Electronic Arts CEO John Riccitiello leaving
NEW YORK (AP) - Video game publisher Electronic Arts Inc. said Monday that its CEO, John Riccitiello, will step down on March 30.
The company has named Larry Probst as executive chairman while it searches for Riccitiello's replacement. Probst has been chairman since 1994 and served as CEO from 1991 to 2007, when Riccitiello took over.
"My decision to leave EA is really all about my accountability for the shortcomings in our financial results this year," Riccitiello wrote in a message to EA employees. "It currently looks like we will come in at the low end of, or slightly below, the financial guidance we issued to the Street, and we have fallen short of the internal operating plan we set one year ago. And for that, I am 100 percent accountable."
EA and other traditional video game companies have been trying to adjust to a changing world where consumers are turning to mobile devices and cheap -or free- online games instead of buying expensive packaged titles.
Electronic Arts reported adjusted revenue of $1.18 billion for the last three months of 2012, a 28 percent drop from the same period a year earlier. The figure was below Wall Street's expectations of $1.29 billion.
"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," Probst said in a statement.
Earlier this month, EA fumbled the launch of a new edition of its iconic "SimCity" franchise. Many gamers were unable to log in to the online game, which prompted some retailers to stop selling it. EA said more players logged in than expected and it offered players a free PC game to compensate.
In a note to investors last week, Pacific Crest Securities analyst Evan Wilson said EA has had its "worst stretch of execution ever" recently. He said holiday season sales of its "Medal of Honor" game were disappointing, and high-profile games released this year have received poor reviews.
The company has named Larry Probst as executive chairman while it searches for Riccitiello's replacement. Probst has been chairman since 1994 and served as CEO from 1991 to 2007, when Riccitiello took over.
"My decision to leave EA is really all about my accountability for the shortcomings in our financial results this year," Riccitiello wrote in a message to EA employees. "It currently looks like we will come in at the low end of, or slightly below, the financial guidance we issued to the Street, and we have fallen short of the internal operating plan we set one year ago. And for that, I am 100 percent accountable."
EA and other traditional video game companies have been trying to adjust to a changing world where consumers are turning to mobile devices and cheap -or free- online games instead of buying expensive packaged titles.
Electronic Arts reported adjusted revenue of $1.18 billion for the last three months of 2012, a 28 percent drop from the same period a year earlier. The figure was below Wall Street's expectations of $1.29 billion.
"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," Probst said in a statement.
Earlier this month, EA fumbled the launch of a new edition of its iconic "SimCity" franchise. Many gamers were unable to log in to the online game, which prompted some retailers to stop selling it. EA said more players logged in than expected and it offered players a free PC game to compensate.
In a note to investors last week, Pacific Crest Securities analyst Evan Wilson said EA has had its "worst stretch of execution ever" recently. He said holiday season sales of its "Medal of Honor" game were disappointing, and high-profile games released this year have received poor reviews.
It's too late for EA. Â Their stock prices have been plummeting, the biggest games of the year for them have the worst reviews imaginable. Â EA was voted the worst company in the world by gamers. Â
Every game franchise they touch they turn to ruins:
Simcity - botched release, always online connection required, LIED to their customers, refused refunds even though they said they would give them out, continued to LIE to their customers about the previous lies, etc. Â The game is still broken and they continue to lie about it.
Mass Effect 3 - The players had to complain enough before EA finally made changes to the game after release, in order to fix it (I think it was mostly related to the ending).
Dead Space 3 - They turned it into a gears of war clone and added in-game purchases with real money.
Star Wars The Old Republic (MMO) - That game didn't even last more than a couple of months before going Free to Play with in-game purchases. Â
I could go on and on.
Not to mention they turn off servers for games that are not even a year old, making it impossible to play some games, even PC titles.
I will never buy another EA game, I've been boycotting them for over a year. Â The CEO stepping down is only to appease the share holders, he isn't directly responsible for all the bad decisions within EA.Â
Not to mention, the same week that EA CEO stepped down they also found a huge security leak in the Origin software.
Anyway, EA is a terrible terrible company and a viral drain on the game industry.
@Landshark At least Simcity is nearly fixed. That was one huge blunder indeed.Â
Origin was the worst thing EA could have ever done... I have more titles under steam and only one 'BF3' under origin and I have no interest in adding anymore games to that POS software!
Bout time this JA gets the boot. Personally, I will no longer buy any EA or PopCap games because of all the butchering John has caused. Too little too late.