Rumour vultures begin to circle Riccitiello

The insatiable online rumour mill is once again questioning the viability of John Riccitiello’s position at the top of EA.

Rumours of discontent emerged yesterday when US analyst Michael Pachter claimed that Riccitiello had confessed to him that he feared for his job, adding that the exec doesn’t understand what is going wrong” at the publisher.

EA’s stock hit a year-long low on the markets yesterday.

Now Game Front reckons it has word from an anonymous source close to the matter that there may be substance to Riccitiello’s worries”.

It believes that the EA board will at some point after EA’s July 30th earnings call” ask Riccitiello to step down and subsequently promote COO and former Xbox boss Peter Moore to CEO.

Oddly, the site added that our source noted that this change is not set in stone”.

In MCV’s opinion there seems to be little credibility to the rumour. How could anyone claim to have foreknowledge of a sacking of this nature that might still not occur? This has wild speculation and porkies spread all over it.

But that’s not to say that the move is impossible. Indeed, Riccitiello has been talking the talk for some time, but ultimately it’s EA’s share price that will define his fate. And that’s not looking good right now.