Yeah, I think some people are forgetting that he did those + Dead Space and a few other new IP's. He had some good along with the bad and then some boneheaded decisions (TORtanic and SimShitty). So overall a mixed bag. Certainly not the "pure evil" everyone wants to paint him to be, you know?
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John Riccitiello steps down as CEO of Electronic Arts. [Resignation/Farewell Letters]
- Thread starter Wario64
- Start date
Yeah, I think some people are forgetting that he did those + Dead Space and a few other new IP's. He had some good along with the bad and then some boneheaded decisions (TORtanic and SimShitty). So overall a mixed bag. Certainly not the "pure evil" everyone wants to paint him to be, you know?
GillianSeed79
Member
All you had to do was make KOTOR 3 you fools!
Okay, joking aside, really everyone probably saw this coming. I don't know. It's kind of bittersweet. Everyone associates JR with Kotick-level evil these days, but at the start of this gen they were actually taking risks and funding new IP's like Mirror's Edge and Dead Space. Then again, as someone who loved Mercenaries, he did play a role in the death of Pandemic and, I can't say it enough, SWTOR was a cluster fuck. I mean, both the doctors have left the industry, Bioware's reputation among certain people is in shambles and the future looks like EA will be focusing on a small handful of IP's that they will publish outside of the mobile stuff. The future of EA looks like them retreating to their sports IP and just a handful of franchises that will be so focus tested and watered down to ensure they ship profitable numbers.
But, again, all you had to do was make Kotor 3. Not steal everyone away from the Mass Effect and Dragon Age franchises to work on TOR-tanic.
Okay, joking aside, really everyone probably saw this coming. I don't know. It's kind of bittersweet. Everyone associates JR with Kotick-level evil these days, but at the start of this gen they were actually taking risks and funding new IP's like Mirror's Edge and Dead Space. Then again, as someone who loved Mercenaries, he did play a role in the death of Pandemic and, I can't say it enough, SWTOR was a cluster fuck. I mean, both the doctors have left the industry, Bioware's reputation among certain people is in shambles and the future looks like EA will be focusing on a small handful of IP's that they will publish outside of the mobile stuff. The future of EA looks like them retreating to their sports IP and just a handful of franchises that will be so focus tested and watered down to ensure they ship profitable numbers.
But, again, all you had to do was make Kotor 3. Not steal everyone away from the Mass Effect and Dragon Age franchises to work on TOR-tanic.
I'm guessing not much in the way of catering to the likes of us. In fact, I could see an even greater push in the direction they were already headed in order to try and maximize profits and appease share holders.
John Harker
Definitely doesn't make things up as he goes along.
Yea EA is not going to go in any direction people on this board are going to celebrate... I'm surprised at all the people happy here, you don't know what you're in for haha
i imagine mirror's edge 2 died with this resignation.
Iacobellis
Junior Member
And Skate 4.
Forceatowulf
G***n S**n*bi
lol@ at the people celebrating.
This. Changes. Nothing.
This. Changes. Nothing.
You seriously just called Dead Space 2 bad? Lol. I thought it was better than 1.
Iacobellis
Junior Member
Wow, speaking of MVP Baseball, Pandora really had to bring this up.
Brings a tear to my eye.
Brings a tear to my eye.
Anticitizen One
Banned
This is a sad day. John was the one that spearheaded new IPs like Dead Space and Mirror's Edge and revived dead franchises and made them good again (SSX, Need for Speed Hot Pursuit, American Mcgee's Alice, etc.)
This
I understand people are upset at EA for various things, as they should be, but he was the least of their problems.
Anyone who replaces him will just double down on all the things you do not like, DLC, microtransactions, pre order bonuses and expand on always online for practically all games. It is where that company has been going
SSX sucked and wasn't even remotely faithful. Burnout died for a lesser racing series to be revived. Dead Space devolved into generic action slop. Mirror's Edge and Alice dead on arrival.
Then there is all the actively bad stuff EA is doing on a higher level like strong arming Origin while keeping their titles off other services, or pooping out low quality and incomplete titles on a regular basis.
I'm not sad to see Riccitiello go because I honestly don't see how things could get worse.
I never had any hope for it. They kept teasing it but there was nothing. A bag of lies to make fans shut up.
Aquamarine
Member
Dead as a doornail unless we get a CEO that's not committed to dramatically improving the bottom line.
