Vapourware LOL ELECTRONIC ARTS: The EA Thread

[Wirdschowerdn]

http://www.gamesindustry.biz/articles/2013-03-19-ex-ea-execs-on-ea-ceo-transition

One ex-EA executive, who wished not to be named, was less charitable about Riccitiello's tenure, however. "Riccitiello lost money every single year he was at EA while I was there, (and probably every other year he was there too). He just didn't know anything about games, or rather, interactive entertainment in general. After I left, he was gone for a while... [then] Riccitiello came back, but since he hadn't learned anything as a VC guy, he really didn't bring anything of value with him the first or the second time. He's much more obnoxious than impressive," said the exec, referring to Riccitiello's time at Elevation Partners before coming back to lead EA.

Hey Ray & Greg you can come forward now it's okay.

 

[ghostdog]

Haven't Sega been quite profitable since they slimmed down? EA might do that too, focussing on a few core franchises.

Well, SEGA has been going from one fuckup to another lately. Their retarded obsession to milk the sonic franchise has completely killed it. Shinobi - dead, golden axe - dead. Any somewhat worthwhile games are doomed by lousy QA and crappy marketing. Aliens Colonial Marines was their last huge disaster.

Other franchises include the Total War and Football manager series, but I don't think sales are that great there either.

I believe their last "hit" was Baynetta, back in 2010.

 

[Curious_Tongue]

Did Doritos and Mountain Dew pour out his neck? What does EA have to do with that?

 

[Tzaero]

EA had nothing to do with it, I didn't make the video.

 

[Curious_Tongue]

http://www.gamesindustry.biz/articles/2013-03-19-riccitiello-underestimated-the-rot-at-ea

"Riccitiello's first and biggest mistake was underestimating how deeply the rot had set in at EA when he assumed leadership; we do not believe his successor will face a similar problem," Doug Creutz wrote in a note to investors.

 

[Cromwell]

http://www.gamesindustry.biz/articles/2013-03-19-ex-ea-execs-on-ea-ceo-transition

One ex-EA executive, who wished not to be named, was less charitable about Riccitiello's tenure, however. "Riccitiello lost money every single year he was at EA while I was there, (and probably every other year he was there too). He just didn't know anything about games, or rather, interactive entertainment in general. After I left, he was gone for a while... [then] Riccitiello came back, but since he hadn't learned anything as a VC guy, he really didn't bring anything of value with him the first or the second time. He's much more obnoxious than impressive," said the exec, referring to Riccitiello's time at Elevation Partners before coming back to lead EA.

Hey Ray & Greg you can come forward now it's okay.

He lost money, therefore he knew nothing about games. Idiots.

 

[Wirdschowerdn]

He knew nothing about games, therefor he lost money.

 

[Commissar Draco]

Did Doritos and Mountain Dew pour out his neck? What does EA have to do with that?

EA now is an exemplar and avatar of same way doritos are... and don't tell me they didn't bought their reviews. Westwood revenge from the grave.

 

[MetalCraze]

Doritos and Mountain Dew are a sign of a quality game.

 

[Data4]

Fun to watch: http://www.google.com/finance?q=NASDAQ:EA

Floating at -4%/ -5% off their yesterday value, behold the stock value collapse. So far, in 24 hours, EA lost a dollar off its stock value.

Even funnier if you switch to 5 year view.

Yeah, or ten. Though I have to say that EA staying afloat and strong as long as it has so far with its general quality and game lineup has always baffled me.

Sports games. Never underestimate the buying power of bros.

dont' need much in buying power. People who buy these only buy like 3 games per year. A game is still just the price of a fancy dinner.

Yeah, but it's still steady, reliable income. All they have to do is crank out a new Madden every year or so, and the dudebros will take a break from jacking off to the latest Five Finger Death Punch and go buy it in droves.

 

[Cyberarmy]

While this is pure gold, i hate you because reminding me how i loved Westwood and their games and how EA ruined them day by day. R.I.P. Kane (Colin McComb :D)

 

[DeepOcean]

In the name of McComb!!! In the name of McComb!!! In the name of McComb!!!

 

[Xavier0889]

Haven't Sega been quite profitable since they slimmed down? EA might do that too, focussing on a few core franchises.

Well, SEGA has been going from one fuckup to another lately. Their retarded obsession to milk the sonic franchise has completely killed it. Shinobi - dead, golden axe - dead. Any somewhat worthwhile games are doomed by lousy QA and crappy marketing. Aliens Colonial Marines was their last huge disaster.

Other franchises include the Total War and Football manager series, but I don't think sales are that great there either.

I believe their last "hit" was Baynetta, back in 2010.

They did a nextgen Golden Axe but it was p. boring. Man, Golden Axe and Shinobi were two of my favorite games back in the day.

