EA is making all the headlines today and now the biggest news of the day has hit. EA CEO John Riccitiello is stepping down from the leadership role effective March 30th. Former CEO Larry Probst will lead EA until a more permanent successor is found.
John Riccitiello became EA CEO in 2007 and had led the company for the past six years, a time which has had its fair shares of highs and lows. The highs include major new IPs such as Mass Effect and Dead Space, though the lows have been much more recent including the backlash against SimCity and the introduction of micro transactions to Dead Space 3.
Mr Riccitiello states the reason he is stepping down is because he feels “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.”
The current favourite, according to internet buzz, seems to be current EA Chief Operating Officer Peter Moore, the former Microsoft man who revealed GTA IV with a tattoo. He joined EA in 2007 as head of EA’s Sport Division, before being promoted to COO in 2011.
Of course we’ll keep you up to date with who will ascend to the CEO position.
Source: EA.
gazzagb
I wonder how much this was his decision, or if he was forced to do so. I wonder if Peter Moore will see sense and realise there are other ways to get money than pissing off gamers.
bmg_123
If anything, Moore will worsen it all. I think he was quoted last year saying something about the worth of $70 games or something along those lines.
gazzagb
Well that doesn’t bode well… :\
xdarkmagician
In a EA response they state it was a mutual decision. Not that it doesn’t mean he wasn’t forced out and paid to agree with it.
Taylor Made
I guess EA didn’t have enough micro transactions ah!
Yes I went in there!
Tuffcub
Sloppy internet journalism.
The Lone Steven
Says the bloke who once posted a fanmade trailer for certain game and didn’t realise his mistake untill the next day. ;)
Kennykazey
Let’s just hope it’ll be a change for good.
xdarkmagician
whomever takes over will soon join the ranks of the internets most hated because I highly doubt EA will change just because they threw out the rotten apple at the top, theres still a whole bushel of rotten apples underneath to toss out too.
easternjam
Never fixing FIFA’s actual issues, or in fact making it a complete game before distributing it, Sim City’s debacle and Dead Space 3’s micro transaction fiasco gives me absolutely no faith in EA regardless of whom the CEO is.
CR8ZYH0RSE
He can sit next to Cliffy B and they can whinge together in stereo.
The Lone Steven
I really hope Peter Moore won’t get promoted to CEO as he will treat gamers like shit as he already believes that games should cost up to £100 and i suspect, would force all of their games to have that shitty online DRM. It would also result in EA slowly going down the crapper so they would probably kick him out.
cc_star
Star Wars: The Old Republic is by far the biggest blight on his copybook.
One of the biggest disasters in all of gaming & supposedly one of the key reasons why Bioware was brought in the first place.
Hot on the heels of that, was outside of FIFA/Madden franchises EA’s key franchises have suffered massive declines whilst the almost $1bn purchase of Popcap has been squandered. (wow, what a studio they were prior to EA’s takeover).
In short he’s presided over a disastrous run recently, even if at the start of this gen EA’s focus on metacritic quality was a benefit to gamers.
And that’s without mentioning they’re basically selling gamers down the river now chasing after Simpsons: Tapped Out, Real Racing 3 and shoehorning their mechanics bit by bit into their ‘core’ franchises that many of us love.
Bilbo_bobbins
A mutual decision, ha ha. He was pushed.
Oh well, another CEO hits the deck and another will join and follow in a few years time. Lets hope EA hit the deck.