John Riccitiello steps down as EA CEO after failing to meet financial targets
By Tim Colwill on March 19, 2013 at 9:42 am
Big changes are in the works today at Electronic Arts as John Riccitiello resigns his CEO position. In his resignation letter, Riccitiello cites his personal responsibility for the failure of the company to meet financial guidance.
“This is a tough decision, but it all comes down to accountability,” said Riccitiello. “The progress EA has made on transitioning to digital games and services is something I’m extremely proud of. However, it currently looks like we will come in at the low end of, or slightly below, the financial guidance we issued in January, and we have fallen short of the internal operating plan we set one year ago.”
“EA’s shareholders and employees expect better, and I am accountable for the miss.”
A successor has not been named at this early stage, but Riccitiello is hoping to “allow the talented leaders at EA a clean start on FY14″.
Source: VG247
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He has probably been trying to resign for the last 12 months, but couldn’t get a connection to the server to send his resignation in.
Well this is bad, now they are just going to get someone who is even more focused on money.
You never know, was EA doing better or worse in the past? If things were better Mr Money could very well reverse all the bullshit online, EA store exclusive, buy your game in pieces stuff that Riccitiello has introduced.
Good riddance IMO.
Hopefully the new CEO can turn EA around in the eyes of gamers (ditching online passes for console games and bringing PC games back to Steam would be a good start).
Hopefully focused on making money by delivering what customers actually want, instead of waging war on them for no reason.
Voted the worst business in America… what did he do to improve this??
I saw Premium membership split the BF3 community, I saw the mess of Facebooksimcity & I continue to see price gouging for Aussies…..
So John what did you do to improve your image???
I wonder what:
A) His salary was, and
B) What kind of “package” he received
^^ Enough of a package for him to not be worried about publicly announcing his failure.
Don’t worry about his Salary or package. Both of them are more than most will earn in a lifetime. He’s a pillock who continued on with Trip Hawkins methodologies and it’s finally sunk him.
Good riddance. I wonder who will take over the spot and whether they will be as stuck in the wrong century as John or Trip.
I wonder if he’s just as frustrated with customer service as everyone else then ?
Think of it this way, at least the financial woes of EA are something SOMEONE over there is willing to take responsibility for.
Another Pillock with simply replace this one. They usually pick the guy/woman the former CEO groomed for the position, so we know what we’re getting into.
From what I heard, he gets his choice of Battlefield 3, Bejeweled 3, Dead Space 3, Mass Effect 3, Medal of Honor Warfighter, Need for Speed Most Wanted, Plants vs. Zombies or SimCity 4 Deluxe Edition.
A) was $800,000 a year
B) hasn’t been announced.
I have to agree that at least he had the balls to admit that he had failed the shareholders, most at his level would find the head of online distribution (or someone equivalent) and burn them to protect themselves.
“As part of the arrangement, Riccitiello will continue to be paid his base salary for the next two years, totaling north of $1.7 million.”
http://www.gamasutra.com/view/news/188732/Breaking_EA_CEO_John_Riccitiello_steps_down.php
EA needs to learn to make good games, but instead people who call themselves ‘gamers’ buy the games and play them for 3 weeks and call it good value.
Nice one.