EA paid upwards of $800 million for BioWare and Pandemic -- I know that isn't really your department, but how do you make the call as to whether to just publish a company's game or try and make the plunge of taking it over?

DD: Well, they are different departments, but it's one EA. We totally respect an organization's desire to remain independent. If they're delivering high-quality products, we're just interested through the EA Partners program with regards to publishing and distribution.

If, during the course of that relationship, the partner demonstrates an interest in being part of the EA family because the experience is so positive, then other discussions could take place.

It's something that evolves organically based on both parties saying, "Wow, we like the way this is working. Maybe a closer fit would be more appropriate." We completely respect organizations like Valve and Epic who have stayed independent but do great things, just like id does.

Have you looked at some of the apparently-discarded Activision titles that fell by the wayside after the merger, like Double Fine's Brutal Legend or Ghostbusters from Terminal Reality?

DD: Are some of those available?! (laughs)

Now, having had this conversation with me for thirty-eight minutes, you certainly couldn't believe that, if there were an opportunity, we wouldn't take a look at that opportunity based on any situation.

We certainly read your site, and some of the observations you guys make with regards with what people are planning to publish and what they're not planning to publish, and that occasionally presents an opportunity to us.

Like I said, if there's a great creative team -- or a couple of great creative teams -- that have product that need to be published, we certainly might be their partner.

BioWare's Mass Effect

After I played the PC version of Mass Effect, I noticed the credits had a number of EA Partners, rather than EA Games, names. That was after BioWare was acquired. Was that a transitional thing?

DD: We helped them in a little bit. As they were new to EA, we talked to [studio co-founders] Ray [Muzyka] and Greg [Zeschuk] and offered some of our resources, because we were so familiar with helping external teams. They were an external team becoming an internal team, and we thought it would be an easy way to help EA out and help welcome that team to the EA family.

Just to clarify very quickly, that game was completely developed by the BioWare team. [Ed. note: Demiurge Studios also handled the PC port and enhancement work.] They did all the heavy lifting. The EAP staff was helping with localization and process-related things.

How much of what you do is full publishing and funding, and how much is purely distribution?

DD: It's all over the board. It's very much a portfolio approach we're managing. It's also based on what great game makes itself available in what fiscal year. Rock Band showed up last year, and that delivered a tremendous amount of revenue, and that skews us heavily towards distribution and co-publishing, especially in conjunction with The Orange Box.

In a year where we're releasing Crysis and an Epic game and an id game and the Grasshopper game, then that could skew us more towards a publishing model than a distribution model. It's very fluid, and it's really based on the opportunities.

We don't look to have any particular mix of co-pub versus dev/pub versus distribution. We're just looking to do any deal that is additive to the bottom line at Electronic Arts, and to publish the highest-quality games that the industry sees.

How cognizant are you of how the company is perceived? It seems like the tide of gamer opinion might be starting to change, in part due to the perception of how EA treats studios now versus historically.

DD: I feel like it's a specific responsibility of each of the 50 or 60 individuals that are part of EAP to get out there within the community -- not only the independent development community, but at shows with consumers, to demonstrate to gamers that the quality of the game is the most important thing. It's a philosphy that John and Frank have brought to EA in general.

It's not so much, "We want to make a lot of money, so let's make a good game," it's, "We're going to make the best game we possibly can make." Whether internally or by an independent studio, it doesn't matter. Any time we put a game into the market, we're going to try and maximize the quality, so the game player's experience is stellar. Ultimately, it helps the bottom line.

That subtle nuance, from "We're making money" to "We're making great games," many of us strongly believe will lead to greater profitability, but most importantly it will lead to greater player satisfaction. That in and of itself will lead to greater profitability down the road.