EA CEO John Riccitiello Resigns - UPDATED

GodzillaGuy92

New member
Jul 10, 2012
344
0
0
LetalisK said:
I'm gonna be honest, I figured he'd be the last person to hold himself accountable.

I would say "Good on him for that", but he waited so long to do it that it seems more like faint praise.
Was waiting for someone to bring that up. Yeah yeah, too little too late and all, but amidst all the gag-inducing praise for EA's contributions to the industry, that resignation letter at least contained some admission of failure coupled with the words, "I am 100 percent accountable." If nothing else, it's more than I think any of us expected of him.

Now, that said...

 

Shadow-Phoenix

New member
Mar 22, 2010
2,289
0
0
Though he is gone and it may be time for celebration we can't exactly see this as a new form of change for EA seeing as how similar practices will continue to live on with the company.

Remember the rule of two, there will always be a master and an apprentice.

 

Xanadu84

New member
Apr 9, 2008
2,946
0
0
First they offer $60 games to apologize for a a crappy few days of a $60 game, and now John Riccitiello resigns and...and this is the shocking part...actually ADMITS that it is because he screwed up? In a world where most CEO's pull some bullshit excuse in order to save face? Is EA trying to be...ACCOUNTABLE?

I'm torn between my desire to mock them with my shock for all there underhandedness, and my desire to celebrate the fact that they are at least starting to try to act like adults. My opinion is still low, but you know what? This is actually a start.
 

DeaDRabbiT

New member
Sep 25, 2010
139
0
0
Adept Mechanicus said:
Ding dong, the witch is dead. I don't think this is going to lead to a massive shakeup in corporate policy. A CEO is elected by the shareholders, after all.
Except that with all their "Digital revenues" their profits are tanking. I guess they are learning real fast that short profits aren't worth long losses.

I wouldn't be so pessimistic. It's almost the wild wild west right now with gaming, they are trying to push the limits of what they can get away with, and luckily the game enthusiasts out there are such a vocal bunch that the people that make our entertainment are getting the picture.

Be fair, give us good value, and don't sell us broken shit, and we will give you the monies.
 

Tradjus

New member
Apr 25, 2011
273
0
0
Well, Ricatello certainly can't bear all the blame for E.A's spiral into self-destruction in my opinion, but I also believe that he had his hand in it too, pushing the company in the wrong direction and not ensuring better public relations with the gaming community. Hopefully the next C.E.O will make engaging with us and servicing our needs and desires as customers a top priority rather than balling up any notion of making us happy and tossing it into the wastebin.
 

Xanadu84

New member
Apr 9, 2008
2,946
0
0
faefrost said:
piinyouri said:
Respect to the man for taking accountability.
If you don't believe that the board came to him and said "Time to go" than I have a bridge to sell you in Brooklyn. He hasn't taken accountability for anything in years. he didn't now. It's just less embarrassing for all involved than to say "We fired his ass".
He could have VERY easily have said some bullshit story about, "Pursuing other interests", or whatever BS story that every other CEO in the world makes up when he gets ousted. And no board in the universe wants to get dragged into a pissing competition with a former CEO and suddenly make all their customers (And more importantly, investors) squeamish. He could have tried to save face, and he would have absolutely gotten away with it. Instead, he actually said that he screwed up, and taken responsibility when he didn't have to. In this day and age, that is AMAZING, and I can think of no other CEO who has done that sort of thing, and plenty of CEO's have screwed up just as badly or worse then him. Sure, I understand your opinion of him being low: Mine still is. But this was a honorable move, and I at least respect that.
 

