Electronic Arts CEO, John Riccitiello, has had an enormous fit of clarity and honesty. At least he has if were are to believe good old Dean Takahashi over at Venture Beat.
He interviewed Riccitiello following E3 and came up with the following:
Let's get this straight. Electronic Arts - like every corporation - is in business in order to "maximize stockholder value". Basically, that's all it's in business for. Therefore, if the stockholders really don't give a shit about quality, there's nothing stopping EA from dolling it out.
We'd prefer to think that it's possible to make money by not doing so. We hope Riccitiello does to.
See Venture Beat.
He interviewed Riccitiello following E3 and came up with the following:
"I don’t think the investors give a shit about our quality. They care about our earnings per share."
Let's get this straight. Electronic Arts - like every corporation - is in business in order to "maximize stockholder value". Basically, that's all it's in business for. Therefore, if the stockholders really don't give a shit about quality, there's nothing stopping EA from dolling it out.
We'd prefer to think that it's possible to make money by not doing so. We hope Riccitiello does to.
See Venture Beat.
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Comments
realvictory 22 Jul 2008 12:25
1/4
I would like to think that people who actually buy games care about quality, and consequently avoid buying s**t games. But I don't - so I see EA's point.
Watching Rick 22 Jul 2008 15:54
2/4
He's also recently said, "You don't make games profitable on purpose. You make great games first, and then they are profitable." I think he gets both sides of the equation.
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Art Green 24 Jul 2008 18:08
3/4
I don't think you completely understand what Riccitiello is saying. He's saying that investors care about the bottom line (because they've got their money invested in the company to succeed.) Gamers care about the quality of EA's games because they have money on the line because they purchased the title.
That's all. No reason to get up in arms about it.
That's all. No reason to get up in arms about it.
realvictory 24 Jul 2008 18:17
4/4
Art Green wrote:
I don't think you completely understand what Riccitiello is saying. He's saying that investors care about the bottom line (because they've got their money invested in the company to succeed.) Gamers care about the quality of EA's games because they have money on the line because they purchased the title.
That's all. No reason to get up in arms about it.
That's all. No reason to get up in arms about it.
No, what I was talking about was the relationship between "quality" and money. Better quality would mean more money if people buying (paying money for) the games sought quality.
But due to the lack of this relationship, EA are correct. To fix this problem, people need to base which games they buy on quality. And, obviously there are other factors, but, nevertheless, the better taste people had, the more of an incentive EA would have to make better quality games.
Ultimately, I don't mind what EA or its investors think, because I choose to buy what I want to play.