I don’t know about you, but I’ve been captivated by the NBA Finals this year in a way that I haven’t been in years.  There’s no Cinderella teams this year, no surprises.  The Celtics and Lakers are the two best teams in the league, period, and both playing at their peaks.  Even the best players are going to have their ups and downs in a seven game series (Kobe in Game 1, Pierce in Game 3), but what you see in basketball in perhaps more than any other sport is how hard it can be being number 1.  I marvel at how Kobe and Pierce can consistently handle the double and triple teams, the constant pressure defense and the scrutiny.  Yet, when all eyes are on them and expectations are at a climax they continue to deliver. It also underscores the importance of home court advantage. Whether it is the proximity of the fans to the action or the controlled indoor environment, it always seems to me that playing at home is a greater advantage in basketball than just about any other sport…particularly in the playoffs.

As any business does, we’ve been completing our annual performance reviews the past few weeks as well as setting objectives and strategic priorities for the year ahead.  I find sports always serve as a great metaphor, and so as I was watching the game last night and reviewing our upcoming plans, I thought about what it takes to be on top, to stay on top and to constantly be in the crosshairs of the rest of your industry.  

Some people don’t like the heat.  I actually love it, and it’s been inspiring for me to see that our teams here do as well.  Our teams are talented, passionate and motivated.   It’s a changing marketplace and they’re responding to the demands of our consumers by developing some incredible products for the season ahead.  You’d expect nothing less from EA SPORTS, especially when you look at the successes of 2007.  To set the record VERY straight (despite what you might have read to the contrary in the last day or so…), we had:

•    Four EA SPORTS titles get Sports Game of the Year nods by various outlets, including FIFA, NCAA Football, Madden and NHL.  Of course NHL was consensus best in class, as I mentioned a few days ago.  Named sports game of the year by seven publications.  No one comes close to that.
•    Three EA SPORTS titles in the overall industry top 20.  It was a great year for videogames, and Madden was No. 1 in sports and No. 4 overall.  
•    Seven platinum titles (more than one million units sold).

I read the forums, I read your posts on my blog, and we do extensive research and testing to deliver the best sports games on the market each year.  We care what you say, we respond as much as we possibly can, and so I’m not surprised that early NASCAR reviews are very positive and that our Madden and NCAA FB community event recently had folks applauding the efforts coming out of Tiburon (more on that to come, BP).  I’m not surprised that NBA LIVE, which jumped 15 points in review scores a year ago, has the most ground-breaking feature from our lineup this year and we’ll unveil it next month at E3.  And I’ll say with supreme confidence that the future couldn’t be brighter for two of our most critically acclaimed products from a year ago – FIFA and NHL.  

We’re never satisfied.  There’s always more we can do.  It’s what we love about our business.  I hate to sound like a cheerleader, but the facts are the facts.  And I don’t expect them to change any time soon.  We’re hitting this season in terms of quality and innovation stronger than we ever have at EA SPORTS.  If I’m wrong, you’ll see me sporting a new tattoo  - maybe a competitor’s logo?