Peter Moore Hits Back at "Smug" Riccitiello Exit Jokes

EA's chief operating officer (and major contender for new CEO) Peter Moore has hit out at what he calls "smug" taunts towards exiting boss John Riccitiello.

Shortly after Riccitiello announced his resignation, Kotaku published an article collecting a number of Twitter jokes about his departure. Moore responded to the piece in a post on his personal Facebook page.

"Kotaku revelling in what, due to their self-smugness, they don't realise is a sad day for our industry, which is the platform on which they actually make money," he wrote (via GI.biz). "John not only helped propel our company and interactive entertainment into new experiences, thus enticing millions of new people to become 'gamers', his work leading the ESA in recent years has helped ensure that we don't experience the fate of the music industry.

"It is a sad loss for all of us who had the pleasure of working with him as we emerged from The Burning Platform."

Riccitiello's announcement comes following a significant loss of talent in the mobile and MMO space, including Playfish and Bioware - and more recently, a hobbled SimCity launch which continues to attract criticism from long-time fans.