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[Derrick01]

He's worse for gamers who would like to play something other than COD. Obviously, he's much better for shareholders.

I'm a gamer, though, so I think the view that Kotick's way is a success and Riccitiello's way is a failure is really depressing. I think it's weird that GAF is so anti-EA/Riccitiello.

I'm a gamer too. I think Johnny and EA are THE most poisonous and cancerous entities in the gaming industry. Both creatively and the financial tactics that they started.

 

[Zen]

The past is the past man, what's the point of hating him for something that started well before 2007.

Their loss, and a big loss for gamers. You might hate him right now because of SimCity DRM, but the fact remains that he was the driving force behind creativity at EA and dumping the old model, he took risks for games that the old EA never would have, and under him the core of EA was only getting stronger and stronger. Unless someone like Peter Moore steps in, they're going to become much more corporate now, where as JR was generally exceptional at blending both priorities.

The general anti EA/Riccitello sentiments in this thread are both short sighted and a little baffling, just imagine the share holders looking at the Activision model of management as the silver bullet.

 

[Duxxy3]

Amazed it didn't happen sooner. I'm more interested to see if this has any effect at all on EA and Valve's relationship. I'd love to see Mass Effect 3 on Steam.

The shift to origin only left a serious amount of money on the table. I never understood the decision.

Question. Their approach with Origin in the PC space, keeping large titles as origin exclusive. Has this been a successful tactic for them?

I am legitimately curious, not as a Steam vs Origin stance or anything, because I do consider the approach, while slightly anti consumer, as rather a smart way to attract attention to your platform.

I know they've spouted out self congratulatory phrases before like "fastest growing platform in the PC space" or a few x million users or something, but overall has it gained them money? compared to say putting the games on steam also so you have a wider consumer base?

It was a bold move they made, I just wonder if it has been a move that added to this current situation.

I used to buy EA pc games. I have not spent a dime on an EA pc game since they moved to origin.

 

[Azih]

I don't know guys, let's not forget Mirror's Edge, Dead Space, and the fact that it was Ricotello EA that finally took down Tim Langdell's EDGE GAMES BY EDGE TM reign of terror. That last alone gets him to a par.

I mean these are really really good things! Remember the fallen honourably.

He bit big on subscription MMOs just as F2P kicked the guts out of them (sans the old guard of Wow and Eve Online) and he moved to social just as THAT fell down a well. So yeah he skated to where the puck was the entirety of his tenure. And he mismanaged a LOT of brands too. Not saying he was a great CEO. But his few bright spots were brilliant.

 

[Captainsweatpants]

Maybe now the Wii U will get proper support. No?

 

[Heavy's Sandvich]

On the bus coming home certainly didn't expect that.

position for Arthur gies to step in.

 

[kevcampbell]

 

[NotTheGuyYouKill]

All I care is... what does this mean for Dead Space?

 

[Kill Your Masters]

He's worse for gamers who would like to play something other than COD. Obviously, he's much better for shareholders.

I'm a gamer, though, so I think the view that Kotick's way is a success and Riccitiello's way is a failure is really depressing. I think it's weird that GAF is so anti-EA/Riccitiello.

You can buy COD used and play online without paying extra for an online pass.

You need to be always online and hope to get a server slot to play your brand new copy/digital download of SimCity because EA lied about server side calculations and the impossibility of playing this (broken) game offline.

EA still sounds worse to me.

 

[Derrick01]

uh kotick was admitted being a scammer in his younger age. Didnt he fool someone by replacing a super computer with a some shitty computer and selling that. I bet Riccitellio didn't do stupid shit like that.

No, instead he scammed over a million people into buying a game that didn't work at all.

 

[Zeouterlimits]

Ooof.
Hopefully good for EA's bottom line but hopefully not bad for us as consumers.

 

[FStop7]

Maybe now the Wii U will get proper support. No?

Yeah, Riccitiello is what's holding the Wii U back.

Keep telling yourself that.

 

[Tobor]

He's next.

 

[Neuromancer]

Peter Moore would be a good choice. But it's probably too late for the entire company to change course.

 

[Twenty7KVN]

Their basketball game has Jay-Z. Jay-Z! Clearly it's superior.

The sound track is pretty good,even with most of the lyrics being bleeped out.

