You like Mirror's Edge, I like Mirror's Edge, and EA likes Mirror's Edge. And why wouldn't they? It was not only one of the best original properties of 2008, but arguably one of the best EA titles in recent memory. They really took a chance on the idea, and it paid off. A sequel, well, is a given. And it's absolutely happening.
"We're still working through things like how to best deal with Mirror's Edge 2. [The first game was], I think, a massively innovative product. ... I think it's a game that deserves to come back," says EA's CEO John Riccitiello to Kotaku.
"I think Mirror's Edge was a fascinatingly original world. ... I think the gameplay mechanic was a blast, but it was intermittent and the levels didn't work. You found yourself scratching at walls at times, looking for what to do. Sometimes you had a roll going, downhill, slide, jump, slide, jump and then you just got stopped. It sort of got in the way of the fun," he added. The publisher's boss man goes on to say that he's spoken with the team at DICE, and they've chatted about what may happen with a second installment.
"It was like we couldn't quite decide if we were building [a game like] Portal or a runner. And I don't think the consumer was ready to switch it up quite that way. ... I've had several very lively debates with the dev team. And they are working on it. But there's a couple of different directions you could go."
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"You could say: This thing needs to be more traditional. It's first-person game," Riccitiello said. "There's a lot of successful FPS products out there that do really well. We could move in that direction. Or [you could say]: This was never about guns. It was about its stark originality. Maybe we can back away from some of those [older] things… and emphasize the smooth play and puzzles and move it toward, if you will, a Portal."
The brief segments of gunplay in Mirror's Edge were, in my opinion, clumsily implemented, and you were far better off to run away - which was the main point of the game 98 percent of the time. More of the parkour platforming would be welcomed.
Riccitiello went on to say, in a interview with IndustryGamers, that he fully believes in continuing with new IP, as well as innovation (despite the company's recent cutbacks and game cancelations). We have yet to hear about some product for 2011, in which there is "massive innovation."
"I believe there are publishers out there that are milking franchises at their peril. I do think you can sort of stop innovating and do well while you coast for a couple of editions before a product starts to fall apart or a sector starts to fall apart. But I think we owe our customer – core or non-core – quality and innovation that really blows their minds every time we put a product out there. That's one of the reasons you see such high Metacritic scores from EA so consistently after we made the investment for it, and you'll continue to see new IP from us."
"And I would point out that we just launched Dragon Age, which has been one of the most successful games in the entire industry, and we're a few weeks away from launching Dante's Inferno, which is obviously a different take on a pretty incredibly interesting intellectual property. And don't forget Saboteur is out next week. You could argue this was put in place before our most recent adjustment, but I will tell you there is new IP in fiscal 2011 that we haven't announced yet, and there is a massive amount of innovation going in it. So this is not a reduction from where we've been; it's maintaining the track."
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