Riccitiello Says Investors Don't Care About Quality

[FORMULA316]

While our developer friends are hard at work nursing NCAA Football 09,
some leisure ready for the afternoon

http://www.escapistmagazine.com/news...-About-Quality

Riccitiello Says Investors Don't Care About Quality
Andy Chalk posted on 22 Jul 2008 11:48 am
bioware, dragon age, electronic arts, investors, john riccitiello, mass effect 2, saboteur, take-two

Electronic Arts CEO John Riccitiello says that while EA is working hard to improve the quality of its games, investors don't particularly care about that.

"I don't think the investors give a **** about our quality," Riccitiello admitted during a lengthy interview with VentureBeat. "They care about our earnings per share. They wait for it to happen. We had three years where we didn't make our expectations. If I were an investor, I would wait and see. That's fine with me."

Touching on the acquisitions of BioWare and Pandemic, he added, "We've got a massively multiplayer online game coming, which we haven't announced. It could be very lucrative for us. We got a really positive reaction to Dragon Age. We've got games like Saboteur in the works. We've got Mass Effect 2 coming. Some of it is 2009 software. If you're stuck on the fact that the stock is at $45, I can't really help you."

Riccitiello also expressed amusement at the industry's near-obsession with EA's ongoing efforts to acquire Take-Two Interactive, a story which has been largely static since it began. "There have basically been three moves and there have been 6000 articles on it. It's sort of amusing," he said. "I feel a little bit like those strobe light things were it looks like a guy is moving a lot. The flash goes off but the body doesn't move. Every time a flash goes off, somebody writes a story on it. To be honest with you, the last time there was news was a couple months ago."

VentureBeat's full Q&A with EA chief John Riccitiello can be read here.

[nstod]

Do you disagree with that? He's exactly right. Investors only care about the $$ coming in and going out. The flip side is that the customers DO care about quality, and they have a big say in the $$ coming in.

[pjv31]

Well its true. They invest to make money not play the games.

[baumy300]

Well the investors can't be too smart then. If the quality of the games isn't good, do they really expect to keep selling them and therefore bring in a profit?

Come on now.

[FORMULA316]

Quote: Originally Posted by nstod

Do you disagree with that? He's exactly right. Investors only care about the $$ coming in and going out. The flip side is that the customers DO care about quality, and they have a big say in the $$ coming in.

I invest, and I like profit, I actually love profit. Really love it.

Having said that I have shares of Tim Horton's. Doesn't mean I love the
lackluster customer service or their leaky coffee cups.

A high profile exec from EA might want to consider what he put outs there
for public consumption.

[nstod]

Quote: Originally Posted by baumy300

Well the investors can't be too smart then. If the quality of the games isn't good, do they really expect to keep selling them and therefore bring in a profit? Come on now.

You sure about that? Last week alone, NCAA 09 sold 290,627 copies on the 360 and 124,663 copies on the PS3. Combined, that's 415,290 copies. This is after a "horrible" NCAA 08 game. The other 3 games in the top 5 were all Wii games (Wii Sports 159,292; Mario Kart Wii 84,951; Wii Play 77,134). I would say that the general public still likes EA games pretty well.

[FORMULA316]

Quote: Originally Posted by nstod

You sure about that? Last week alone, NCAA 09 sold 290,627 copies on the 360 and 124,663 copies on the PS3. Combined, that's 415,290 copies. This is after a "horrible" NCAA 08 game. The other 3 games in the top 5 were all Wii games (Wii Sports 159,292; Mario Kart Wii 84,951; Wii Play 77,134). I would say that the general public still likes EA games pretty well.

Absolutely. Having said that again high profile execs may want to keep
their sentiments on the down-low. EA wants to make more money, not lose,
or stay the same. We don't hear Steve Jobs pandering to shareholders do we?
Oh Apple loves and wants to make money but at the same time a company
should put on a good show, make money, and care about the end-product.

[GoVols1985]

Quote: Originally Posted by nstod

You sure about that? Last week alone, NCAA 09 sold 290,627 copies on the 360 and 124,663 copies on the PS3. Combined, that's 415,290 copies. This is after a "horrible" NCAA 08 game. The other 3 games in the top 5 were all Wii games (Wii Sports 159,292; Mario Kart Wii 84,951; Wii Play 77,134). I would say that the general public still likes EA games pretty well.

What are the first week sales figures for the 5 previous games in the series? Is NCAA 09 selling more, less, or the same?

[Mad 69]

EA needs competition, their NFL and NCAA exclusivity is killing us the consumer. I sure as hell hope they don't acquire Take Two. They can continue to put a sub par game out every year and expect profit. Something has to be done to hurt their profits before they even think about fixing anything.

[fistofrage]

Quote: Originally Posted by baumy300

Well the investors can't be too smart then. If the quality of the games isn't good, do they really expect to keep selling them and therefore bring in a profit? Come on now.

Of course they do. Look at NCAA Football its been rubbish for years and now they have the exclusivity. I still bought it. I won't next year, but I guarantee I'm one of the very few sheep that will stray from the flock. They could put out stick figures with an NCAA football logo on it and 1/2 the people on OS would get it 4 days before the street release posting pictures and saying how "Sick" it is.