-> gnome:
You’re right – it seems that almost every game company seems to outgrow itself eventually. Part of the problem, I suspect, is that they want to make larger and more complex games that require a lot more investment and capital in order to make them… which means more shareholders, more staff, etc…

-> Keira:
Interesting idea. That’s certainly the approach that large film distributors have taken in the last 10 years – like ‘Fox Searchlight’, ‘Paramount Vantage’, ‘Sony Classics’, etc – they invest in more niche markets that typically involve indie filmmakers. The problem I see with this approach, potentially, is that these ‘indie arms’ of the majors can easily outperform and outpace the existing small indie distributors because the majors can just throw money at competitors. Worse, given EA’s classic strategy – they would likely just buy-out competing indie distributors and shut them down.
So, if EA ‘goes indie’ – we should be worried I think. Regardless, I agree that experimentation is inherently beneficial – but unethical business practices aren’t.