“When it came to rugby we just felt like we couldn’t deliver that high standard of experience – at least right now.” We only do games where we know we can deliver high-quality Triple-A experiences,” he told The Guardian in 2011. “We’ve had a focus as a company for the last few years to do fewer things and do them better. The answer lies in two quotes from nearly a decade ago, when Wilson was specifically asked about the possibility of EA resuscitating Rugby 08.
He has helmed the entire EA Sports division since 2011, and took on the big chair in 2013 – so why hasn’t Wilson seen fit to turn his childhood dreams into a rucking brilliant PS4 and Xbox One game? LATEST RUGBY WORLD MAGAZINE SUBSCRIPTION DEALS ? The very first rugby video game I played was _ #rugby #gaming /23BKupC4DH The last game in that series, Rugby 08, is still widely considered superior to the low-key union and league efforts which emerged in the 2010s. Wilson took over as development manager on EA Rugby, first released in 2001 and then granted four sequels between 20. “I thought to myself, ‘Why hadn’t (CEO) Larry Probst heard about it?’ (That’s) when you realise what a big, wonderful world it is out there.” “I thought rugby was going to be the biggest sport in the world when I watched the news,” Wilson told Kotaku. After deciding that he wanted to turn a love of gaming into a career, Wilson flew to the USA in order to pitch a rugby sim to EA top brass Larry Probst, John Riccitiello and Don Mattrick. As publisher of FIFA, Madden NFL and NHL, his company is a virtual-turf colossus, while his own pedigree harks back to a youth spent either surfing or slinging around an oval ball. That man is current EA CEO Andrew Wilson. It’s a situation which appears all the more mystifying when you learn that the genre’s most powerful man grew up infatuated with the sport, on the Gold Coast of Australia. In this moment spoke for all of us ?? #RugbyTonight /4aR22b2jb9
"The one thing we HAVE to get is a computer game!" Making rugby the forgotten son of sports gaming. NFL, basketball and ice hockey all feature strong representation on console or PC. Cricket is enjoying a digital resurgence thanks to Big Ant Studios’ Don Bradman series. Football gets three big-budget games per year in FIFA, PES and Football Manager. Ugo Monye spoke for fans across the globe on the Sunday edition of BT Sport’s Rugby Tonight. Jonah Lomu Rugby back in 1995 was excellent…” “The one thing that we have to get is a computer game. We are crying out for a rugby video game that doesn’t exist – here’s why