Riccitiello: Crappy licensed games take the industry backwards

It seems that barely a day passes without EA CEO John Riccitiello hitting the headlines – and this time the outspoken boss has lashed out at below-par license-based games.

Though Riccitiello admits that EA has churned out some poor licensed titles in its time, he also states that things are changing – adding that indeed they must, as low-quality titles affect the creditability and prosperity of the entire industry.

I think what redeems our industry is quality, and I think we take a step back every time we take a license and exploit it with a crappy game,” he told MTV Multiplayer. That’s not what we’re about.

I don’t actually believe EA is in the business of exploiting other people’s licenses with bad quality games. We’ve been there. Most of our competitors are there or have been there. That’s not what we do. We’re not really after that market.

Now Metacritic isn’t always the best quality measure for some licensed games, but I know a good game when I see it. My team and our developers know a good game when we see it. The products we’re putting out this year from Hasbro — I don’t know how they’re going to do with Metacritic, but they’re innovative, they’re different.

We’ve got the first E-rated shooter with our Nerf game. What we’re doing with our Family Game Night, what we’re doing with Littlest Pet Shop, what we’re doing with Sims – really cool stuff. It feels like it’s demographically similar but it’s very highly innovative.”