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[ObsidianAgent]

One thing I've loved about the Retake movement is how they've used the game as a basis for their protests, recasting EA as the Reapers and the gamers as the galactic community. I think this analogy is slightly off and a more accurate analogy would cast EA as the Reapers but game companies (like BioWare) as the different species being harvested.

Yeah, but so what? Well, EA's a publicly-traded company that hasn't shown a profit since 2007, and, if we think about the Destruction and Control endings in real-world terms and they become:

Destruction - EA lose overall sales to the extent that they go bankrupt. This could happen if there's a successful boycott of EA's games and no-one thinks that buying into EA and re-capitalising is worth the risk. EA dies but so does BioWare. Sad.

Control - EA's share price dips so low that it goes into take-over territory. The gamers pool all their money, put in a bid for controlling interest and, if successful, replace the CEO with someone who knows games and gamers. Not very likely though - I don't have $3 billion dollars handy and I doubt that we could pool that sort of cash. So, not happening.

But there's one more ending, and that one's a doozy:

Synthesis - any named stockholder can nominate a candidate to the Board of Directors. The gamers (us) buy some shares in our own name (i.e. not through a brokerage) and put in a nomination for CEO of EA, to be voted on at the Annual Shareholders meeting in July.

What would happen if some of us did this and nominated Dr Ray Muzyka for CEO of EA?

He's definitely got the chops to helm a major corporation - he made BioWare into the brand it is today. He knows what gamers really want and he's been delivering the goods for 15 years. Can you name any other division of EA apart from BioWare? Can you name any other employee of EA outside BioWare? I can't. That tells you something right there. More than anything else, Dr Ray Muzyka has real credibility with the customers. He could set a tone at the top that would resonate through the corporation until the customers are begging EA to take their money, the same way BioWare had (until recently).

We'd need support though. We'd have to contact EA's major shareholders (page 26 of the Annual Report) and convince them (politely, of course) that EA's current management is irrevocably damaging the EA brand and the value of their investment and the company desperately needs new direction. Given EA's lack of overall profitability and the awful publicity they've been garnering recently, I don't think that's an unrealistic proposition. And who better than the CEO of EA's most recognised and regarded division?

From what I've seen, I'd think that's the best shot of salvaging this situation and getting the games we want from BioWare in the future. What I'd love to hear is the thoughts of someone who knows about corporate governance, shareholder rights, etc. I don't really know that much about these sorts of things and I'm only really throwing this out there to see if it's even feasible. But, if it is, wouldn't that be something we could all get behind?

Modifié par ObsidianAgent, 08 avril 2012 - 12:29 .