who
actually have the power who actually
move the needle well they are the ones
that have just forced AI into insert
whatever normal consumer application you
use where it is unwelcome unhelpful and
at best just promotes the factory
farming of slop content and that's why
we must always examine the incentives
just like what we did investigating the
implosion of one of Indie Gaming's
greatest Publishers watch it next
there's even a billionaire Island
involved how can you not click it's
going to replace my face in like half a
second
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