Command & Conquer’s future is online and social, says EA

Posted by Mister-X on November 30th, 2009 at 06:45am

EA has been making strides in recent years to move towards an online model for the distribution of its games with the implementation of its own digital distribution network and the continued experiment of the third-person free-to-play action shooter, Battlefield Heroes.

These online ambitions were recently hammered home with the publisher’s acquisition of social online gaming company Playfish, as well as the company’s restructuring process (resulting in 1500 jobs being cut) to specifically target the online, and even social networking, arena.

Now it seems the Command & Conquer series is set to follow EA’s online strategy, if words from head of the franchise, Jon Van Caneghem, are anything to go by.

When discussing a range of topics including the future of Command & Conquer, the idea of ‘software as a service,’ the strategy genre in general and attempts to popularise the brand, Van Caneghem said:

“Look what online has done for RPGs over the last 10 years,” he said. “All the other categories are following suit… we’re looking forward to building something to be a leader in that space.”

“[Online] allows you to do everything you would have expected from a boxed game,” Van Caneghem continued, “but it adds a lot more to it… being connected and connected with players, and persistence, the social elements of playing against each other with other friends.”

“What you’re seeing with all the social gamers on Facebook… they are actually already playing strategy games whether they know it or not. Taking a franchise like Command and Conquer and expanding it to a wider audience is part of the strategy.”

What say you, readers? Is the scramble for online services and distribution a sign of the times, or the way of the future?

Source: Gamasutra via Kotaku