Entitlement.
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John Riccitiello steps down as CEO of Electronic Arts. [Resignation/Farewell Letters]
- Thread starter Wario64
- Start date
Entitlement.
Wow, I didn't know this.
Not only the guy wanted to fuck all the customers, he literally wants to fuck everyone up!
No wonder the company went this greedy with this guy on top.
Boss Doggie
all my loli wolf companions are so moe
I wonder if the new one would be better.
firehawk12
Subete no aware
You know, what would have happened if EA's takeover of Take2 actually happened? Sure, Take2 was tanking at the time, but they probably would have had a few hits to juice up the revenues.
he can be credited for greenlighting these games
michaelius
Banned
Well there are only two options:
- they remain as shitty as they are now since it's impossible to have it worse
- they get better
now they're going to go into peoples' houses and wreck up the place.
Unknown Soldier
Member
I wonder if they will promote from within or bring in an outsider to be the next CEO.
Herb Alpert
Banned
I won't regret him.
EA makes a lot of money, good for them. But their vision of gaming, their economic model disgusts me.
There is a difference between making money and making THAT much money. He goes because he didn't achieve to make insane amounts of money? Sure EA is in deep shit right now...
Marketing smartasses took the power among EA and this lead to a lot of very questionnable practices and choices. They are not the only ones in that case, I agree. And of course, you know what you lost but not what you'll gain.
For myself, I haven't buy an EA game for years. And I don't plan to buy one.
EA makes a lot of money, good for them. But their vision of gaming, their economic model disgusts me.
There is a difference between making money and making THAT much money. He goes because he didn't achieve to make insane amounts of money? Sure EA is in deep shit right now...
Marketing smartasses took the power among EA and this lead to a lot of very questionnable practices and choices. They are not the only ones in that case, I agree. And of course, you know what you lost but not what you'll gain.
For myself, I haven't buy an EA game for years. And I don't plan to buy one.
Dakota47
Member
Wow.... Just wow.
He's the interim CEO until they choose a successor. Norma business practice.
Ignoring your very favourable summation of the SC debacle, EA has been disliked for years by many poeple for its practises.
That's not even embellishment, it's a straight up alternate reality. Dude walked straight out of Sliders.
Anticitizen One
Banned
I know that Ea was hated in the early 00s for their horrible licensed games and regurgitating sports games every year but I felt they really improved under richotello and tried to innovated with new IPs and games fans actually wanted. Honestly activision is just as bad if not WORSE than EA
Yoda
Member
I honestly don't seem him stepping down as a "victory" for gamers. From the buisness perspective EA's problem of seemingly becoming insolvent stems from their desire to occupy space in every single avenue of gaming. This can be seen from their overly ambitious if not risky attempt to penetrate the MMO market with SWTOR. Despite the game turning a profit, it did so at the immense opportunity cost $300 million (rumored) and its 5 year or so development cycle; at the end of the day, it turned out to be a short term project, similar to a console release, except with the potential risk the sink the company due to the immense cost.
This issue plagued them in other areas too, look at the MoH reboot. They weren't satisfied with their place in the shooter arena w/Battlefield and to a much smaller extent Crysis. EA put an extraordinary amount of effort into MoH with once again, very little to show for it. Sure the game didn't provide a net loss, but it performed on par with a non AAA release, which is considered a failure on the internal side.
To sum it up, chances are his successor will choose to consolidate instead of expand, with the future of the home game console business being a big question mark, I'd be willing to bet the company shifts more away from a diverse catalog of AAA games toward a smaller one + mobile games. If they were to go this route, I wouldn't hold my breath for a higher level of quality in their games. To be frank, I'd say they are a more gamer friendly publisher than Activision, but they have zero professionalism when it comes to building their relationship with their customer base.
This issue plagued them in other areas too, look at the MoH reboot. They weren't satisfied with their place in the shooter arena w/Battlefield and to a much smaller extent Crysis. EA put an extraordinary amount of effort into MoH with once again, very little to show for it. Sure the game didn't provide a net loss, but it performed on par with a non AAA release, which is considered a failure on the internal side.
To sum it up, chances are his successor will choose to consolidate instead of expand, with the future of the home game console business being a big question mark, I'd be willing to bet the company shifts more away from a diverse catalog of AAA games toward a smaller one + mobile games. If they were to go this route, I wouldn't hold my breath for a higher level of quality in their games. To be frank, I'd say they are a more gamer friendly publisher than Activision, but they have zero professionalism when it comes to building their relationship with their customer base.
Kill Your Masters
Member
COD has no online pass. I keep repeating this. This makes Activision instantly better than EA. (I don't like Activision btw)
Say all you wan't but you can buy COD used and play it without paying extra + you don't need to be logged in on something as shit as Origin.
