EA "not weakened" by Zynga staff poaching

Electronic Arts has not been weakened by the departures of key personnel to rivals such as social gaming outfit Zynga, CEO John Riccitiello has said.

The publishing giant has had numerous head staff exit the company during the last year, with former COO John Schappert and exec VP of EA interactive Barry Cottle leaving for Zynga, and more recently CFO Eric Brown quitting the company to join Polycom.

"To a person, they came and saw me at one point in the process, usually in tears or close to tears, with a story that basically goes like this. ‘I love my company. I love Electronic Arts. I bleed blue, but they’re going to give me a bank account in the first 12 or 24 months that I couldn’t get anywhere and may never get anywhere for the rest of my life,’” Riccitiello told Gamasutra.

"So it was more about personal balance sheet stuff. To a person, they’ve told me – and I think if you speak to them, would probably say they believe in the Electronic Arts story and sort of where it’s going.So I don’t feel at all weakened by it. They got some good guys, and I think we’re fine."

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