If you were hoping to see some sort of restructuring plan for mega-gaming giant Electronic Arts, think again. While the quarterlies are coming up on July 31st for EA and the stock looks worse than a river of piss in a sewer-less Africa, the executive board members are willing to stand behind the man who helped make Electronic Arts the Worst Company in America.
According to GameIndustry.biz, Larry Probst, chairman of the board at EA commented at a recent annual meeting for shareholders, saying...
"The board has a very high level of confidence in John and the management team," ... "They've done a really good job of actually exceeding their operating plan in the last two fiscal years. We think the strategy is spot on going forward and we have a high level of confidence that they will execute well against that strategy.”...at this point in time there is absolutely no plan to replace John as the CEO, we have a high level of confidence in both him and the management team."
Oh boy, that's not good news. John Riccitiello was a long time high-roller in Electronic Arts until he hit the CEO jackpot back in 2007, where as we all know the company had acquired several high profile development studios, one of which was the once beloved BioWare. Fast-forward a few years and we're dealing with day-one DLC, online passes that expire and the whole Worst Company in America thing.
Well, after core gamers got pissed and started lambasting EA across the entirety of the interwebs and the stock started diving, Riccitiello expressed fear for his job at the upcoming quarterlies taking place on July 31st. It's not just the stock, though, it's the underperformance of Mass Effect 3, the dropping subs of Star Wars: The Old Republic and the generally bad perception people have of Electronic Arts.
Riccitiello had his own bit to add to the table, stating that...
"Digital, mobile, PC etcetera has been the growth marketplace and more recently a softening in the social market," ... "Essentially they see us operating in not a growth industry, they see us operating in a flat industry. What I think they're missing is a multi-year understanding of trends and cycles of our business.""Our view of the market is that after a couple of very, very turbulent, challenging times in the games industry, we're about to see another strong, positive performance."
Hopefully we can see the “positive performance” without all the wallet-raping antics. Otherwise EA will be right back in the same position they're in now. In the meantime, gamers will have to suck it up and deal with Riccitiello and crew just a while longer.
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