Apple to fall like the ‘Roman Empire’ according to EA
Stepping away from Video Games and moving on to the video game industry itself, it seems that Electronic Arts boss, Trip Hawkins has a warning for his former employer.
Starting off with what could be the beginning of another war between two huge companies in the industry, as EA founder Trip Hawkins claimed that Apple –the company he formerly worked for before going his separate way and starting Electronic Arts– had reached
its peak and would only go one way from here on in and that way is down.
Starting off with a slightly more pleasant foot, Hawkins had nothing but praise for what Steve Jobs did with making Apple into one of the powerhouses in both the smart phone and the communication industry in general.
Apple’s former director of strategy and marketing, Hawkins got into the core issue when he explained that his former employers were peaking and likened them to the Roman Empire.
Rather than ruin the statement, here are Mr. Hawkins’ words, spoken by the man himself, “If you want to be objective, it's (Apple) very close to peaking right now. If you look at any institution in history - look at the Roman Empire - anything in history,
and what it looks like when it's peaking.” Before adding, “Look at Apple, and how can you say it's not peaking?”
It may sound like words of a jealous man but they are anything but that. EA have had a very strong year with the release of titles such as Crysis 2 and FIFA 11, both of which showed impressive sales figures. Their line up for the future is just as strong
with major-weights such as Battlefield 3 and Need for Speed marking their returns.
Apparently, Mr. Hawkins has nothing but respect for Steve Jobs as he went on to praise him again, “The CEO is still alive, let's start there. They invented this tablet thing that's going to be really big. They've done really well by reinventing the phone.
They breathed new life into the Mac. They've got this super-high marketing. All these things are about as good as they ever can be.”
However, he soon turned his tone the other way and questioned if they could really go any further. The EA boss went on to predict that the company would last at most another year or two, before its eventual and imminent decline would follow.
However, with smart phones growing into major players of the video game market, one has to wonder whether Apple can do what they have always done and reinvent themselves to avoid falling like the Romans did.
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