Riccitiello Says Investors Don't Care About Quality

[Mad 69]

EA needs competition, their NFL and NCAA exclusivity is killing us the consumer. I sure as hell hope they don't acquire Take Two. They can continue to put a sub par game out every year and expect profit. Something has to be done to hurt their profits before they even think about fixing anything.

[fistofrage]

Quote: Originally Posted by baumy300

Well the investors can't be too smart then. If the quality of the games isn't good, do they really expect to keep selling them and therefore bring in a profit? Come on now.

Of course they do. Look at NCAA Football its been rubbish for years and now they have the exclusivity. I still bought it. I won't next year, but I guarantee I'm one of the very few sheep that will stray from the flock. They could put out stick figures with an NCAA football logo on it and 1/2 the people on OS would get it 4 days before the street release posting pictures and saying how "Sick" it is.

[baumy300]

Quote: Originally Posted by nstod

You sure about that? Last week alone, NCAA 09 sold 290,627 copies on the 360 and 124,663 copies on the PS3. Combined, that's 415,290 copies. This is after a "horrible" NCAA 08 game. The other 3 games in the top 5 were all Wii games (Wii Sports 159,292; Mario Kart Wii 84,951; Wii Play 77,134). I would say that the general public still likes EA games pretty well.

That's just an opinion. I for one believe that 08 was a very, very solid game.

Don't undermine the consumers. People will eventually quit buying games if they are "horrible."

Even 09 is shaping up to be not only good, but epic. Once a patch fixes the robo QB issue and the the pass rush, 09 will easily be one of the best sports game I've ever played.

[Matt Diesel]

Quote: Originally Posted by baumy300

Well the investors can't be too smart then. If the quality of the games isn't good, do they really expect to keep selling them and therefore bring in a profit? Come on now.

Except all us keep buying it not matter what cause its the only show it town. So maybe its our fault, not EAs.

[baumy300]

Quote: Originally Posted by mddst34

Except all us keep buying it not matter what cause its the only show it town. So maybe its our fault, not EAs.

Yeah, if people don't like the game but continue to buy, it is their fault.

However, I personally have been enjoying the hell out of 09. I understand the bugs are bad, but I have taken my time and looked past them. 09 is a very solid game of football and it will only get better after the patch.

I say fight on EA. I started this gaming season out disappointed and pissed off, but now the game is growing on me.

[trayeight]

Quote: Originally Posted by fistofrage

They could put out stick figures with an NCAA football logo on it and 1/2 the people on OS would get it 4 days before the street release posting pictures and saying how "Sick" it is.

Hahahahaha, that would be sick!

[Cebby]

Quote: Originally Posted by baumy300

Don't undermine the consumers. People will eventually quit buying games if they are "horrible."

No we won't. 05 was abysmal, 07 was as stripped down as you can be, 08 was unplayable, and 09 has been a combination of broken and buggy.

They tricked us from 08 to 09 with a variety of community stooges and developers who assured us that the game was great and that any problems were easily fixable by release. They'll convince us all to do the same thing with 10. Maybe there will be more stooges. Maybe they won't let anyone play it.

But fact is, 4 of the last 5 games have been mediocre-horrible, yet we keep buying them. We as a fan base are stupid. There is only one way to ensure that they stop putting out bad games, and nobody here is man/crazy enough to make it happen.

[billysims]

Quote: Originally Posted by baumy300

Well the investors can't be too smart then. If the quality of the games isn't good, do they really expect to keep selling them and therefore bring in a profit? Come on now.

To a point. Good marketing drives alot of sales. Even community boards such as this serve as advertising for their product. No one wants to invest in a company that makes poor performing product, but EA has alot of assets that help drive sales/profit, and stock price. And that is the bottom line for an investor.

Alot of EA stock is likely not just bought by individual investors but instituitonal investors, who buy the stock for 401k plans, etc. It's not nearly as emotional of a tie as the consumer tie. Not even close.