Riccitiello: "quality of EA games up sharply"

Author: Joe Martin
Published: 29th July 2008
Comments (15) Stumble
John Riccitiello believes that the quality of EA's games has risen sharply over the past year.

John Riccitiello believes that the quality of EA's games has risen sharply over the past year.

EA CEO John Riccitiello believes that the quality of EA games has risen sharply since he began his reign according to comments in The Mercury News.

Riccitiello believes that, while EA used to have a reputation for rushed games and endless sequels or NFL licenses, that has changed since he took over thanks to games like Spore, Battlefield: Bad Company, Mercenaries 2, Crysis and the latest Command and Conquer games.

Buying up developers like BioWare and Pandemic can't have hurt either, we imagine.

"A lot of people in our industry get stuck thinking that their job is to manage a lot of business process, and somehow the games happen down in the trenches. I'm trying to actually get it shifted, so people understand that the most important thing in our company is where the programming, the art direction, the game design and production takes place," Riccitiello told the Mercury News.

"Ultimately, if we do that, we'll make the best games. If we make the best games, they'll sell really well, and we'll be really profitable.

"Our game quality and level of innovation is up sharply when you look at recently released titles and then you look at what's on the roadmap. We've turned the corner on that issue, and I'm very proud of that," he said.

Riccitiello goes on to say that he made the wrong choice when deciding that the Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 would be the market leaders, but that the increased emphasis on Wii, DS and PC games will make up for that as the company approaches Q4.

What do you reckon to EA and the recent history of the mega-publisher? Let us know what you think in the forums.
Quote The Infamous Mr D 29th July 2008, 10:18
Not that he's biased or anything :-)
Quote Mentai 29th July 2008, 10:55
I think EA have definitely improved. I don't mind them as a publisher anymore where I used to hate on them. Well done to the new leadership.
Quote bowman 29th July 2008, 10:56
Can't say I ever had a pickle with them but then again sports games hardly caught my interest.

Let's just hope they keep up their support of PC gaming.
Quote Flibblebot 29th July 2008, 11:50
Not difficult: when you're at the bottom, the only way is up :D

It's still going to take quite a while for EA to get a good reputation, though. And while they do have some good titles in their lineup, they still do a helluva lot of sequels, especially under the EA Sports brand.
Quote Timmy_the_tortoise 29th July 2008, 12:08
Quote:
Originally Posted by The Article
Buying up developers like BioWare and Pandemic can't have hurt either, we imagine.

I was gonna say, didn't they buy a hell of a lot of developers since he came along?
Quote Bladestorm 29th July 2008, 12:13
It sounds like he has the right idea, much as it has done since he got in, though I'm not quite ready to hand them respect yet, especially with things like the mass effect/spore/securom fiasco lately. I do recognize that since we're looking at 2-3 (or more) years for a decent game it could still take some time for his changes to really shine through though.
Quote Mongoose132 29th July 2008, 12:14
I'd have to agree with him on that point, at least with the games listed :)
Quote liratheal 29th July 2008, 13:24
I think the other thing in his favour is, he can at least talk.
Quote Romirez 29th July 2008, 13:36
"Riccitiello believes that, while EA used to have a reputation for rushed games and endless sequels or NFL licenses, that has changed since he took over thanks to games like Spore, Battlefield: Bad Company, Mercenaries 2, Crysis and the latest Command and Conquer games."

Aren't all of those, save Spore, under the 'endless sequels' banner? :p
I guess he has a point though, the overall quality of ea games seems to have improved, even if theyre still lacking in original titles.
Quote Timmy_the_tortoise 29th July 2008, 13:42
Quote:
Originally Posted by Romirez
"Riccitiello believes that, while EA used to have a reputation for rushed games and endless sequels or NFL licenses, that has changed since he took over thanks to games like Spore, Battlefield: Bad Company, Mercenaries 2, Crysis and the latest Command and Conquer games."

Aren't all of those, save Spore, under the 'endless sequels' banner? :p
I guess he has a point though, the overall quality of ea games seems to have improved, even if theyre still lacking in original titles.

Well, Crysis has yet to have any sequel released... And a second Mercernaries hardly gives it "endless sequels" status. I agree on Battlefield and C&C though.
Quote C-Sniper 29th July 2008, 14:01
I am still pissed at EA over the westwood buyout, but oh well, que cera, cera. I will admit though that they have gotten better since about 2years ago
Quote Faulk_Wulf 29th July 2008, 15:40
While Battlefield may have alot of sequels, the new one, Bad Company, is unique enough to warrant notice without unnecessarily being swept under the rug of "Endless Sequel".
Quote ab2c4 29th July 2008, 16:18
John Riccitiello is so full of garbage it isn't funny (and I am a fan of EA games). NCAA Football 09 was just released on July 15th and it is a complete and total mess. Patch one is supposed to be out this week and patch two which will allow the game to play without the game breaking glitches won't be released until Sept (approx).

Let's see, there is a roster edit glitch (patch 1). The sliders are broken, the defensive AI is broken, special teams AI is broken and that is just to name a few of the bigger problems (patch 2). This game was released unfinished and full of problems. It is an insult to gamers to read an article like this in which EA claims they are improving quality when in fact I think their quality is getting worse. Sounds like a PR statement to try to stop the bleeding after the mess that NCAA Football 09 is.
Quote Cadillac Ferd 29th July 2008, 20:12
You know for the first time in a long time I find myself actually eagerly awaiting not one but two EA games (Spore and Dead Space), I'm still not sure if I can trust them yet but I'm at least slightly more interested.

I don't think I'll ever be a fan of any EA sports games though, Madden was always the weaker football game IMHO before it became the ONLY football game.
Quote impar 29th July 2008, 20:52
Greetings!
Quote:
Originally Posted by Article
What do you reckon to EA and the recent history of the mega-publisher?
EA has gotten worse with the limited activations DRM.
Lost a sale of Mass Effect so far.
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