Playing to Win

Given all of the creative parallels, it seems easy to mistake EA for a Hollywood studio. But that's an unfair comparison: Making games may be more complicated. The market is ruthless and fickle, shaped by fleeting tastes and the march of technology. Unlike a movie whose release can be delayed until the time is right, a game's technology can quickly go stale. "In Hollywood, if you succeed one out of three times, you're doing okay," says Bing Gordon, EA's chief creative officer. "In this industry, that's not enough."

IT'S IN THE GAME
Fall is crunch time at EA. The company generates 80% of its revenue during the holiday season. With ship dates looming, many of EA's products are in the final stages of production, and veteran game makers like Bruce McMillan are playing them 8 to 12 hours a day. McMillan is a luminary in the industry, having helped develop Madden NFL, MoH, and Harry Potter. The title that he's perhaps best known for, FIFA Soccer, is the best-selling sports game in the world. Since its release in 1996, it has generated more than $1 billion in sales.

An executive vice president and group studio general manager, McMillan spends his mornings calling EA's studios and his afternoons playing the latest "build" of the games. From his Vancouver, British Columbia office, he calls EA's London studio, then follows the sun, calling production teams in Orlando, Florida; Austin; and finally Los Angeles and San Francisco. At this stage, he's "tuning the games." He plays, gives notes on what needs fixing, and plays some more. "What I've realized over the years is that unless a game has great game play, it doesn't matter how pretty it is," he says. "We can't hide behind the graphics." By "game play," he means fun interaction. Yesterday, he noticed that some of the bad guys in Bond shot with the same skill at each level of the game. "I want them to feel more menacing as you get to the higher levels," he says.

McMillan, 39, is lean, with blond hair and a playful air about him. He's an avid soccer player, and his office overlooks EA's soccer field. While tuning FIFA Soccer 2003 yesterday, he noticed that the defense wasn't playing smart. It reacted the same whether you brought the ball up the sideline or to the middle of the field. But in a real match, he says, "it's always easier to pass the ball sideways or backwards. That's a basic mechanism of football." Less than 24 hours later, the FIFA team made the adjustment by tweaking the artificial intelligence. "Some of them were here until four in the morning," he says.

Earlier in the week, McMillan himself was awake until four in the morning reviewing games. His wife woke up and walked into the den to find her husband talking to the TV screen again. McMillan was playing FIFA at the game's highest level, where the artificial intelligence is at its best. "It studies your tactics and looks for play patterns," he says. "The move you used to score the first time won't work the next time you try it." After taking a 1-0 lead, he was stymied in the second half, unable to penetrate, and he tried in vain to fend off the computer's attacks on his goal.

The next morning, his 9-year-old son Alexander was getting ready for school when he noticed the score on the TV screen: 2-1. He looked at his bleary-eyed father and said, "You lost again, did you?"

McMillan grew up playing video games in Vancouver. More specifically, he grew up at the arcade on Hastings Street, which isn't far from the EA studio where he now works, and he would pump every quarter that he had into the machines. He lets his three kids play considerably less. The rule is three hours a week, unless he has a game that he wants Alex to try. He's one of the company's unofficial testers. Like his father, Alex gives notes too.

Dad, school was great today. I got 35/35 on my spelling test. . . . I played the game today that you left at the house. Really fun but the control feels slow, and I don't understand all the buttons. . . . The first mission is easy. Took me five minutes or so. I'd make it harder. . . .The dart gun was cool. . . . Why can't I go back and replay levels to be better? . . . I hope Harry Potter is doing well. It's going to be fun to play it with you on Friday.
Love, Alexander

The boy has a knack for uncovering bugs that the creators haven't come across. In an earlier version of FIFA, Alex discovered that he could score by lobbing the ball from midfield all the way into the net -- something an experienced player wouldn't try, because it would never happen in real life. "That drove our producers crazy," McMillan says with a touch of pride.