EA CEO Predicts One BIllion Gamers Within Two Years

Andy Chalk

One Flag, One Fleet, One Cat
Nov 12, 2002
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EA CEO Predicts One BIllion Gamers Within Two Years


EA [http://www.ea.com] CEO John Riccitiello predicts that the global gaming community will soon top one billion people, providing game makers with a huge opportunity for future growth.

The growth of the videogame market is being driven by "non-traditional" demographics like woman and seniors, who have little interest in what Big Fish Games [http://www.escapistmagazine.com/news/view/91978-Tomonobu-Itagaki-Returns-With-New-Game-New-Team] into major success stories. Riccitiello said the changing gamer demographic is changing the face of the industry itself.

"A few years ago, I think there were a couple of hundred million consumer participants in our industry. I think we are going to break a billion in a year or two," Riccitiello said in an interview with iPhones [http://www.reuters.com/article/vcMedia/idUSTRE5530N820090604]. They are doing micro-transactions on games like FIFA online."

As a result, Riccitiello said EA is releasing fewer games but maintaining a broad scope, ranging from hit franchises like the Madden NFL [http://maddennfl.easports.com/] series to budget-price mobile phone games. "We are producing fewer titles than we used to, but I don't know that I would agree with the idea that you just can try to identify your hits before you launch them, and do nothing but that," he said. "We had the number one market share in our industry last year, and we had our fair share of hits."

And despite the Wii [http://www.escapistmagazine.com/news/view/88029-EA-To-Cut-More-Jobs-Games]. "I feel good about where we are," he said. "I feel great about what we are showing."



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KeyMaster45

Gone Gonzo
Jun 16, 2008
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One billion gamers, and 75% of them are going to be housewives, old people, and Obama playing Wii sports....I'll prep the bomb shelter.
 

Sir Ollie

The Emperor's Finest
Jan 14, 2009
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Can't wait thats when I get harassed more by old people on XBL

Damn you whipper snapper!
 

EMFCRACKSHOT

Not quite Cthulhu
May 25, 2009
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Its the apocalypse, run for your lives!!!!!!!
Old people on xbox live, its a nightmare. Its bad enough when they tell me how much i suck when i'm at the busstation. On the otherhand, housewives=possibilities, oh yeah. Giggity giggity, giggity goo
 

Abedeus

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Sep 14, 2008
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Old people and housewives/people playing Sims 3/casual games are not real gamers. Same as someone who knows how to run isn't a marathon runner.

Besides, don't trust anything EA says. They ain't going to be a large part of that billion gamers if they keep destroying games' potential.
 

IrrelevantTangent

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Oct 4, 2008
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Malygris, one minor grammatical nitpick- it's Billion, not BIllion. :)

Other than that- I'm proud of the fact that us gamers can finally say we number in the billions instead of the millions. Says something about the influence gaming has, don't it?
 

Abedeus

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KDR_11k said:
Abedeus said:
Old people and housewives/people playing Sims 3/casual games are not real gamers.
No True Scotsman fallacy.
We have encountered a problem nr. 666 with this post.

Message: It's complete bullplap. Gibberish. Please consider rewriting your post and rethinking your mind.
 

ArcWinter

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May 9, 2009
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If you think 8-year olds over Live are racist and homophobic, wait till you hear those grandparents! "Back in my day, the blue team had to give the red team more respect! You damn kids, I was going to take that shotgun!"

Although I would never refer to an iPod or iPhone game as an actual "game". I think EA's CEO is confused about the definition.
 

Abedeus

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Sep 14, 2008
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ArcWinter said:
If you think 8-year olds over Live are racist and homophobic, wait till you hear those grandparents! "Back in my day, the blue team had to give the red team more respect! You damn kids, I was going to take that shotgun!"

Although I would never refer to an iPod or iPhone game as an actual "game". I think EA's CEO is confused about the definition.
Oooh. He really thinks that iPod and iPhones are games? I thought they are just applications that imitate games, but are worse in most of the ways (mostly, gameplay, due to lack of d-pad and keys) than handheld consoles.
 

KDR_11k

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Feb 10, 2009
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Abedeus said:
KDR_11k said:
Abedeus said:
Old people and housewives/people playing Sims 3/casual games are not real gamers.
No True Scotsman fallacy.
We have encountered a problem nr. 666 with this post.

Message: It's complete bullplap. Gibberish. Please consider rewriting your post and rethinking your mind.
You could have tried Wikipedia... I was accusing you of defining "real" gamers as whatever you find convenient to exclude people you don't like rather than any useful definition. As such your comment that they aren't "real" gamers is devoid of meaning.
 

llewgriff

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Feb 12, 2009
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HobbesMkii said:
Next challenge: One Billion self-identified gamers.
Yeah, like that'll happen soon, the focus will shift from hardcore to casual and we'll die out..... /sigh
 

darthzew

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Jun 19, 2008
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Eventually the good stuff becomes the popular stuff. That's when the people who actually cared about the good stuff in the beginning get the shaft.

Metallica is a good example. I love Metallica, but their stuff from mid-late ninties and St. Anger were just terrible MTV love.
 

Tehpwnsauce

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Apr 30, 2009
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KeyMaster45 said:
One billion gamers, and 75% of them are going to be housewives, old people, and Obama playing Wii sports....I'll prep the bomb shelter.
The only time I have seen more ignorance in one source is in a BNP leaflet.
 

Bigsmith

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Mar 16, 2009
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KeyMaster45 said:
One billion gamers, and 75% of them are going to be housewives, old people, and Obama playing Wii sports....I'll prep the bomb shelter.
I doubt Obama plays wii sports, He probably plays Cod4. It would be so funny to be snipped by
0b4m40fus4f7w! For thouse who cant read leet that says Obama of usa ftw
 

AceDiamond

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Jul 7, 2008
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Tehpwnsauce said:
KeyMaster45 said:
One billion gamers, and 75% of them are going to be housewives, old people, and Obama playing Wii sports....I'll prep the bomb shelter.
The only time I have seen more ignorance in one source is in a BNP leaflet.
Or possibly Fox News
 

sharks9

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Mar 28, 2009
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AceDiamond said:
Tehpwnsauce said:
KeyMaster45 said:
One billion gamers, and 75% of them are going to be housewives, old people, and Obama playing Wii sports....I'll prep the bomb shelter.
The only time I have seen more ignorance in one source is in a BNP leaflet.
Or possibly Fox News
^soooooo true!
 

samsonguy920

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Mar 24, 2009
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This just goes to show, that game publishers need to take their CEO's, give them a cookie, and lock them in a closet FOREVER.
 

KeyMaster45

Gone Gonzo
Jun 16, 2008
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Tehpwnsauce said:
KeyMaster45 said:
One billion gamers, and 75% of them are going to be housewives, old people, and Obama playing Wii sports....I'll prep the bomb shelter.
The only time I have seen more ignorance in one source is in a BNP leaflet.
I'm honored to think you see me as a viable source of information, but it was a joke dude.