It's not.
This is just more of the old boys' club of CEOs patting each other on the back.
"In 1984 he joined EA as Vice President for Sales. He is the current Chairman and former Chief Executive Officer of the company. When President and Chief Operating Officer John Riccitiello resigned in April 2004, Probst assumed his duties. After Riccitiello was re-hired as CEO in 2007, Probst retained his non-operational duties as Chairman."
They keep going back and forth, no responsibility is taken.
Besides, SimCity did just fine despite being a "PR nightmare" that some people think it was...
http://www.usatoday.com/story/tech/gaming/2013/03/18/simcity-ea-sales/1997051/
Yes activision are, and you would see just as much baying for blood if they were to stumble. EA released two new ip's and a lot of people thought they had changed, but they have not. They have been anti consumer and anti competition for decades now, coasting on sequels and milking a small subset of consumers.
Yeah, nothing will change. It is nice to see at least someone fall on their gold plated, diamond encrusted sword though.
Sure, I don't mean to imply that he was St John of Videogames. But he's a guy whose stated business plan was to make better games. He thought that improving the quality of the product would lead better sales, and he approved and funded a bunch of new IP to do it. Meanwhile, Activision's plan revolves around exploiting COD, WOW, and Skylanders toys.
There's an actual difference between the two, and it's not just whether you like multiplayer or single player games.
T
thepotatoman
Unconfirmed Member
Even if Mirrors Edge was greenlit by Riccitello, that game already suffered from someone forcing them to include guns at the last minute, and that type of corporate meddling completely fit the next 5 years of EA releases.
That's why I'm glad to see him go. It honestly can't get any worse.
That's why I'm glad to see him go. It honestly can't get any worse.
Illithid Dude
Member
Three new IPs! Dantes Inferno, anybody?
Ah, phew. Thought for a second this monster was unbeatable.
Pretty much. Riccitello, Panitello, it makes no difference.
WTH am I reading?
You think making a facebook version of Sim city and turning that into a retail PC game at the last minute is "improving the quality of the product"? Dead "microtransaction" Space 3 was too?
Seriously WTH!
At least ATVI (aside from Diablo III) didn't take a series people were absolutely in love with for the last 20 years and turn it into a shit pile of smoldering puke.
Shitting on ATVI for milking stuffs to death and praising EA for releasing new IP (with shit like Dante's "GodofWar" Inferno in their portfolio to boot!) takes some kind of special glasses you only see in this medium.
He wasn't. It was already in production when he became CEO. His legacy of CEO is basically he didn't cancel promising games that were almost finished.
Sapphire Dreams
Member
Let's hope this is a step in the right direction.
I guess they didn't catch up in the end.
Pachter thinks he was fired.
http://www.eurogamer.net/articles/2013-03-18-john-riccitiello-out-as-ceo-of-ea
http://www.eurogamer.net/articles/2013-03-18-john-riccitiello-out-as-ceo-of-ea
No, I meant they released anything on Wii?
I mean aside from Boom Blox and shitty sports games.
And OMG I agree with pachter on something!
BrokenEchelon
Banned
That's actually what I meant by that.
Eh, most CEO's never have the amount of control (or want to) of one company as steve jobs insisted upon.
This is a good post... In this industry that is continuously consolidating around only a few big games, EA is at risk at becoming just the Sports game company, like how Sega has become the Sonic, Total War, and Football Manager company.
OutToLunch
Neo Member
Unfortunately for EA, most of their sports franchises have seen diminishing returns over the years. While FIFA continues to sell incredible numbers, and Madden is trending back upwards a bit, most of their their other annual releases (Tiger, NHL, NCAA) are stagnant at best or declining at worst. Probably doesn't help that they haven't released a NBA game for the past 3 years either which btw is probably one of his biggest, most overlooked, mistakes imo when you consider the company was essentially built on the backs of these titles.
Non-annual releases are another problem entirely... Fight Night has never been a huge selling franchise despite receiving a modest budget and MMA was a flop.
Retreating into a sports only company means EA looks very different. They're much smaller and much less profitable due to the costs of licensing and they become less attractive to potential investors. Almost like a blue chip stock with no growth. I don't see that as a viable option.
Metal Gear?!
Member
Pachter twisting the knife....
Palette Swap
Member
No, Activision is really bad but EA is terrible.
GraveRobberX
Platinum Trophy: Learned to Shit While Upright Again.
Da' Fuck?
You added one too many zeroes buddy
PopCap for ($7,500,000,000), really $750,000,000
JAMDAT for ($6,800,000,000), really $680,000,000
EA doing E3 Press Conference @ Staples Center for $750,000,000 Confirmed!