EA CEO: ‘We dropped the ball’

Electronic Arts has acknowledged it struggled to cope with the console transition to this generation, admitting that publisher made mistakes the past years. However, The company reckons its back in business and believes it’s now in a better position than it has been for some time.

"Through this last transition to the PS3 era... for a whole bunch of reasons that aren't worth getting into in a short answer, I think it's fair to say we dropped the ball," CEO John Riccitiello said at the Goldman Sachs Technology and Internet Conference.

"Our IP deteriorated, our costs went up, and we didn't really have an answer for the rise in digital."

Now that EA is doing better, Riccitiello is a big believer in the free-to-play model, stating it’s ”a better model than pay to play” . He pointed out that total revenue from FIFA Ultimate team quadrupled from $10 million to $40 million when EA made the $10 add-on game available for free.

"As the head of our Playfish division likes to say, 'There's no such thing as free
to play... It's play first, pay later,' and that's a very compelling model."

He added: "Our FIFA business is a leader on iPhone, a leader on Android, a leader on social networks, a leader on free-to-play. We did it with Dead Space, we did it with Mass Effect, we did it with Dragon Age, we did it with The Sims."

[Source: Gamastura]