John-riccitiello
Latest
Former EA CEO John Riccitiello is now CEO of Unity
Unity Co-Founder and CEO David Helgason has stepped down and appointed former EA CEO John Riccitiello as CEO of Unity Technologies. Helgason is now Executive Vice President in charge of strategy and communications. "Unity has been a hugely positive force in the games industry for years," Riccitiello says in a press release. "Now it's my incredible fortune to have the opportunity to help guide Unity going forward. Unity is more than a great engine or packages of services, it's an amazing and diverse community of developers, many of which are changing the way we think about game design and production. Unity's mission – to democratize development – is an important one that I'm very happy to help drive forward." Riccitiello resigned his position at EA in March 2013, in the midst of SimCity's online issues and shortly after Star Wars: The Old Republic switched to free-to-play. His departure letter noted that the company's financial performance was tracking below expectations. Riccitiello has served on the Unity Board of Directors since November 2013.
Former EA boss invests in Will Wright's Syntertainment
John Riccitiello, former CEO of EA, is the third board member and an investor in Syntertainment, the startup from SimCity creator Will Wright. Syntertainment recently secured $5 million in funding, part of which is attributed to Riccitiello, GamesBeat reports. "John is one of the smartest guys I know," Wright says. "I've always enjoyed working with him, especially because he really is a gamer at heart. At the same time his strategic insights into the rapid evolution of the entertainment industry continue to inform and inspire me." Syntertainment focuses on "the intersection of entertainment and reality," and it is dedicated to "changing the world through uniquely fun and lasting user experiences," its About page reads. In May, Wright divulged Syntertainment's aim to make a game about individual lives. "I am very interested in basically how we build a game about the player, around the player's life, around the things that they they know, the places they go, the people they hang out with," Wright said. That sounds about (W)right.
Interim EA CEO Larry Probst earning $1.03 million
EA investor documents reveal Larry Probst is to receive a $1.03 million salary while acting as CEO in the wake of John Riccitiello's resignation last month. An additional bonus will be considered at the end of his term as interim CEO.Probst has experience as CEO, having held the position at EA from 1991 until 2007, after which he was succeeded by John Riccitiello. March 30 was Riccitiello's last day at Electronic Arts and the publisher has already initiated a hunt for his successor, of which the company is considering both internal and external candidates.[image credit]
EA CEO John Riccitiello resigns
John Riccitiello, CEO of Electronic Arts, has submitted his resignation today. According to a public statement by EA board chairman Larry Probst, Riccitiello's last day will be March 30, and Probst will serve as the executive chairman through the transition as the board searches for a new CEO candidate. Of course, the statement goes on to proclaim EA's "rock solid" strategy and future, as this news could certainly work against the company's reputation. Or, it could mean a bright new future with a new leader at the helm. Let us know in the comments below what you think about Riccitiello's resignation and what it could mean for EA's future. [Update: Stockholders are happy with Riccitiello's resignation as shown by a jump in EA stock.]
Vice President Joe Biden to games industry: 'You have not been singled out' on gun violence
Vice President Joe Biden met with leaders and researchers in the video game industry on January 11 to discuss gun violence and the impact entertainment may have on consumers' real-world actions. Biden was charged with leading a task force to gather input from members of the gun violence debate following the school shooting in Newtown, Connecticut, in December.The above video shows Biden's opening remarks, seated next to EA CEO John Riccitiello and president of the Electronic Software Association, Michael Gallagher."We know this is a complex problem," Biden said. "We know there's no single answer and, quite frankly, we don't even know whether some of the things people think impact on this actually impact on it or not." He put a hand on Riccitiello's shoulder. "I want you to know you have not been 'singled out' for help, but we've asked a whole lot of people."Those people included the law enforcement community, physicians and medical authorities, at-risk and child advocacy groups, domestic violence prevention groups, legal and justice organizations, civil rights groups, youth organizations, gun safety and advocacy groups, educators and parents, the mental health community, sportsmen organizations, the NRA, retailers, film organizations and the one Biden found the most interesting, an inter-faith group. Biden's tour will conclude in a meeting with President Barack Obama on January 15, where they will discuss his findings with the goal of curtailing gun violence in the future.Prior to the meeting, gaming groups such as the International Game Developers Association and Electronic Consumer Association sent open letters to Biden expressing their positions. The IGDA specifically called for Biden to explore both the positive and negative effects of imaginary violence and warned against the type of censorship that "did irreparable damage" to the comic book industry in the 1950s.
