Dead Space and Mirror’s Edge didn’t really work out for EA in the way they hoped. Make no mistake, these were good games but the bottom line was: they didn’t make much money. EA Game Europe’s Patrick Söderlund isn’t overly worried though. Speaking to Gamasutra, Söderlund said that he believes EA’s two fresh IPs were released at the wrong time, but will be considered financially “successful” based on their lifetime sales.

The commercial validity of EA’s push for new, quality games has been questioned by analysts who suggested that perhaps a return to the company’s old ways would be more profitable. However, Söderlund disagrees, telling Gamasutra, “I think that’s way simplistic; I think if you analyze games like Dead Space and Mirror’s Edge for their lifetime performance, I bet you’ll find them to be seen as successful.

“They’re both new IPs; it’s hard to break new ground with new IPs, especially in that Q3 window, when you have games like Gears of War 2, Call of Duty 5, and a bunch of other really strong products with a 2, or 3, or 4, or 5 on it. So, I think that we could have done a better job as far as ship timing on, probably, both of those.”

Söderlund went on to suggest that the innovative design of Mirror’s Edge was one leap too far, saying “I think on Mirror’s Edge we did a lot of things that we set ourselves up to do: it’s an extremely innovative product, both in terms of art direction, to in-game music, to the movement and everything. Is it perfect? No. Are there things in there that we will address for future versions? Absolutely. Was it a good first attempt? Yes! That’s kind of how I summarize it.”