News: EA Founder Accuses Nintendo of "Feudal System"

Trip Hawkins, founder of mega-publisher Electronic Arts and now CEO of Digital Chocolate, a social gaming company, has accused platform holders and specifically Nintendo of presiding over a "feudal dark age". Gamesutra reports that the EA board member and 3DO founder (let's not dwell on that one, eh?) has described the game industry as a place where developers "don't own the land that they are tiling". He argues;

"Look at the world wide web and how many great companies have been built on that open platform, Nintendo is a great, amazing company, but how many companies have been built on the back of Nintendo's platform in the past 25 years?.. 

"There is no question that there is a war going to win the hearts and minds of the developers. They will decide which feudal lord wins or loses. The days of floating your boat on one platform are over. The question is, do you as a developer, own the dirt?"

He closed with the suggestion that developers should "focus on the browser" as it is an open system. 


[Source: Gamesutra]