MaddenNFL64
Member
THose games should have been sold for $40 or less brand new. Most people dont have the income to blow all their money on tons of full priced games a year. It's a few at best, and they have to be worth it. The rest are on older titles & discounts.
Chairman Yang
if he talks about books, you better damn well listen
I'm honestly baffled why some people are eulogizing John Riccitiello because of Dead Space, Mirror's Edge, and Skate. Was he even responsible for those games being released? I mean, I don't know the exact timelines of development, but it seems likely that they were greenlit well before he led EA in early 2007. And, assuming he was directly responsible for those games, is it really commendable that someone leading a giant video game company with huge financial resources and vast pools of talent spread among many development studios can manage to release a few good games once in a while?
JR's reign was not a "mixed bag" by any stretch of the imagination. Under his watch, EA was a value-destroying corporation that hurt consumers, shareholders, employees, and the industry as a whole.
Femmeworth
Banned
I realize that a CEO isn't responsible for everything, though.
Dead Space came out the year after he became CEO. No way he was hugely responsible for it, he would be responsible for what it became afterwards. Same for the other games.
Holy shit, I just found out about this. I guess SimCity was one too many disasters for EA after SWTOR and Mass Effect 3.
Leading other companies into greater depths of suck, I suppose.
Leading other companies into greater depths of suck, I suppose.
No amount of cash can fix the mess of PR problems it caused. The debacle will be remembered for a long long time and probably has hurt EA's image more than anything really ever.
MaddenNFL64
Member
Pretty dry for 2013 afaik. Battlefield 4 is going to be their biggest game to date most likely. I think thats it for mega releases outside of Madden, and FIFA.
MaddenNFL64
Member
Blizzard got blasted by the fans & press, and they lived through it fine. They just gotta make up for it.
I'm pretty sure this is way worse than Diablo 3 was, I mean for fucks sake people are still having issues getting into servers. Also, EA is Worst Company in America, Blizzard was pretty well respected prior.
Face it Tiger..
Banned
So was this the paragon or renegade ending?
Chairman Yang
if he talks about books, you better damn well listen
The people saying EA's going to get worse seem to think the company will "double down" on anti-consumer behaviour and try to monetize even more aggressively. Like as if John R was some sort of brave maverick fighting from the inside on behalf of gamers everywhere, holding back his evil management underlings from implementing the wishes of greedy shareholders by shafting customers. And as if EA hasn't already considered or tried every money-grubbing tactic they can dream up.
It doesn't sound plausible to me. I can see EA staying the course, or maybe getting worse in the short term (until management's replaced again or the company is destroyed). More likely, there will be some improvements, and EA will be perceived as less evil; like Activision-level.
There's a twinge of sadness and irony when I think about this tonight. I liked JR... very personable, a natural leader in front of an audience, and I did feel he always communicated a clear vision for the company. I never worked with him on any level, but did have the chance to have a conversation with him once and he came across as down to earth and not aloof from the rest of us - a good guy. Of course he'll be perfectly fine coming out of this so I don't feel "sad" for him so to speak, but more sad for the industry in general. I do think EA took leadership under his watch on a number of industry wide issues and changed things for the better. Hopefully whoever comes next can both continue that path in addition to boosting the bottom line.
I say irony, because it was largely due to his guidance that I came to appreciate EA once again. Take all the angst and vitriol over EA these days, and that's how I felt about EA prior to his arrival. I simply disliked the EA that existed back around 2007... disliked their business practices and disliked their games, and I boycotted purchasing anything from them. I felt like he changed all that and put EA down a great path. Fewer games, higher quality, more innovation, more chances on IP. And yet here we are a few years down the road, and I like much of what EA is today, and everyone else is always raging about every thing EA does. I'd like to think we can retain the core of what he originally set out to do and find a profitable way to execute it. I guess time will tell.
I say irony, because it was largely due to his guidance that I came to appreciate EA once again. Take all the angst and vitriol over EA these days, and that's how I felt about EA prior to his arrival. I simply disliked the EA that existed back around 2007... disliked their business practices and disliked their games, and I boycotted purchasing anything from them. I felt like he changed all that and put EA down a great path. Fewer games, higher quality, more innovation, more chances on IP. And yet here we are a few years down the road, and I like much of what EA is today, and everyone else is always raging about every thing EA does. I'd like to think we can retain the core of what he originally set out to do and find a profitable way to execute it. I guess time will tell.
