EA founder Trip Hawkins thinks developers need to focus on open platforms like the web browser if the industry is to emerge from what he describes as the "dark age".

Hawkins, now CEO of social gaming company Digital Chocolate, believes developers are too reliant on platform holders who "lure [them] in with false promises of freedom" and assume ownership of "the land that they are tilling".

Speaking at GamesBeat 2011 (via Gamasutra and VentureBeat), he said: "I think we actually had our golden age when game development was using floppy disks and it was an open free platform when we could all make games like we wanted to make. Nintendo came along and software licensing came in and we've been in a dark age since then.

"How many great companies have been built on the world-wide web, which is an open platform," he added. "The list just goes on and on, and Nintendo's been doing things this way for 25 years and there are no great companies that have been built on the back of Nintendo.

"There is no question that there is a war going to win the hearts and minds of the developers. They will decide which feudal lord wins or loses. The days of floating your boat on one platform are over. The question is, do you as a developer, own the dirt?"

Last year, Hawkins predicted the death of the traditional games console's dominance, forecasting that all future gaming will be cloud-based.

http://www.computerandvideogames.com...the-dark-ages/