You're absolutely right about the first point....a handful of kids from a niche website are not going to muscle EA into green lighting a skiing project. For me, this thread was much more an opportunity to fantasize and commit some ideas to paper for the sake of discussion, as opposed to a full fledged "pitch".
You're also right when talking about EA's decisions being driven almost exclusively by profit. However, producing high quality games still remains a key determinant in terms of a games success. Obviously quality isn't the sole factor, and the argument could be made (and won) that advertising, marketing, and having a built in audience for a particular game are all every bit as important. You can bet that a game based on a motion picture/franchise is probably going to do numbers. You can also bet that a sequel to a commercially successful game is going to do numbers. Lastly, a well designed game that is ultimately a fun and rewarding game experience will probably do numbers. Now, if it's completely neglected by the marketing dept., the numbers may underwhelm early, but a good game is still going to sell— even if the game is initially targeted at a relatively speaking narrow audience. I don't think it's unreasonable to believe that a fantastic game based on skiing could easily transcend the genre and go on to be a cross over hit assuming that it's simply fun to play and it looks good.
Again, I don't know why you insist that in some way EA's size and position as an industry giant necessarily means that it would produce a game that is in some way untrue to skiing. It appears that your general position is that your project is somehow more sincere/better as it's a labor of love. While that's well and good, and undoubtedly true, (the sincerity part), the realist in me is inclined to accept sacrifices in "coreness" for the sake of getting my hands on a game that was developed by an experienced and incredibly well funded studio. Not to mention, the gaming industry is a copycat industry. Surely they would look at the success of SKATE and acknowledge that a huge reason why it was so well received is that it was cosigned by the sports "core" (hate that word). Frankly, I thought SKATE, and its sequel, were incredibly authentic and true to the culture of skating. I spent a huge portion of my time playing that game setting a session marker and trying the same line ("line" meaning trying to noseblunt a picnic table set up on some stairs)over and over again. If that's not true to skate culture, I don't know what is. In fact, I'd argue that EA's resources and ability to reach out to the right people put them in a fine position to create an "authentic" experience.
I want to say again, that I wish you the best in your effort, and that I anxiously await details on the game and its release. I truly hope it ends up being an incredible game, I will definitely support it. But, you DID sort of derail this thread (intentionally or not) with the mention of your game....as cryptic as it were... Of course, people are going to be disappointed/skeptical when you won't offer details, on top of raining on the parade by casting doubt on EA's ability to produce a good game. I respect that choice, but you had to know that the reaction was going to be negative. But, to dismiss all the voices of objection or dissent as hate, is bullshit.
