Electronic Arts is preparing itself for a video gaming world where it faces serious competition in the form of the Activision/Vivendi-Blizzard merger. It has announced its intention to become even more business focused with the appointment of a new president and Chief Operating Officer.
John Pleasants, former president of CEO of Ticketmaster and then Revolution Health Group, has been named as president of global publishing and Chief Operating Officer at Electronic Arts.
Pleasants starts in his new role immediately and will report directly to EA's CEO, John Riccitiello.
So what? Well, Pleasants is all about the money. He has no previous video games industry experience. He does, however, have experience of working for two of the corporate world's most aggressive moguls: Barry Diller at Ticketmaster, and Steve Case at Revolution.
This is a case, therefore, of Electronic Arts appointing a figure who has the acumen to take tedious detail such as closing deals and fighting hard from Riccitiello, enabling the latter to concentrate on 'big picture' strategy such as identifying more acquisition targets.
“John's experience as a business operator, his knowledge of online consumer relationships and his ability to lead large global teams will be a big asset to EA”, said Riccitiello. “He will be a close partner to me and to the executives that lead our four labels.”
Pleasants' biography at Revolution described him as responsible for "operations, acquisitions and performance". Translation - he's most likely been brought in to deal with the nuts and bolts of the running of EA while Riccitiello is freed up to look at the bigger picture.
“This is a phenomenal opportunity and there’s no better time to be joining EA”, uttered John Pleasants. “John Riccitiello and the team at EA have laid out the right plan to take EA forward by building innovative products, expanding digital revenues, and extending its strengths in global publishing. I'm excited about the challenge of leading these initiatives and working with this talented team.”
Yes, the "right plan to take EA forward by... extending its strengths in global publishing." Takeover of Take-Two, anyone?
Ironically, the front page of Revolution Health bares the words, "Take 2: Our experts blog on the news". No, not that Take-Two. OK, so it's not laugh-out-loud funny...
John Pleasants, former president of CEO of Ticketmaster and then Revolution Health Group, has been named as president of global publishing and Chief Operating Officer at Electronic Arts.
Pleasants starts in his new role immediately and will report directly to EA's CEO, John Riccitiello.
So what? Well, Pleasants is all about the money. He has no previous video games industry experience. He does, however, have experience of working for two of the corporate world's most aggressive moguls: Barry Diller at Ticketmaster, and Steve Case at Revolution.
This is a case, therefore, of Electronic Arts appointing a figure who has the acumen to take tedious detail such as closing deals and fighting hard from Riccitiello, enabling the latter to concentrate on 'big picture' strategy such as identifying more acquisition targets.
“John's experience as a business operator, his knowledge of online consumer relationships and his ability to lead large global teams will be a big asset to EA”, said Riccitiello. “He will be a close partner to me and to the executives that lead our four labels.”
Pleasants' biography at Revolution described him as responsible for "operations, acquisitions and performance". Translation - he's most likely been brought in to deal with the nuts and bolts of the running of EA while Riccitiello is freed up to look at the bigger picture.
“This is a phenomenal opportunity and there’s no better time to be joining EA”, uttered John Pleasants. “John Riccitiello and the team at EA have laid out the right plan to take EA forward by building innovative products, expanding digital revenues, and extending its strengths in global publishing. I'm excited about the challenge of leading these initiatives and working with this talented team.”
Yes, the "right plan to take EA forward by... extending its strengths in global publishing." Takeover of Take-Two, anyone?
Ironically, the front page of Revolution Health bares the words, "Take 2: Our experts blog on the news". No, not that Take-Two. OK, so it's not laugh-out-loud funny...
Companies:
Electronic Arts
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Comments
SuperSaiyan4 17 Mar 2008 11:13
1/4
And here was me getting all excited that they would say 'We will start to make better games' who am I kidding I should punish myself to even think that EA would ever think about the gamers.
Daz 17 Mar 2008 13:43
2/4
yes, yes you should
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Joji 17 Mar 2008 16:20
3/4
And the worrying news continues. A suit with no games industry experience, I thought they were all like that at EA. What's with the rush to be number one? Does it really matter that much?
I swear, I love games and the industry but I fear for its collapse if these Scylla (Activision) and Charybdis (EA) struggle to eat everything with a drop of creativity. So blinded by the twinkling of more money, in a very Scrooge McDuck way, that they can't see what they are doing to us and the bigger industry picture.
Seems its not enough to be content with what you have anymore. What a shame.
I swear, I love games and the industry but I fear for its collapse if these Scylla (Activision) and Charybdis (EA) struggle to eat everything with a drop of creativity. So blinded by the twinkling of more money, in a very Scrooge McDuck way, that they can't see what they are doing to us and the bigger industry picture.
Seems its not enough to be content with what you have anymore. What a shame.
JJ 17 Mar 2008 20:38
4/4
just watched videogaidens latest episode, their review on Army of Two proves EA are still s**t....and videogaiden presenters agree on that.