EA recognizes Q3 will be 'soft' due to Medal of Honor: Warfighter, lack of NBA
A running theme during today's Electronic Arts second quarter investor call was the impact of Medal of Honor: Warfighter's critical failure and the publisher's canceled NBA game. No less than three times the pair of titles were mentioned in a negative manner, particularly when compared to the success of Battlefield 3 Premium and FIFA 13."We are managing the ups and downs. Our Q1 and Q2 were better than expected. Our Q3 appears soft, due mostly to Medal of Honor," said EA CEO John Riccitiello. He went on that the company reduced its guidance for the year because of the "weakness in Q3 associated with Medal of Honor."New CFO Blake Jorgensen also mentioned Medal of Honor's "weaker than expected performance" in his prepared remarks, also mentioning the decision to cancel the company's NBA title would also impact Q3 performance."EA Sports is committed to basketball and we will publish a basketball game when we can match the quality of franchises like Madden NFL, NHL Hockey, Tiger Woods PGA Tour and FIFA soccer," remarked EA labels prez Frank Gibeau later. He went on to note that Medal of Honor: Warfighter's critical reception fell below expectations, but that the company feels it's a "good game with a receptive audience."EA plans to support Medal of Honor: Warfighter with more marketing over the holidays, and, as Gibeau put it, going to school to improve NBA and meet EA Sports' standard of quality.
EA's Riccitiello on social games: 'Consumers won't pay for crap'
The decline of social games has been "overhyped," Electronic Arts CEO John Riccitiello said at Friday's App Conference in San Jose, California, AllThingsD reported. "Companies that are now suffering will have another day," Riccitiello said.The CEO noted that viral marketing-style messages in social games that spam friends lists with requests don't make for "great gaming," and that "consumers won't pay for crap." Riccitiello had similar comments in May, when he said that "consumers want to be entertained, they don't want to be data managed."
Hyperspace Beacon: It's time for free-to-play, SWTOR
I'm a positive person, generally. I'm loyal to my favorite franchises even when George Lucas can't make up his mind about who actually shot first. But I don't like it when my loyalty to a product is taken advantage of when I'm told I will get one thing but am ultimately sold another. That's why I say to EA and BioWare, "Make Star Wars: The Old Republic free-to-play already." When EA was voted the worst company in America by the Consumerist, it was not because the products suck. If a customer has a constant feeling that she is not going to get what she pays for from a specific publisher, then it will start to wear on her. Now whenever someone from EA speaks, we have to ask ourselves whether there is any double meaning to what was said. I believe SWTOR will be free-to-play by the time the first expansion comes out, and not directly because of subscription numbers or rumors. My evidence comes from those who speak for SWTOR and the actions of BioWare's management. I can also guess as to how the studio is going to spin it.
Luxembourg software company suing EA, Square Enix, several others over patent infringement
What do Notch, John Riccitiello, Yoichi Wada, and Phil Larsen all have in common? A likely lacking fondness for Luxembourg-based software company Uniloc, who filed lawsuits against Notch's Mojang, Riccitiello's EA, Wada's Square Enix, and Larsen's Halfbrick recently (among others), contending that all the companies infringe on a networking patent held by Uniloc.The patent, US patent number 6,857,067, says that Uniloc has rights to a "system and method for preventing unauthorized access to electronic data," and Uniloc contends that the aforementioned corporations are infringing on that patent via Android-based games. In the case of EA, it's Bejeweled 2, and in the case of Square Enix, it's Final Fantasy III that's cited – if the game at any time communicates with a centrally owned server to legitimize its license, Uniloc contends that it violates the patent.Uniloc has a history of patent litigation over software. The company sued Microsoft in 2003, eventually winning. It has since filed suit against many, many other software manufacturers for other alleged patent violations.
EA bosses weigh in on SWTOR sub number drop
Yesterday we told you about Star Wars: The Old Republic's official 1.3 million subscriber headcount. Electronic Arts has weighed in on the number, with CEO John Riccitello stating that the game's player numbers are "very much in line with our original assumptions." EA's Frank Gibeau says that TOR's 400,000 subscriber drop from its February peak is a result of casual players deciding not to renew after a billing cycle. Eurogamer reports that TOR falls within EA's top 10 most profitable franchises but comes up short of the Battlefield, Medal of Honor, The Sims, and Madden franchises. Riccitello also addressed TOR's high profile in both fan and media circles. "So while I understand there's an enormous amount of interest, I don't know that it warrants as much as what we're seeing right now. But we love the franchise, we're going to grow the franchise," he explained.