 

[Kallor]

Lol at the cheering on of this. EA can and will do a lot worse than him, they fired him for not fucking over the fans hard enough. Shit ain't changing for the better. Get ready for the super devil.

 

[fritolay]

GAF should vote on the new EA CEO or send one of their own up there. I vote clydefrog from the funny pics thread. Octrebor can be the limo driver.

Also Polygon(e) did you see that one coming?

 

[sp3000]

I know all about Kotick and I still say the people who think he's even anywhere near the kind of evil that Riccitiello is needs to sit down for a long history lesson.

edit: Don't mistake that as me liking Kotick either. He's just Satan's number 2 compared to EA.

Riccitiello greenlit Mirrors Edge, Dead Space and Brutal Legend. After that he pretty much became what Kotick was already doing better. Microtransactions in everything and dumbing down games.
Meanwhile Kotick said this

The CEO's long-term vision, in his own words, is to instill the corporate culture with "skepticism, pessimism, and fear...We are very good at keeping people focused on the deep depression." You'd think the man might've learned his lesson when indivuals and press organizations decried his plan to strictly focus on games that "have the potential to be exploited every year on every platform with clear sequel potential and have the potential to become $100 million dollar franchises." Evidently not. In Bobby's world, the best games are produced when every employee is in a constate state of fear, projects are always on the brink of being killed, the ability to generate profit is the only yardstick by which an employee's value is measured, and—let's not forget—making video games is not fun.

 

[Scum]

Which colour ending is this?

 

[zugzug]

He's probably the least of EA's problems.

Agreed, John R. is not the problem with EA.

This Larry Probst guy is a bad news.

 

[watership]

Well this was a long time coming.

Still don’t expect EA to actually be less awful however, their whole focus has become so repulsive to me as a customer.

EA under Riccitello didn't meet shareholders expectations. So expect the next CEO to 'double down' on making quarterly gains. More sequels, more annual games, more DLC. Riccitello seemed to generally want great games coming out of EA.

 

[Data West]

Lol at the cheering on of this. EA can and will do a lot worse than him, they fired him for not fucking over the fans hard enough. Shit ain't changing for the better. Get ready for the super devil.

You can't fuck fans over harder when you've got nothing that they desire.

 

[metalslimer]

Nice. Hopeully wada is next

 

[TalesOfWin]

I'm a gamer too. I think Johnny and EA are THE most poisonous and cancerous entities in the gaming industry. Both creatively and the financial tactics that they started.

uh you just seem to hate EA no matter what. You probably think Ubisoft is better -_-

 

[Rad-]

Sega had just been Stolar'd when Moore showed up.

Moore did great, but it was a losing battle anyhow. He later did great at Microsoft.

But did he really? Xbox was a huge money drain and 360's sales only exploded after Mattrick came in.

I like Moore but I'm not so sure about his CV. It's not that impressive.

 

[thumb]

That's part of the problem though. Don't spend too much money on something that isn't going to sell well enough to make up for it.

How much money is that, exactly? At a certain point, you either take a risk with a promising but unproven product or you don't, and just release the same shit every year.

 

[legacyzero]

Buh-bye!

Now maybe EA can be salvaged.

 

[chogidogs]

They were just talking about this on last week's Bombcast. Watch your mouth Kleptok!

 

[i-Lo]

So what now?

More or less of:

• Sequels?
• On disc DLC?
• Microtransaction being weaved into every game's SP and MP?
• Turning every game into generic xyz for more mainstream appeal?
• More me too games?

 

[StuBurns]

New CEO, I want Mirror's Edge 2, don't fuck me now.

 

[mackattk]

Any word on how much the severance package is?

So what now?

More or less of:

• Sequels?
• On disc DLC?
• Microtransaction being weaved into every game's SP and MP?
• Turning every game into generic xyz for more mainstream appeal?
• More me too games?

Probably more games along the lines of Simpsons: Tapped Out and RR3.

Objective completed. Commander Shepherd needs to rest. Either wait 2 hours or take a power nap and continue playing instantly for 160msp.

 

[antitrop]

Riccitiello greenlit Mirrors Edge, Dead Space and Brutal Legend. After that he pretty much became what Kotick was already doing better. Microtransactions in everything and dumbing down games.
Meanwhile Kotick said this

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mtHzLt3C_z0

 

[SniperHunter]

Sad news, I reallt loved EA this gen.

