Riccitiello: 2007 was EAs toughest year

Speaking at EA’s recent investor meeting, EA CEO John Riccitiello has said that the 2007 fiscal year was the toughest in the company’s history”, and admitted that EA was on the wrong horse” when it decided to focus its next-gen resources on PS3 and 360, Next-Gen

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The last transition was tough because we typically have two to three platforms and a five year period,” he stated. One of the biggest challenges, of course, was that not a lot of people anticipated the success of Nintendo that they’ve shown with their wand controller and their Wii."

Riccitiello added that he was disappointed with the firm’s share price performance, too.

However, on a more positive note he pointed out that EA has the second-largest market share on Wii (19 per cent), thanks mainly to Tiger Woods PGA Tour. Throughout the period EA shipped six Wii titles and eight DS games.

Riccitiello also mentioned EA’s commitment to push new IP, saying that there is a strong investment in new intellectual property” at the firm, including the likes of Army of Two, Rock Band, Crysis, a Stephen Spielberg Wii game and Playground.