‘A year to develop a game is too long’

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The games industry is on the whole moving much too slowly in the innovation stakes, according to EA Sports.

EA Sports studios head Andrew Wilson told Develop conference attendees today that the market moves so quick that big incumbent firms like Electronic Arts find themselves challenged by fast-moving indies.

He said that if the industry doesn’t react quick enough ‘a developer from the Bay Area, Brighton or Islamabad will have snuck up on you and beaten you’.

He was talking as part of a broader point to studios about coping with online content.

"Don’t wait to innovate," he said.

"In this day an age, a year is an epoch."

Wilson’s overall keynote touched on a number of key issues facing the industry and EA as players migrate to on-demand games content.

He predicted the eventual demise of retail as digital content takes hold, and urged the rest of the industry to embrace new connected gaming patterns – and quickly.