 

[Karl2177]

I wish I could solace knowing that things will be better there, but I know that isn't the case. He was just one of many at EA.

 

[DrWong]

Unprecedented partn... departure.

 

[Animator]

Who is that Jeff Green guy?

 

[Derrick01]

Riccitiello greenlit Mirrors Edge, Dead Space and Brutal Legend.

Meanwhile Kotick said this

How about you find all the games and anti-consumer tactics that Riccitiello greenlit in the last 5 years and stop relying on the same 2 games that came out in ancient times that everyone else relies on and gives them infinite amounts of goodwill for some strange reason?

 

[Shion]

I honestly don't get the hate for Riccitiello.

Under his management EA moved away from crappy licensed games and offered us stuff like Mass Effect, Dragon Age, Mirror's Edge, Dead Space etc.

It's not like EA was awesome before him or anything.

 

[Data West]

Nice. Hopeully wada is next

You know, I get that all the JRPG fans hate Wada, but wasn't he the one responsible for getting Eidos, which is the sole reason SE is still around while Nomura goes to fashion shows?

 

[unbias]

Jason Schreier from Kotakue posted that, while detailing the financial dive. Pretty good read to explain his resignation. http://kotaku.com/5991181/ea-ceo-john-riccitiello-steps-down

 

[antitrop]

I honestly don't get the hate for Riccitiello.

Under his management EA moved away from crappy licensed games and offered us stuff like Mass Effect, Dragon Age, Mirror's Edge, Dead Space etc.

It's not like EA was awesome before him or anything.

They were substantially worse. 04-06 were the dark years for EA, as well as 11-13.

Riccitello doesn't get enough credit for breaking the monotony of yearly franchise sequels. Not that his plan was successful financially. After that didn't work he pretty much just turned EA into an Activision wannabe.

 

[speculawyer]

Honestly, I'm surprised he lasted as long as he did. The guy started-off guilty of self-dealing with the bioware/pandemic deal, IMHO. And things didn't get much better from there. Many online gaming disasters (Sims online, Motor City online, Star Wars, etc.).

The board should have booted him years ago.

 

[darkside31337]

Maybe now the Wii U will get proper support. No?

If Peter Moore is taking over then I would not be surprised to see EA support completely cut off.

 

[equippedwithtowel]

Is this the Nintendo curse striking again? He should have known not to tempt fate.

 

[Replicant]

This won't change a thing. EA basically just sacrificed one of their own in an attempt to quell the customers' anger towards them. That's how cold-blooded they are. Instead of figuring out why customers are angry at them (ie. the online-only code for example), they just do useless thing like this.

Maybe now the Wii U will get proper support. No?

Is this the Nintendo curse striking again? He should have known not to tempt fate.

Keep dreaming.

 

[SkylineRKR]

But did he really? Xbox was a huge money drain and 360's sales only exploded after Mattrick came in.

Moore laid the foundation for Mattrick.

Moore was brash, something MS needed to combat Sony who were HUGE at the time. And I think he surely did succeed doing it. I mean, the 360 was still priced 400 at the time, it couldn't reach the mainstream audience yet. But Moore's team gained a big foothold. Ofcourse its also thanks to Sony's self destruction but Moore made the brand look cool. He was flamboyant and the Tattoo thing was kind of a good troll.

 

[Azih]

How about you find all the games and anti-consumer tactics that Riccitiello greenlit in the last 5 years and stop relying on the same 2 games that came out in ancient times that everyone else relies on and gives them infinite amounts of goodwill for some strange reason?

Tim Langdell agrees with you!

 

[metalslimer]

Jason Schreier from Kotakue posted that, while detailing the financial dive. Pretty good read to explain his resignation. http://kotaku.com/5991181/ea-ceo-john-riccitiello-steps-down

Iwata is screwed then

 

[PetriP-TNT]

Breaking: Gies and Riccitiello to switch jobs

 

[GavinGT]

When has a CEO ever resigned of their own volition? Either they're retiring or it's a firing dressed up to look like a resignation. Thanks Kevin Dent for stating the plainly obvious.