Riccitiello hip to EA's social failings: 'I'd say we're a distant number two'
EA's embattled CEO John Riccitiello isn't above admitting his mistakes, nor is he above admitting those of his company. That honesty was in full swing during an episode of NPR's Morning Edition today where he spoke to EA's social business. "We would like to be number one in every possible area, in every geography. That's a grand ambition. We're not there yet," Riccitiello said.But then he got much, much more honest. "When it comes to Facebook, while we're number two, I'd say we're a distant number two. I mean, the other guys have lapped us three times," he said, referencing major social player Zynga. Riccitiello said EA is in the entertainment business, while his competition in social is in the data business, which he's had a hard time cracking. But he may not have to, according to his predictions."They're not really in the entertainment business. I think that will eventually die. Consumers want to be entertained, they don't want to be data managed," he said. Rather than model EA's future social business on that of the data-driven giants, Riccitiello hired up EA's first chief technology officer, Rajat Taneja, and is trying to get ahead of the Zyngas of the world before they take their next steps.He told the Morning Edition that EA is planning to "apply techniques like machine learning and neural nets, to figure out what will happen next so that we can tailor the game and experiences to delight our customers." Wait ... what? In reality, this means using data for predictive modeling, which can help figure out what you'll like before you, er, like it.Also in the report: Riccitiello wouldn't confirm or deny his company's plans to axe approximately 1,000 jobs in the near future, but he did say the company's internal statistics will see a shift from one of every eight employees being an engineer to one in two. Sounds like a bad time to be a concept artist at EA.[Thanks, Curtis.]
Pachter says rumored Nexon buyout of EA 'cannot happen'
Forbes reported on a rumored takeover of Electronic Arts by Nexon earlier this morning. The magazine noted that EA shares spiked following a supposed bid by the Korean gaming giant. Wedbush Securities analyst Michael Pachter weighed in on the rumors at GamesIndustry.biz, saying that the deal "cannot happen." He guesstimates that EA will balk at any such deal because "Nexon couldn't pull off a stock-for-stock deal [...] and would have difficulty financing an all-cash deal to make EA shareholders happy." Pachter floats a few numbers in his analysis, and he also notes that EA CEO John Riccitiello isn't likely to cede control of the company to anyone outside of EA management.
Star Wars: The Old Republic subscription numbers stabilize at 1.7 million
It's shaping up to be one hell of a good month for BioWare. If you consider the amount of money made by the launch of Mass Effect 3 and by the continued success of Star Wars: The Old Republic, the entire studio must be swimming in pools of gold coins a la Scrooge McDuck by now. At any rate, it would appear that Star Wars: The Old Republic's subscriber numbers have stabilized at about 1.7 million active subscribers. It's also worth noting that, according to EA's John Riccitello, the "vast majority" of these active subscribers have already used their 30-day trials, which means most of those 1.7 million subscribers are shelling out $15 per month to play the game. It'll be interesting to see how these numbers change (or don't) in the coming months, but for the time being The Old Republic seems to be doing BioWare proud.
EA, hackers win big off FIFA Ultimate Team
EA's increased revenues from FIFA 12's FIFA Ultimate Team DLC, coupled with our continuing coverage of consumer complaints over the "FIFA hack," stood out as awkward juxtaposition during EA's third quarter financial call yesterday."The innovation that makes this franchise so unique is FIFA Ultimate Team," President of EA Labels Frank Gibeau said yesterday on a call with investors. "In just three months, FIFA Ultimate Team generated $39 million in microtransactions. That's 69 percent more than it generated in the same period last year."Gibeau went on to say that because Ultimate Team is a microtransaction-based system, the company is able to generate a sizable number of big-spender consumer behaviors and it becomes a business that scales much more aggressively than other traditional DLC models.Chief Financial Officer Eric Brown added, "To put some rough numbers on this, if we compare the total digital revenue from FIFA 11 Ultimate Team to what we expect from FIFA 12 Ultimate Team in this fiscal year, we're looking to see a 25 percent increase franchise to franchise. The overall package goods units sold is not increasing by 25 percent year over year, so we are expanding by a decent margin the microtransaction revenue per user of FIFA."We continue to receive complaints nearly every day of non-FIFA players having their accounts hacked to purchase Ultimate Team DLC. EA previously responded to this by saying that "a small number" of gamers continue to report being impacted by fraudulent activity related to FIFA Ultimate Team on Xbox Live.
EA delays unspecified social game based on 'major' EA IP
EA adjusted its earnings for the most recent quarter (its fiscal Q4) in part because of the delay of an "important social game." It just didn't say which one. In an investor conference call, CEO John Riccitiello broke the news that EA is moving the launch to Q1 of fiscal 2013 (January-March of this year).Later, during the Q&A portion, COO Peter Moore called it "a major title based on a major piece of the EA brand IP." EA recently acquired KlickNation, rebranding it BioWare Social, but that just happened last month -- likely not enough time to even think a game would be ready for this quarter. EA also releases social games through Playfish, EA Play, and EA Sports.
