EA's COO hopes The Sims Social could be even more social some day

Playfish's hit Facebook game The Sims Social, taken literally, isn't the most social game ever. And not many Facebook games are, really. Peter Moore, COO of Playfish owner and veteran games publisher EA, knows this, and said as much to Gamasutra in an interview during the company's recent showcase event in New York City.

"Right now, it's mostly asynchronous gameplay... I can't visit you in real-time in The Sims Social, you don't know all the silly things we do, it's mostly a one-way experience. I'd love to leave you a note; all I can do is leave you that 'Peter visited' type thing. There's nothing I can do that is personal," Moore said to Gamasutra. "But how cool would it be if I'm 'there' and you say, 'there's a TV show on'... and we watch TV together? That's my vision of when you think how social network games need to evolve. I think eventually someone's going to get there, and hopefully it's us."

Moore envisions the near future of Facebook gaming as a "Facebook gaming 2.0," with lots of big changes headed the genre's way over the next six to 12 months. EA made two massive gambles to break into the social games space. That's not to say anything of ill will toward either purchase, but spending hundreds of millions (or possibly even $1 billion) is a gamble no matter how you slice it.

According to the COO, both were worthy investments, with The Sims Social being "a tremendous success for the company." The numerous branding opportunities alone for the game has EA seeing dollar signs. Now all EA needs is for those dollar signs to turn Moore's vision into reality.

Are you satisfied with The Sims Social as it is right now? What do you think the future of social games will look like? Sound off in the comments. Add Comment.