Your company is about to introduce new titles, including the soccer game FIFA 2007 and the ice hockey game NHL 07. Will they feature any Czech faces?

NHL 07 will, for the first time, include the complete Czech ice hockey league. A fan of Vítkovice, if he is good enough, can take his team to be the Czech champions. Indeed, you can even play on a world scale and play against top teams in Finland, Sweden, USA, etc. Imagine Vítkovice beating the Colorado Avalanche. In NHL 07, you will be able to live the dream. [Czech Television sportscasters] Robert Záruba and Petr Vichnar will be the commentators in this year's NHL. This is the first time we have included play-by-play commentary in our game, and it is really impressive to hear. The technology seamlessly provides commentary depending on how you play and contributes to the realism of the overall experience for Czech gamers. FIFA 07 will feature the Czech national team and, of course, Milan Baroš, Tomáš Rosick˘ and Petr Čech all featured on their clubs. Pavel Nedvěd will hopefully also be included, depending on how the whole Juventus Turin [corruption] saga plays out. We also have Czech TV commentators in

FIFA 07. We feature Míra Bosák and Petr Svěcen˘. The development team even managed to capture much of the humor that Míra is famous for in his commentary.

How much do you think the involvement of Czech teams could boost sales of particular games in this country?

We will strive to always improve the experience for Czech gamers. Czechs are sports-mad, and we need to ensure we provide a Czech sports experience for Czech players.

We expect a 200 percent to 300 percent increase in sales when we culturalize games. But we try to look beyond just the inclusion of voices and leagues. We will have both elementary-school and high-school virtual sport leagues and will be sponsoring a Czech team at the annual FIFA Interactive World Cup.

Although I mentioned sporting games, there are also nonsporting games that you release. Generally speaking, what kind of games are most popular in this country?

While every market is unique, Czechs seem to enjoy games similar to other North European countries, like, say, Sweden. Games like The Sims

are hugely popular here, and Need for Speed is one of the biggest selling racing games.

Is it actually possible to release brand-new games? Aren't the current releases rather slightly modified versions of older games?

We have a number of brand-new products coming out in the next six months.

Army of Two is a unique two-player experience that we've only been able to do with the release of the powerful next generation consoles (PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360).

On the other hand, just as people enjoy watching ice hockey year after year, so they enjoy playing ice hockey year after year. We need to constantly keep the game fresh, updated with team rosters, and include new technologies that allow us to make for a more realistic game experience.

The Czech Republic is often criticized for software piracy. How troubling is the issue for your business?

We try our best to ensure that our games are available in retail channels first, and that the experience for a player after he has purchased the game is so good that it justifies the purchase of an original. We arrange numerous LAN (local area network) parties, competitions, online competitive game experiences and so on. The better we become at providing the best overall gaming experience in this environment, the less of a problem piracy is.

An argument for why piracy has been increasing is that prices of software or computer games are simply too high. Do you think that by dropping prices you could reduce the amount of piracy and increase your sales and profits?

Games provide superb value. NHL 07 will cost around 1,500 Kč [$68] and provide at least 100 hours of entertainment — that's less than 15 Kč per hour. Contrast that to a trip to the movies: A ticket typically costs 160 Kč for three hours of entertainment, which is about four times the price of a game per hour. We do have a range of lower-priced games. EA Classics sell for around 500 Kč and provide great value on slightly older titles.

I think once the user has positive experiences from buying a proper product, he will continue to do so. The FIFA Interative World Cup is a great example. Czech players of FIFA 07 will be able to participate around the country, and EA will sponsor the best team's attendance at the regional finals in Holland in December. Obviously, only people with a legitimate copy of the game will be able to participate, so that way we can positively encourage people to purchase an original.

When setting a price of your games, do you count on a certain level of piracy?

No.

Video games are quite popular, especially with young people. How do you respond to criticism that they're harmful because they distract from other activities?

EA supports the concept that all games are consumed in as responsible a manner as possible.

The underlying element that makes games 'fun' is, in fact, puzzle solving. The puzzle may be presented as part of a sports game, a lifestyle simulator or even a science fiction game, but the concept of having to interact and try to work out how to beat the system is what makes a game so much more than other forms of more passive entertainment. You really have to put something into a game to get the fun out.

The European Commission is taking various restriction measures against tobacco producers, alcohol producers and so on. Are you afraid that the EC could soon label video games as addictive and put some restrictions on your industry?

It's important that the interactive entertainment industry works to provide much information as to what games are about. In this endeavor, EA is an active member of PEGI — this is the pan-European age-rating system — and is working to ensure that this is implemented in the Czech Republic as well. The PEGI rating requires that the relevant age rating of a game is clearly indicated on the outside of the packaging. In addition, the nature of the contents is indicated by universal symbols at the back of the game.

To finish with, what is your personal attitude toward video games? What games do you play most often?

One of the benefits of being in the business is that I get to try games before release. My current favorite is due for release in November — Need for Speed: Carbon. I prefer to play this on my Xbox 360, as the Internet connection allows me to play against friends in Geneva and the UK.