As we covered, EA has taken a step towards expanding their name to independent developers by offering financial and publicity support. The first to take up this program is Fe, a visually appealing storytelling adventure game that focuses on a wordless experience.
The purpose of EA Originals is to reach out to developers who dare to break the mold and take risks to create games with new and unique experiences. Such was the case with EA’s relationship with Unravel, to which have allowed the team behind Unravel to flourish. EA have stated that they are ‘committed to finding great new games that we know players are going to love’. In short, the program is stated to offer these three things to developers:
- Taking first-time experiences that are unique, gorgeous, innovative and memorable and bringing them to the world.
- Supporting small developers and helping them make the most out of their game
- For taking the risk of creating brand new IPs, EA wants to put the profit back into the hands of developers so that they may try and create new content
The program will only take a few projects at a time. It’s a pleasant initiative that I personally hope sees EA following through on and showcasing some extremely creative ‘independent’ games. Though, I wonder if you can still call it independent?