149 réponses à ce sujet

[Dave of Canada]

Press Release wrote...

REDWOOD CITY, Calif.—(BUSINESS WIRE)— Electronic Arts Inc. (NASDAQ: EA) today announced that John Riccitiello will step down as Chief Executive Officer and as a member of the Board of Directors, effective March 30. The Board has appointed Larry Probst as Executive Chairman to ensure a smooth transition and to lead EA's executive team while the Board conducts a search for a permanent CEO. The Board will consider internal and external candidates with the assistance of a leading executive search firm.

Mr. Probst has played a leadership role at EA since 1991. In addition to serving as Chairman of the Board since 1994, he previously served as the Company's CEO from 1991 to 2007. As CEO, Probst successfully grew the Company's annual revenues from $175 million to approximately $3 billion, led EA into new platforms such as mobile, online and other emerging markets and expanded its international presence to more than 75 countries.

"We thank John for his contributions to EA since he was appointed CEO in 2007, especially the passion, dedication and energy he brought to the Company every single day," said Mr. Probst. "John has worked hard to lead the Company through challenging transitions in our industry, and was instrumental in driving our very significant growth in digital revenues. We appreciate John's leadership and the many important strategic initiatives he has driven for the Company. We have mutually agreed that this is the right time for a leadership transition."

On behalf of the Board, Lead Director Richard A. Simonson stated, "As we begin the CEO search, we are fortunate that Larry, who has a proven track record with our employees, partners and customers, has agreed to assume a day-to-day leadership role as Executive Chairman. He has 16 years of experience as CEO of EA and a deep understanding of the Company's strategy, management team, business potential and industry trends."

Mr. Riccitiello stated, "EA is an outstanding company with creative and talented employees, and it has been an honor to serve as the Company's CEO. I am proud of what we have accomplished together, and after six years I feel it is the right time for me pass the baton and let new leadership take the Company into its next phase of innovation and growth. I remain very optimistic about EA's future - there is a world class team driving the Company's transition to the next generation of game consoles."

It's hard to think of the recent EA issues and not see this as related.

Let's try to keep the thread away from EA bashing for a few pages at least.

Modifié par Dave of Canada, 18 mars 2013 - 08:16 .

[RedArmyShogun]

Hmm wonder who the likely replacements are. Hopefully it will be someone that has worked in the industry.

[OdanUrr]

Dave of Canada wrote...

It's hard to think of the recent EA issues and not think this is related.

It's hard indeed.

[Fast Jimmy]

So... you're saying there is a job opening?

I should brush up the ole' resume...

[LPPrince]

This means fornicate all if it doesn't change anything, so we'll see how this develops.

[Brockololly]

Dave of Canada wrote...
It's hard to think of the recent EA issues and not see this as related.

Yeah, then again, if he survived TOR I was thinking he'd last longer. Yet you look at the industry at large and a lot of big name higher ups are stepping down- Cliffy B, Mike Capps leaving Epic; Ray and Greg leaving BioWare; Jason West leaving Respawn (formerly Infinity Ward). Right now at the verge of a big console transition might be a good time to cash out.

But this was basically seen as a long time coming, despite their stock rebounding a bit  lately.

RedArmyShogun wrote...

Hmm wonder who the likely replacements are. Hopefully it will be someone that has worked in the industry.

Well, it could be Peter Moore or Frank Gibeau I suppose. Its hard to say if thats a good thing or not. On one hand, I think Riccitiello gave BioWare a pretty big leash. Whether thats been a good thing or not, its hard to say going by their recent output, IMO.

Times are a changing, thats for sure.

Modifié par Brockololly, 18 mars 2013 - 08:29 .

[Arcadian Legend]

LPPrince wrote...

This means fornicate all if it doesn't change anything, so we'll see how this develops.

True, hopefully the next person who takes over will change things around for the better, for both consumers AND the dev studios underneath them. Unless they end up being worse somehow. And if the new CEO does make things worse, at this point EA may as well be carrying out their own corporate death sentence.

I could swear there was news of Riccitello preparing to step down some months ago though? Or am I thinking of something else?

[Ridwan]

Future will be interesting. EA has lost a lot of consumer trust.

[wolfsite]

I vote Ninja Stan.

[LPPrince]

CleverNoobs put it well- give devs TIME to make the hit titles you expect out of them, instead of rushing them to put titles out as fast as possible hoping for a hit.

But aye, we get what we get.

Hopefully the change in leadership translates to less games and more time to produce good ones.

[Savber100]

It's time for the changing of the old guard for the new.

We need fresh thinkers and gamers to take reign rather than some dodgy businessman that aren't even gamers to begin with,

[Dave of Canada]

LPPrince wrote...

This means fornicate all if it doesn't change anything, so we'll see how this develops.

Either it'll change for the better and we gamers benefit, it'll change for the worst and the masses begin to take notice or nothing changes which is unlikely as new blood tends to shake foundations.