MaddenNFL64
Member
It had a long downtime, and gamers killed them for it. It's pretty close. Blizzards fine, and you no longer hear about Diablo 3 & always online DRM. Not like DRM for the game went away. Maybe EA giving a free game to all owners of SimCity was a first step, and they'll continue to reach out?
John Ricci shouldn't get any credit for Mirror's Edge. DICE wanted to make that game, and they were a major reason EA was profitable, so turning them down wouldn't have been a great idea. The game also sold over two million, and EA has greenlighted sequels of less successful franchises, but he never gave DICE another shot.
Chairman Yang
if he talks about books, you better damn well listen
Yeah. At most, maybe he had some influence over EA's long-term strategy as COO in 2004, or informally during his tenure at Elevation Partners, and maybe that indirectly led to some games getting greenlit. I doubt even that, though.
maniac-kun
Member
Maybe they will be less anti consumer with the new guy. Well thats the best we can hope for.
Bobby Kotick is a nice guy compared to him. And 20€ for a horse in WoW pales with the stuff EA did in the last years.
Bobby Kotick is a nice guy compared to him. And 20€ for a horse in WoW pales with the stuff EA did in the last years.
A guy who sexually harasses and tortures employees is nicer? Right.
Yeah, that's what I was thinking. My impression of Ricitello was actually pretty positive, to be honest. If I were a shareholder, maybe not.
Yeah let's make the guy who took a billion dollar write-off CEO of a publicly traded company. Shareholders would love that.
I believe to a degree if you're leading a big company like EA you're going to be reviled, period. Not unless PEOPLE on a whole change.
This is news to me. Please tell me more.
Heh, that's actually pretty good.
Riccitiello run EA has been a gazillion times worse than Kotick Activision.
Micro transactions, ruined franchises / sequels, day 1 DLC up the wazoo, always online DRM, pay to win sport games, servers shutdowns and much much more.
All Activision does is pump out COD games with a DLC map season pass. They could have been a ton worse like EA if they wanted to but they actually do show some level of respect to their customers. Kotick and Riccitiello have both made some stupid public comments but if you judge them both of their actions Kotick is the better.
Rock Band > Guitar Hero. Just sayin.
Yep, i won't be happy till ea is hurt really badly financially by their own policies.
Just so people understand what happened:
Riccitiello was COO at EA from 1997 to 2004.
He left EA and founded the private equity firm Elevation Partners.
Elevation Partners bought Bioware and Pandemic.
Riccitiello becomes EA CEO.
EA buys Bioware and Pandemic from Elevation Partners for the hilariously bloated price of $800 million.
I suppose it's ironic that in the end, it was the purchase of Bioware that eventually doomed him with TOR.
Riccitiello was COO at EA from 1997 to 2004.
He left EA and founded the private equity firm Elevation Partners.
Elevation Partners bought Bioware and Pandemic.
Riccitiello becomes EA CEO.
EA buys Bioware and Pandemic from Elevation Partners for the hilariously bloated price of $800 million.
I suppose it's ironic that in the end, it was the purchase of Bioware that eventually doomed him with TOR.
good riddance
Perfect
Have you seen what they paid for;
Popcap- $7500000000
JAMDAT - $6800000000
How did that get past the board?
Also GO SWANNIES!
Haunted
Member
current outlook: makes no difference
Anticitizen One
Banned
Honestly it seemed to be that a large chunk of the gaming community was just itching to go into a frenzy and bring EA to its knees and they finally got the opprotunity when EA bumbled Sim City. I think the problem was minor and blown totally out of proportion with people making an endless amount of threads, exagerating, and game journalists pouring fuel on the fire.
They had server problems for two weeks, they fixed it and gave everyone affected a free game and apologized. That should be the end of the story.
fizzelopeguss
Banned
EA gets a new padishah emperor. Either way the shovelware must flow.
Chairman Yang
if he talks about books, you better damn well listen
Do you have any possible explanations for why a large chunk of the gaming community wanted to go into a frenzy over EA? Did they collectively decide to randomly target a big company, and that company just happened to be EA?
Rentahamster
Rodent Whores
As someone who played both games despite the myriad problems, SimCity's release was much more of a debacle than Diablo 3. They set the new standard for launch fuckups, as far as I'm concerned. No one's gonna be saying "let's hope they learned from Diablo III" anymore.