Last month, in his keynote address, which opened the Game Developers Conference Mobile Summit, vice president and general manager of EA Mobile John Batter outlined his division's approach toward the mobile game marketplace.

　　Getting its feet wet via a deal with then-named Digital Bridges (now I-Play), EA was positioning itself to go it alone. Instead of relying on outsiders to develop EA-owned IP on mobile platforms, Electronic Arts would become a contender in its own right, publishing and developing the games themselves.

　　We spoke with Batter recently to get his take on what it would take to make EA a player in the space.

　　GS: John, beginning with your GDC keynote address, and following up with yesterday's announcement of the 20-game mobile lineup, you guys sound serious about mobile. What is the message you want to send as EA enters the mobile sector?

　　JB: One, EA is in this business in a significant way; two, that we believe quality consumer experiences are going to drive the industry forward.

　　GS: How do you see the market developing?

　　JB: In order to get to a mass market, we have to deliver compelling consumer experiences, and in order to develop and deliver compelling consumer experiences, we need a few things: We need phones and networks that are capable of delivering 3D games with great graphics, physics, and AI in a way that's native to the phone. In other words, the phone pops open, someone wants to play it for five minutes, you've got to reward them in the first five minutes, and you've got to reward them every five minutes thereafter. So that piece of the puzzle is native to the game.

　　Then there's the communications piece of it, which is native to the mobile platform. What EA is about is creating great interactive experiences, and in order to get to that next level there's things that we need handset manufacturers to do and need carriers to do.

　　GS: Which is...

　　JB: We need carriers to act like first-party platform companies and not retailers.

　　GS: And the difference is?

　　JB: To me, a platform owner creates the environment in which publishers can thrive on those platforms. So they educate the consumer, they educate the mass-market about the benefits of gaming on that platform, they lubricate the distribution channels, they put in place quality standards, they share road maps, they provide tools and technologies to help publishers publish on their platform.

　　Versus a retail model to me, which is: Here's our deck. Place your games on our deck and let's see what sells.

　　GS: You've spoken in the past about the importance of the live team in the mobile sector. Why are they so important?

　　JB: So if you think about franchise--I'll just use Need for Speed Underground--well, once you capture the imagination of a consumer, how do you hold on to that consumer, not for a month or two months while they're playing the game, but hold onto that consumer for a year, a year and a half? You provide them with additional content. You provide more tracks, more areas, downloadable content, things that they can upgrade to.

　　And there are microtransactions tied to that [wherein gamers] can trade amongst themselves, there's a trading mechanism within the community, and then there's a community source of ladders, and so on and so forth.

　　So if you really think about this, it's not one shot where someone plays a game for some number of time, let's call it a few months, and then they put it on the shelf and then they're done with it--maybe they crack it out at a later date to just sort of relive the memories. No, this is about keeping a player engaged with a franchise that they're passionate about for a long period of time.

　　GS: That's what the live team is about--that's right, developing new assets

　　JB: Keeping the community fresh, keeping the game fresh, exactly.

　　GS: What was the tipping point that indicated to EA that it had to get into the mobile space in a bigger way?

　　JB: There is a lot of data out there, and it spoke to me that there was a gaping hole in our portfolio. [It was] something I personally became really passionate about and went to the company and said I want to get involved in this, I want to weed this, I want to move out of my then-current role, which was running the EALA studio, and I want to push this new initiative for the company.

　　GS: So you actually presented it?

　　JB: Yes.

　　GS: To whom?

　　JB: To a number of people, including [EA CEO] Larry Probst.

　　GS: Was it a tough sell?

　　JB: Not particularly.

　　GS: What do you bring to the mobile agenda, as an EA veteran?

　　JB: We are a unique organization, I think everybody would admit that freely, being in the game industry for a number of years. So, an understanding how to build experiences that consumers love, understanding Electronic Arts, and having built new businesses for EA and for other companies in the past.

　　So this whole notion of coalescing a team, putting business plans and business deals in place, and at the same time putting that paper away and turning around and playing a game and looking at Madden and saying, OK, what feels good and what doesn't feel good about this? That's what I think I bring to the party.

　　An understanding of the company is not inconsequential.

　　GS: How do you convert someone who uses a mobile phone as a communication device only? How do you convert those people to become gamers?

　　JB: I think it's a two-pronged approach. I think it's a partnership with the carriers and the device manufacturers to educate the consumers that downloading is actually [only] a three-button push, and you know five seconds, it's not a big deal.

　　What I'm offering to bring to the table are compelling experiences. When people download [our games] they're not going to say, "What is this? I just spent this time downloading. This is no fun." They'll say, "This is actually neat. This is different. It's reminiscent of things that I have done on living room consoles that are familiar to me. I've downloaded Madden, I've downloaded Need for Speed, and I understand it's familiar, but it's different enough."

　　And this is what we go through when we look at taking a franchise across multiple platforms, with the console to the handhelds to, now, the mobile. How do we make it familiar, different, and unique?

　　That's what I need to bring to the party.

　　GS: What is the significance of each of the major markets to EA Mobile? How do you rank Asia, North America, and Europe?

　　JB: Well, in the short to medium term it's really Europe and North America where our brands are strong and we have a great deal of infrastructure.

　　I think it's difficult to talk about Asia as one market. But if we break down Asia, we obviously have Japan, which is an advanced market and the market that we're looking very carefully at, and Korea, which is an advanced market where traditionally our brands have been quite strong. Well, our brands have not been as strong in Japan. There's no secret there.

　　So we look today at driving our mobile business in Korea, in North America, in Europe, and we're hopeful that we can put into place a strategy in Japan that will, over the longer term, yield some great results for us.

　　Having said that, China and India will emerge as mass markets for us as they transition from 2D to 3D. What's kind of interesting to me, coming out of the console world, that it's usually an 18-month event. I think this transition is a five- to six-year transition. I think it's a five- or six-year transition because as Europe and North America, and some of the more advanced Asian markets, move to 3D, we're going to see 2D proliferate China. We're going to have a massive consumer base in China looking for 2D content.

　　They'll go through that same technology adoption curve when we'll be at 3D, and then we'll have the same thing in India. So I think India and China represent massive opportunities for us, but they're probably lagging North America and Europe, and some of the other Asian markets, by 12 or 18 months.

　　GS: Who really gets mobile right now, companywise or regionwise, in terms of infrastructure and monetizing the experience?

　　JB: In the context of gaming services, then KTF and SKT [in Korea]. Also, in the area of micropayments and the size of the downloads they're talking about--now, 20- to 30-megabyte downloads. They are thinking about games, gaming services, services in general, and implementing it, and sort of a couple of steps ahead of the rest of the world. I've been most impressed with the Korean market.

　　GS: Is partnership with either KTF or SKT a possibility?

　　JB: Both KTF and SKT are companies that we would consider partnering with.

　　GS: Are acquisitions part of the perspective?

　　JB: Well those are not developers or publishers, KTF and SKT are large Telcos. As far as software goes, our strategy is to always grow either through organic means or acquisitions. We are always looking at both opportunities.