[hoorayforicecream]

Dave of Canada wrote...

It's hard to think of the recent EA issues and not see this as related.

Let's try to keep the thread away from EA bashing for a few pages at least.

It has less to do with the recent issues as it has with EA's consistent quarter-over-quarter year-over-year under-guidance market performance. That's the long and the short of it. Those saying it's because of SimCity are mistaken. They didn't fire him when the stock was under 12 points a share, why would they do it when it's at 18 points a share?

[Splinter Cell 108]

Sounds to me like he was "asked" to step down and didn't do it on his own. Now, for god's sake choose someone who KNOWS what gamers want and who changes EA for everyone's benefit.

I hope they don't put another suit who doesn't give a damn about anything but the profit and loss statements.

[Savber100]

hoorayforicecream wrote...

Dave of Canada wrote...

It's hard to think of the recent EA issues and not see this as related.

Let's try to keep the thread away from EA bashing for a few pages at least.

It has less to do with the recent issues as it has with EA's consistent quarter-over-quarter year-over-year under-guidance market performance. That's the long and the short of it. Those saying it's because of SimCity are mistaken. They didn't fire him when the stock was under 12 points a share, why would they do it when it's at 18 points a share?

I doubt the controversy surrounding Bioware's recent efforts from The Old Republic disaster to the Mass Effect 3's ending along with Simcity and the godawfully wriiten EULA for Origins along with constant retarded comments from up top has helped any... 

[mousestalker]

What hoorayforicecream said. As a publicly held company, the CEO is responsible to the shareholders. It's actually better for the CEO if the earnings nose dive than if the company performs below expectations. The latter makes the CEO appear stagnant. The former might just be a one time loss.

[LPPrince]

Savber100 wrote...

hoorayforicecream wrote...

Dave of Canada wrote...

It's hard to think of the recent EA issues and not see this as related.

Let's try to keep the thread away from EA bashing for a few pages at least.

It has less to do with the recent issues as it has with EA's consistent quarter-over-quarter year-over-year under-guidance market performance. That's the long and the short of it. Those saying it's because of SimCity are mistaken. They didn't fire him when the stock was under 12 points a share, why would they do it when it's at 18 points a share?

I doubt the controversy surrounding Bioware's recent efforts from The Old Republic disaster to the Mass Effect 3's ending along with Simcity and the godawfully wriiten EULA for Origins along with constant retarded comments from up top has helped any... 

Dragon Age 2 and Dead Space 3 say hi

[Paul E Dangerously]

You can't really blame a lot of this on him, really. TOR was a design decision, and one many, many developers have made - look at the failure rate in the MMO genre. ME3 was another design decision, with the switch in lead writers having drastic effects, especially if the rumor on how the original ending came to be is true.

The worst thing I can blame EA for in this time is the rushing of DA2. In fact, under this CEO EA has actually gotten better. He wasn't responsible for eating developers and ruining IP, because that happened under the previous ones. EA released more original IPs and started the partners program.

[RinpocheSchnozberry]

If EA's strategy over the last few years has been "Always on! RUSH RUSH RUSH The Games out!" and EA has been performing less well than they like... We can only hope that they will clue in and change their strategy.

[LPPrince]

hoorayforicecream wrote...

Dave of Canada wrote...

It's hard to think of the recent EA issues and not see this as related.

Let's try to keep the thread away from EA bashing for a few pages at least.

It has less to do with the recent issues as it has with EA's consistent quarter-over-quarter year-over-year under-guidance market performance. That's the long and the short of it. Those saying it's because of SimCity are mistaken. They didn't fire him when the stock was under 12 points a share, why would they do it when it's at 18 points a share?

EA took a swan dive in stocks after the 2008 crash(along with nearly everyone else).

Lemme find that CleverNoobs video...

Is The Gaming Industry Crashing?

[LTD]

When you are six hours into playing Battlefield and you run out of ammo in your clip, and we ask you for a dollar to reload, you're really not very price sensitive at that point in time.

A consumer gets engaged in a property, they might spend 10,20,30,50 hours on the game and then when they're deep into the game they're well invested in in. We're not gouging, but we're charging and at that point in time the commitment can be pretty high.

But it is a great model and I think it represents a substantially better future for the industry.

This is the hero game  industry is losing. 


[No swearing, please.]

Modifié par Ninja Stan, 18 mars 2013 - 09:25 .

[Beerfish]

The whole scenario was fishy to be honest from him being there, leaving to head up the venture capital company and then coming back and buying out that same company in the BioWare purchase. If anything this is bad news for BioWare if you ask me. Riccitiello was one of their big supporters and boosters. I can see things going even more main stream than before. We shall see.

[Savber100]

LPPrince wrote...

Dragon Age 2 and Dead Space 3 say hi

*cough*

I rest my case. 

[Chromie]

[Violation of Rule #6 removed.]

Modifié par Ninja Stan, 18 mars 2013 - 09:26 .