 

[Tzaero]

In the name of McComb!!! In the name of McComb!!! In the name of McComb!!!

I really need to stop this photoshopping habit.

 

[DeepOcean]

Haven't Sega been quite profitable since they slimmed down? EA might do that too, focussing on a few core franchises.

Well, SEGA has been going from one fuckup to another lately. Their retarded obsession to milk the sonic franchise has completely killed it. Shinobi - dead, golden axe - dead. Any somewhat worthwhile games are doomed by lousy QA and crappy marketing. Aliens Colonial Marines was their last huge disaster.

Other franchises include the Total War and Football manager series, but I don't think sales are that great there either.

I believe their last "hit" was Baynetta, back in 2010.

I only worry for SEGA financial health because of Creative Assembly and now Relic. Sega was dumbfuck on Alien Colonial Marines and I thought that they learnt something about releasing crap, I hate big dumb corporations but if SEGA sued Gearbox and took every single dollar that Gearbox have, I wouldn't feel pity for Randy Pitchfork.

 

[Minttunator]

Tzaero, that's fucking great!

 

[Mother Russia]

Here is his resignation letter he sent to all employees:

http://blogs.wsj.com/digits/2013/03...-is-resigning-heres-his-farewell-letter/?mod=

To Everyone at EA –

I am writing with some tough news. I have resigned my position as EA’s CEO. I will be around for a couple of weeks, and I hope to have the chance to say goodbye to many of you. Larry Probst will be stepping in as Executive Chairman to help smooth the transition. Larry first hired me at EA in 1997 and he was an incredible leader for the company during the 16 years he served as CEO. While he will continue to be the Chairman of the US Olympic Committee, he will also provide leadership for EA until a permanent CEO is appointed.

My decision to leave EA is really all about my accountability for the shortcomings in our financial results this year. It currently looks like we will come in at the low end of, or slightly below, the financial guidance we issued to the Street, and we have fallen short of the internal operating plan we set one year ago. And for that, I am 100 percent accountable.

Personally, I think we’ve never been in a better position as a company. You have made enormous progress in improving product quality. You are now generating more revenue on fewer titles by making EA’s games better and bigger. You’ve navigated a rapidly transforming industry to create a digital business that is now approximately $1.5 billion and growing fast. The big investments you’ve made in creating EA’s own platform are now showing solid returns. I believe EA is alone in mastering the challenges of building a platform for our games and services – a platform that will provide a more direct relationship with our consumers. You are number one in the fastest growing segment, mobile, with incredible games like The Simpsons: Tapped Out, Real Racing 3, Bejeweled, SCRABBLE and Plants v. Zombies. You have worked to put EA in a position to capture industry leadership on the next generation of consoles; and I believe two of our titles – Battlefield and FIFA – will be among the top few franchises in the entire industry. And the industry’s most talented management team – Frank, Rajat, Peter, Gaby, Andrew, Patrick, Blake, Joel and Jeff — are certain to lead the company to a successful future.

I remain an incredible fan of EA and everyone who works in our world – from Stockholm to Seoul, Orlando to Edmonton, Guildford, Geneva, Cologne, Lyon, Bucharest, Montreal, Austin, Salt Lake, LA and, of course, EARS. My hope is that my travels and yours allow us the opportunity to talk more in the months and years to come.

In a few weeks, I will be leaving EA physically. But I will never leave emotionally. I am so incredibly proud of all the great things you have done, and it has been my honor to lead this team these past six years. After March, I will be cheering wildly for EA from the sidelines.

In a few weeks, I will be leaving EA physically. But I will never leave emotionally.

The Gaider is strong in this one.

Also from the same page:

Electronic Arts EA +0.64% CEO John Riccitiello said today he is stepping down at
the end of the month, ending a difficult six-year reign that has seen the company’s stock fall more than 60% in that time.

Maybe if they hired actual gamers who are also business savvy (hey, there are such ppl out there. Like in Bethesda for instance, who've mastered the art of peddling the same shit in a different engine every few years and made a killing) they might understand why the fuck they keep failing. One PRO TIP (tm) I woulod give them is cut down the development houses: If you are a publisher, focus on publishing. Sure have a dev house or two at most, to make your own type of games, but otherwise publish games from outside dev houses. And focus on quality over quantity. You stupid Analyst 'tards may have convinced you that the best way to profit from games is release a sequel every year until the franchise burns out, shelve it, and do the same with other franchises (buy purchasing a popular development house, like Biowhore) Then, a few years later revive those burnt out franchises and rinse and repeat till eternity.

