Whilst this is a grand move by the EA board, I fear it will not result in the change that many gamers wish to see at EA. Riti has pursued an aggressive monetisation strategy that has seen the introduction of always online DRM, day one DLC and microtransactions across most (and shortly all) of EAs major franchises and releases. This aggressive strategy has resulted in relative prosperity for EA over the last half-decade, and it's unlikely that the board or senior executives are going to blame this strategy for the failure of the company to maintain or grow its number 2 (now number 3) spot in the industry.
Instead, I think it is likely that EAs board and senior management will blame the companies current failures on the development teams at DICE, Bioware and other major studios. It seems that EA believe their failures are based purely on these studios and their inability to compete with their "mirror" teams at Activision Blizzard and other large publishing studios such as Take Two and Bethesda. It's likely that we will see the alienation and replacement of senior and well known figures at studios such as Maxis, Bioware and DICE continue well into fiscal 2014.
In short, whatever this means for EA it is undoubtedly not good for gamers. EA will continue to aggressively monetise gaming in an attempt to shore up their poor financial prospects. Personally I find it hard to believe that EA will be around in its current form in a year's time; it is prime merger material for other larger publishers looking to get in on the A game. Pun intended.