Star Wars: The Old Republic warps into more than 2 million households, 1.7 million active daily
It looks like Star Wars: The Old Republic is off to a decent start, with EA today touting sales topping 2 million copies since launch, 1.7 million of which are reported as "active daily users." According to CEO John Riccitiello, those sales helped to bolster the company's third quarter financials for fiscal 2012 above those of the previous year, alongside major launches like Battlefield 3 and FIFA 12 helping to pick up the slack."Star Wars: The Old Republic is developing a committed community of players," Riccitiello boasted in a press release today, ahead of EA's financial earnings call where we'll likely learn more. Unfortunately, we can't snicker in the faces of any analysts on this one because they kinda sat on both sides of the fence ahead of the game's launch this past winter. So, uh, congrats folks, you were sorta right ... we guess.Update: EA's chief finances man Eric Brown pointed out during the call that "over 40 percent" of Star Wars: The Old Republic's sales were through Origin, which services like NPD aren't able to track.
Mark Jacobs elaborates on departure from EA Mythic
It's been a couple of years since Mark Jacobs abruptly left -- or perhaps was let go -- from EA Mythic, but curiosity around the split persists in the MMO industry. Yesterday, Jacobs opened up about the event that occurred after EA's acquisition of Mythic and BioWare. Long story short: The merge brought about changes, and Jacobs wasn't on board with them. "They made a decision on a direction they wanted to go and obviously, as we put out in our joint statement, that wasn't a direction that had a role for me, or at least the role that I wanted. It really is as simple as that. Or at least publicly. Whatever went on behind the scenes, whatever we talked about, I have no intention of sharing that," he said. Jacobs insists that EA has been kind to him in the subsequent years. "One thing I'll say publicly about EA, they have been very good in what they've said post-departure regarding me. Similarly I've been good about what I've said about them post departure." He has since gone on to form a new company to create social and mobile games. In an ironic twist, Jacobs says that the idea for getting into the social gaming market took root while he was at Mythic, but he left before acting on that notion.
Peter Moore now COO at EA, more execs change jobs
In a year where EA has seen its business model shifting away from the physical to a greater reliance on digital dollars, some similarly massive changes are shaking up the company rolodex. As detailed by CEO John Riccitiello today: Peter Moore is now the Chief Operating Officer of the company, a role vacated by John Schappert in April Current EA Games label boss Frank Gibeau will serve as President of all the EA labels Bioware will become the fourth EA label, joining EA Games (DICE, Visceral, Criterion, EA Partners, etc.), EA Sports (Madden, FIFA, Fight Night) and EA Play (Maxis, The Sims, MySims) Barry Cottle moves from executive VP to of EA Interactive to heading the division, which now includes Playfish, Pogo, EA Mobile, EA's partnership with Hasbro, Asian mobile and online games and PopCap It's a big move, but it leaves plenty of unanswered questions for now. For starters, we're not sure who'll take over for pitchman Peter Moore at EA Sports. We're also curious if the BioWare label is a branding augmentation only, or something more substantive.
EA: our fastest growing platform is the iPad
There was a time when the majority of games were played on dedicated consoles like the Xbox or PlayStation but, as they say, "those times are a'changin." Speaking to IndustryGamers, EA CEO John Riccitiello said consoles are no longer the dominant force in gaming. Up and coming devices like the iPad are: Consoles used to be 80% of the industry as recently as 2000. Consoles today are 40% of the game industry, so what do we really have? We have a new hardware platform and we're putting out software every 90 days. Our fastest growing platform is the iPad right now and that didn't exist 18 months ago. Riccitiello does admit that consoles can offer better graphics, but he doesn't see those graphics benefits lasting forever. Sooner rather than later a mobile device like the iPad will be able able to offer the same graphics as the Xbox. And he believes graphics won't be the driving power in console adoption in the future. "I would argue that there's more to be provided in terms of value for the consumer in micro-transactions and social experiences and driving those better in cross-platform gameplay between a console and a PC and a handheld device and a social network than there is supercharging graphics." EA current has 32 games for the iPad with many more to come judging from Riccitiello's statements.
Riccitiello details EA's three-point plan: IP, Platform, Talent
During an investor conference call yesterday, EA CEO John Riccitiello formalized the company's three-point plan for the forseeable future. For fiscal 2012 and beyond, the three pillars of EA's business growth are IP: "building roughly twelve franchises into year-round businesses across a range of platforms, packaged goods, and digital," Platform, "building a solid ecosystem for leveraging our content and services, focusing on our own platform, Origin, while supporting our retail partners," and, finally, Talent: "investing in our creative and engineering talent to drive and maintain our IP across multiple platforms from console to social and PC to mobile." The "IP" central to EA's strategy includes, of course, things like Madden, Battlefield, The Sims, and FIFA. "Platform" is easily summarized as "Origin." As for "Talent," that includes high-profile acquisitions like PopCap as well as growth in existing EA studios -- like the Austin expansion EA just announced.
