EA CEO John Riccitiello Resigns

[pietasterp]

Quote: Originally Posted by Amoo316

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.

If you were going to be the next CEO of EA, then I'd feel much better about EA taking the right messages from their last decade and moving forward in a positive direction...but if history is any guide, the next guy they bring in will be some hatchet-man who will try to cut his way back to prosperity (as if that's ever worked...) and leverage existing platforms (i.e. Origin) to the hilt in the most onerous of ways, all while pushing microtransactions and "new" revenue streams to the limit that gamers will take, all in an endless (and misguided) attempt to turn EA into some chimera of Facebook and Zynga.

Hopefully, I'm way off, but when the investors start getting ideas about industries they (largely) don't really understand, the results are rarely pretty...

[Profit89]

The SimCity debacle, without doubt, didn't help the situation.

[Profit89]

Ps. get someone who will finally treat the PC platform with the respect it deserves.

[waytofailself]

All of you who are saying "Simcity did this" are looking a little too much into the present. It's a factor, but maybe not nearly as much as the COLOSSAL money pit that was Star Wars: The Old Republic. EA has lost, and continues to lose, a bunch of $ on that game. And Riccitiello had a big hand in the decision to make it an MMORPG.

There has been a lot of bad PR, but this move has been coming for awhile.

I can only hope this means or points to EA not renewing the NFL exclusive license. But that's another story for another day.

@gotskillzson: Diablo III is Blizzard/Activision

[Vechi8]

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 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)....

Pietasterp is dead on. I am a finacial advisor and analyze corporations daily. While the microeconomics of EA is very important to a company's success, it is the macro outlook that keeps a CEO employed. Meaning, what is the bottom line. Stock price and earnings are what shareholders demand. When you look at their company's past quarters, very hard to recommend owning shares.

[Valdarez]

Make way for Peter Moore.

[DubTrey1]

Drop exlusive deals all around for EA in order to grow revenue as well as stakeholder shares. The games themselves can become again the strength for EA, same as Rock* is the industry leader for sandbox games - even though many others try and do well enough - Rock* is the standard. EA can once again be the leader in these areas of strength. 2k has managed to do so wothout exclusive license to NBA titles, so why not do the same as they do - build a great product, share the market and become unquestioned leader amidst others whom try to catch up to you in a share of the same genre? Lets hope they right the mis-steps they have internally and grow thier devs, project leads and those whom are in the core business of making the titles - rather than lining the bottom line as they have so long now. It's hurt them as well as the industry - not to mention the lack of depth and creativity within the company in some of thier strongest historical titles.

[Bull_Dozer]

I hope this means EA will change some things. But I doubt it. A suit is a suit.