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IGN Exclusive: Connie Booth, One of the Chief Architects of PlayStation's First-Party Studio System, Is Joining EA

Thick Thighs Save Lives

Thick Thighs Save Lives

NeoGAF's Physical Games Advocate Extraordinaire
Former PlayStation executive Connie Booth, one of the chief architects of PlayStation's first-party strategy before her unexpected departure in 2023, is joining EA to help lead its studios amid its ongoing restructure.

Booth's title will be Group General Manager, Action RPG, with a portfolio that will include EA Motive (Iron Man), Cliffhanger (Black Panther), and BioWare (Dragon Age, Mass Effect). She will report directly to EA Entertainment head Laura Miele.
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"Connie spent more than 30 years helping to build Sony Interactive Entertainment's internal studios and is responsible for guiding the development of some of their biggest franchises, including Marvel's Spider-Man 1 & 2, The Last of Us, Ghost of Tsushima, Uncharted, Ratchet and Clank, to name just a few," Miele said in a statement.

"She is known for having created an incredible developer-first culture and supporting creative vision while driving innovation. I have known Connie for many years and have always been impressed by her love and commitment to games. She especially cares about game developers. She has an impeccable reputation within the development community and will undoubtedly have a positive impact on our games."
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Booth is a member of the Academy of Interactive Arts & Science Hall of Fame, having joined Sony in 1989 and worked especially closely with Naughty Dog. As Direct of Product Development she is credited with helping to build the studio system that has carried PlayStation through roughly 30 years in the console market. She departed Sony in 2023 amid unusual circumstances, with neither Booth nor PlayStation clarifying the reason for her exit. Sony eventually released a statement wishing her well but providing no further details.

Booth's hiring points to EA's desire to replicate some of PlayStation's current exclusives strategy, in which it has found success with large-scale single-player games such as God of War and Spider-Man. In initiating its current restructure, EA has said that it is prioritizing its own franchises and that one of its pillars is "blockbuster storytelling" — an area in which Booth has considerable experience.
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One of Booth's major tasks will be revitalizing BioWare, which is hoping that Dragon Age: Dreadwolf will reverse its fortunes after Anthem and Mass Effect: Andromeda. BioWare suffered painful layoffs in 2023 and its next entry in the Mass Effect franchise remains in pre-production. Elsewhere, Cliffhanger Games is a relatively new studio that opened in 2023 and is working on a new Black Panther game, while EA Motive was founded by Jade Ryamond before her departure in 2018 and is currently working on Iron Man.
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www.ign.com

Exclusive: Connie Booth, One of the Chief Architects of PlayStation's First-Party Studio System, Is Joining EA - IGN

Connie Booth, one of the major architects of Sony's first-party studio system before her departure in 2023, is joining EA to help run Cliffhanger, BioWare, and Motive.
www.ign.com www.ign.com
 
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Men_in_Boxes

Men_in_Boxes

Snake Oil Salesman
raf,360x360,075,t,fafafa:ca443f4786.jpg
 
nowhat

nowhat

Member
Topher said:
"One of Booth's major tasks will be revitalizing BioWare"

That needs to happen. Hope she is successful.
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That needed to happen years ago. I'll still probably check out DA4 when/if it is released, being a fan of the series and all (and since they dropped the retarded idea of making it a live service), but the BioWare we knew hasn't existed in a long while.
 
Topher

Topher

Identifies as young
nowhat said:
That needed to happen years ago. I'll still probably check out DA4 when/if it is released, being a fan of the series and all (and since they dropped the retarded idea of making it a live service), but the BioWare we knew hasn't existed in a long while.
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Hopefully Anthem taught them a lesson. Not the first studio to get entirely derailed by the promise of live service riches. Not the last. If anyone can get them back on track.....looking at her history......it is Connie Booth.

Salty Popsicle said:
There is no partnership. She left Sony to work with EA.
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Wasn't she fired?
 
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Mr Reasonable

Mr Reasonable

Completely Unreasonable
This is an excellent signing for EA. Apparently her signing has triggered a mass exodus, Manuel is going to be working for Ubisoft, while Bandai Namco have been seen in talks with Basil, but nothing yet confirmed there.
 
Hudo

Hudo

Member
Topher said:
What do you mean? Sony studios have been incredibly successful during her time.
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Sure but they have fewer Studios, with less variety of output. In my opinion, Sony's first-party situation right now has never been more uninteresting and unexciting. Weakest of the three.

But I also know that there are many people who, for some reason, love the new God of War games, the capeshit stuff by Insomniac and TLoU2. So, I guess it depends on who you ask, then. Maybe she can really bring BioWare back from the dead. Tall order, but who knows.
 
Topher

Topher

Identifies as young
Hudo said:
Sure but they have fewer Studios, with less variety of output. In my opinion, Sony's first-party situation right now has never been more uninteresting and unexciting. Weakest of the three.

But I also know that there are many people who, for some reason, love the new God of War games, the capeshit stuff by Insomniac and TLoU2. So, I guess it depends on who you ask, then. Maybe she can really bring BioWare back from the dead. Tall order, but who knows.
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Booth wasn't in charge of buying/closing studios. She was the one that brought Spider-man to Insomniac though. Say what you want about "capeshit" but she was smarter than other executives who turned that deal down. You don't have to like the games to acknowledge that Sony's first party was successful during the exact same time Bioware went to shit. EA could have done a lot worse.
 
yurinka

yurinka

Member
Jaybe said:
Cliffhanger, where have I heard of that studio before. Oh yeah, the “no whites” lady. Hope Connie takes out the trash there.

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Looking at the trend Sony had in the last several years, I think in any case she may prefer it to no whites and no men in the whole EA.
 
ProtoByte

ProtoByte

Weeb Underling
Probably the only viable candidate for studio reformation.

I hope Sony's replacement knows what they're doing though.
 
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