Any gamer with half a brain who is remotely in touch with today's world can tell you that is stupidest formula ever. It may have applied in the 90's to some extent, but those dayz are over. Even Bethesda releases TES every 4-5 years or so, but in doing so they probably make more per Title than most of any EA franchsie titles released over those 5 years combined. Square Enix releases FF every couple of years and they wildly change everything about the game, making it fresh everytime. (but even they fuck up badly, as with FF 13)

Also Codex, keep in mind EA is a public Ltd company. They gotta do what their shareholders tell them to do, within limits. However if their stocks have been falling consistently over the 6 year reign as I quoted above, they do seem to have been remarkably patient.

Anyhoo, I hope interesting times are ahead for EA. They need to decide what sort of games they are going to focus on from now on and dedicate themselves to it. No more of this random shit like sports, warfare, rpgs emotion simulators with xplosions and cover based akshun and gay buttsecks, sim city type games, racing games (they ruined Need 4 Speed) etc etc.

 

[tuluse]

Haven't Sega been quite profitable since they slimmed down? EA might do that too, focussing on a few core franchises.

I don't think this is possible for EA without some kind of bankruptcy.

I would suggest EA become more stratified and segregated, with more autonomy at lower levels. Let the "game people" make more decisions instead of the "business people". I would also try to make more cheaper games rather than try to make every franchise a 5 million copy seller.

I would also use branding differently. Like how a movie studio does it. Disney doesn't plaster Mickey Mouse all over the latest Ironman movie, so why is EA putting their logo on Madden, Battlefield, Bejeweled, and Dragon Age? It doesn't make any sense.

 

[Rahdulan]

Haven't Sega been quite profitable since they slimmed down? EA might do that too, focussing on a few core franchises.

I don't think this is possible for EA without some kind of bankruptcy.

I would suggest EA become more stratified and segregated, with more autonomy at lower levels. Let the "game people" make more decisions instead of the "business people". I would also try to make more cheaper games rather than try to make every franchise a 5 million copy seller.

I would also use branding differently. Like how a movie studio does it. Disney doesn't plaster Mickey Mouse all over the latest Ironman movie, so why is EA putting their logo on Madden, Battlefield, Bejeweled, and Dragon Age? It doesn't make any sense.

I'm inclined to agree. EA's problem doesn't lie in one person or some position of power, it's more deeply rooted in their corporate practices that haven't changed for over a decade now and show no sign they ever will. Nothing short of a complete restructuring could actually hope to fundamentally change EA and they're kinda too big for that to happen willingly without it all tumbling down to bankruptcy.

 

[ohWOW]

It's rooted in the customers being shit stupid milking cows who will blindly throw money at everything with dorritos attached.

 

[Zeus]

Haven't Sega been quite profitable since they slimmed down? EA might do that too, focussing on a few core franchises.

Well, SEGA has been going from one fuckup to another lately. Their retarded obsession to milk the sonic franchise has completely killed it. Shinobi - dead, golden axe - dead. Any somewhat worthwhile games are doomed by lousy QA and crappy marketing. Aliens Colonial Marines was their last huge disaster.

Other franchises include the Total War and Football manager series, but I don't think sales are that great there either.

I believe their last "hit" was Baynetta, back in 2010.

Not to mention Sega took one of the most beloved JRPG series of all time, Phantasy Star, the Sega equivalent to Final Fantasy, and turned it into an MMO back in 2000. They haven't looked back since, even though collections featuring the original (single player, turn based, awesome) Phantasy Star titles continue to be in demand.

How do you build a game series to the point where you can sell copies for $100 in mid-90s money, then forget it ever existed?

Ask Sega.

 

[Vival]

Also Codex, keep in mind EA is a public Ltd company. They gotta do what their shareholders tell them to do, within limits. However if their stocks have been falling consistently over the 6 year reign as I quoted above, they do seem to have been remarkably patient.

I don't know what limits you mean but shareholders have no say in how the company is run, otherwise they would be liable for eventual fuck ups and so on which they are not. And constantly falling share prices doesn't exactly show confidence on their part.

 

[Mother Russia]

Also Codex, keep in mind EA is a public Ltd company. They gotta do what their shareholders tell them to do, within limits. However if their stocks have been falling consistently over the 6 year reign as I quoted above, they do seem to have been remarkably patient.

I don't know what limits you mean but shareholders have no say in how the company is run, otherwise they would be liable for eventual fuck ups and so on which they are not. And constantly falling share prices doesn't exactly show confidence on their part.

The BoD has a potentially HUGE say in how the company is run. The BoD together with the Chairman make up the majority shareholders of a PLC, which is why they are on the board. They are the ones who choose/approve/remove a CEO.

How much power they choose to excercise however, depends on them. Also note in some cases the Chairman of the Board is also the CEO, such as how Larry Page of Google made himself CEO after removing Scmidt (this is not the case here though)

 

[Volrath]

Goddamnit, this just made me remember how much I loved Tiberian Sun and Westwood. Fuck you Ea, just FUCK YOU!

 

[Average Manatee]

Kane is dead