dyre

New member
Mar 30, 2011
2,178
0
0
Xanadu84 said:
faefrost said:
piinyouri said:
Respect to the man for taking accountability.
If you don't believe that the board came to him and said "Time to go" than I have a bridge to sell you in Brooklyn. He hasn't taken accountability for anything in years. he didn't now. It's just less embarrassing for all involved than to say "We fired his ass".
He could have VERY easily have said some bullshit story about, "Pursuing other interests", or whatever BS story that every other CEO in the world makes up when he gets ousted. And no board in the universe wants to get dragged into a pissing competition with a former CEO and suddenly make all their customers (And more importantly, investors) squeamish. He could have tried to save face, and he would have absolutely gotten away with it. Instead, he actually said that he screwed up, and taken responsibility when he didn't have to. In this day and age, that is AMAZING, and I can think of no other CEO who has done that sort of thing, and plenty of CEO's have screwed up just as badly or worse then him. Sure, I understand your opinion of him being low: Mine still is. But this was a honorable move, and I at least respect that.
CEOs are often held accountable (rightly or wrongly) for a company's financial troubles anyway. I think the size of his severance package will be a better indicator of how accountable he feels for EA's financial shortcomings.
 

Comando96

New member
May 26, 2009
637
0
0
Some interesting financial news:
http://www.rttnews.com/2079106/electronic-arts-inc-ea-is-rising-after-ceo-steps-down.aspx

Market forces will dicide this guys legacy.
A companies share price will rise when a poor CEO resignes.

EA's share price has risen.

bafrali said:
Well that came out of nowhere. Is EA really doing that badly right now? I know Dead Space 3 has sold a bit below expectations but... I wonder if he was pressured into resigning.
Their share price fell off of a cliff in 2008 and has never recovered. The pressure will have built after all these years.

https://www.google.co.uk/finance?cid=168725
 

Callate

New member
Dec 5, 2008
5,118
0
0
I suspect that as far as EA is concerned, this isn't a good sign.

Ricitiello has certainly had his hands in his share of bad EA decisions, especially where EA's entry into the digital-download space is concerned. But my impression has been for a while that, unlike Activision, EA is less rotting from the head down than pitted with tumors, especially in its marketing, legal, acquisitions and HR departments.

All the usual corporate gladspeak aside, I have a sneaking feeling that JR's departure has less to do with new opportunities and more to do with not being on the helm when the damage stops being possible to hide.
 

lRookiel

Lord of Infinite Grins
Jun 30, 2011
2,821
0
0
My mind wanders to the death of Grelod the kind "Yay she is dead".

That seems to be the situation here.
 

Atmos Duality

New member
Mar 3, 2010
8,473
0
0
Comando96 said:
Some interesting financial news:
http://www.rttnews.com/2079106/electronic-arts-inc-ea-is-rising-after-ceo-steps-down.aspx

Market forces will dicide this guys legacy.
A companies share price will rise when a poor CEO resignes.

EA's share price has risen.
And we have a winner. This was a move to please shareholders, and should NOT be taken as a sign of significant change until it happens. Chances are good that the EA under Riccitiello is going to be the same EA without him: Bullshit and all.

I would like to add that Riccitiello's departure comes at a curiously convenient time (the end of Q2 of the fiscal year), along with the usual slapdash game designed to boost revenue haphazardly at the last second (which explains why SimCity launched in its current horrible state).

I'm guessing these events are not coincidental.
 

Slayer_2

New member
Jul 28, 2008
2,475
0
0
The rats are fleeing the ship. Hopefully now they will learn and fix their mistakes before they sink it completely.
 

FEichinger

Senior Member
Aug 7, 2011
534
0
21
While I certainly appreciate change of any sort in EA's leadership, but the fact that he resigns won't mean that anything changes for the customer. In fact, and I sure hope EA is gonna prove me wrong on this in the future, I give him a lot of credit for actually not being responsible for all of this outside of the fact that he didn't say "No." - which would likely have cost him his job. It is not entirely or directly his fault that EA went downhill.
I could even go out on a limb and say that this is just a change of the corporate face to cut off some of the bad PR. It would be reasonable, at this point, even though I - again - sure hope EA proves me wrong on this.

Captcha: moot point

Yep, seems like it.
 

Comando96

New member
May 26, 2009
637
0
0
Slayer_2 said:
The rats are fleeing the ship. Hopefully now they will learn and fix their mistakes before they sink it completely.
Hey...

Don't insult rats.

Rats are cool :p