EA CEO John Riccitiello Resigns

[Jimbo614]

It means that EA isnt the invincible machine we thought they were. That they do have a weak spot in their armor, called a Profit Margin.
BTW, this Sim City controversy bodes well for us offline Madden players.
The other side just blinked.

[Amoo316]

CEO steps down and stock goes up...guess that should tell them something.

[ghettogeeksta]

First day on job as CEO, save the company millions by dropping the exclusive NFL license!

[Crimsontide27]

Well look at the historical stock price during his tenure, its taken a huge double digit loss throughout his entire tenure. Lot of us are glad to see him gone. He took a company that was riding high and trading at around $54ish per share when he took over, to where its below $20 per share and actually dipped into the $12s recently.

Basically, at one point EA suffered around a 80% loss while he was in control. Good riddance. Too bad his severence package will be worth more than every producer / developer / artist / admin guys salaries combined. He took a thriving company into the ground and will profit well for it. It disgusts me.

[DaReapa]

I'd be hard pressed to believe the Sim City fiasco didn't have a role in this decision. Many of you are hopefull that this would have some bearing on the NFL license. Although to me that's just wishful thinking, I'm hoping this move would compel the next in line to at least mandate some form of desire and innovation in the Madden series going forth. This is the first time in an entire generation of gaming of which I haven't purchased a single Madden.

[pietasterp]

Quote: Originally Posted by Crimsontide27

Basically, at one point EA suffered around a 80% loss while he was in control.

The discussion begins and ends here. The board members and shareholders really don't give a flying f* about SimCity and some server gaffes or Madden or NFL exclusivity - they care that the company has lost three-quarters of its value under his watch, and that they have consistently missed even conservative quarterly earnings guidances to The Street. I won't speculate as to how much of this is Riccitiello's fault, as no one (even in EA) knows the answer to that, but if you are driving the boat when it runs aground, you take the blame.

My only concern is that the investors by-and-large think EA's problem is not moving more quickly/aggresively into mobile and social, and that's why their stock price is tanking...My suspicion is that that is not true, but I guess we'll see. Business groupthink is always chasing trends after they peak, and I fear we'll see EA dive further into mobile/social at the expense of console/PC because that's where the investors want the company to go. And they will more aggressively try to monetize their products (read: microtransactions galore) because The Street loves that sort of thing. Even as a longtime EA basher, I fear that Riccitiello leaving will lead EA further down a path gamers would rather not see them go (and neither will investors when they see what happens)....

[Amoo316]

Quote: Originally Posted by pietasterp

The discussion begins and ends here. The board members and shareholders really don't give a flying f* about SimCity and some server gaffes or Madden or NFL exclusivity - they care that the company has lost three-quarters of its value under his watch, and that they have consistently missed even conservative quarterly earnings guidances to The Street. I won't speculate as to how much of this is Rccitiello's fault, as no one (even in EA) knows the answer to that, but if you are driving the boat when it runs aground, you take the blame. My only concern is that the investors by-and-large think EA's problem is not moving more quickly/aggresively into mobile and social, and that's why their stock price is tanking...My suspicion is that that is not true, but I guess we'll see. Business groupthink is always chasing trends after they peak, and I fear we'll see EA dive further into mobile/social at the expense of console/PC because that's where the investors want the company to go. And they will more aggressively try to monetize their products (read: microtransactions galore) because The Street loves that sort of thing. Even as a longtime EA basher, I fear that Rccitiello leaving will lead EA further down a path gamers would rather not see them go (and neither will investors when they see what happens)....

I fear you're right, but I hope this was all a wake up call to EA. Back when EA got big, games were mostly for kids. They catered to kids and what kids wanted and what kids liked. There's a whole generation of us ~25+ that still game as adults and are/were some of EA's most loyal fans. This goes beyond just EA Sports, this is EA company wide. Everything they have put their hands on in recent memory (minus FIFA) they have run into the ground trying to cater to the teenagers of today.

The sooner they realize their games are played and loved by people of all ages and begin building games around multiple generations, the better-off they will be.

[Gotmadskillzson]

People forget, it simply isn't just Sim City, but also the failure of the relaunch of the Medal of Honor series, the failure of what happened to the NBA Live series, the failure of Diablo 3, the failure of EA MMA, the mess they turned the Dragon Age series into, the mess the Fight Night series turned into. So yeah....those things add up.