DICE 08: Riccitiello warns against consolidation, says EA 'blew it'

by James Ransom-Wiley { Feb 8th 2008 at 7:30PM }

EA CEO John Riccitiello took the stage during the final day of DICE to preach a doctrine of, well, basically: the exact opposite of everything EA has been doing for the past 15 years. In late 1992, EA gobbled up Origin, and then it was Bullfrog in '95, followed by Westwood in '98, and so and so forth, leading right up to the acquisition of BioWare and Pandemic Studios last October. "We at EA blew it," said Riccitiello, speaking to the woeful fates of those early, and once top-tier developers after they became part of the EA 'family.' Lesson learned, apparently.

Riccitiello highlighted "creative failure" as the most telling outcome of consolidation (Hello Activision!) and urged the industry to follow examples set by studios like Rockstar, Valve and Blizzard, who have succeeded by remaining autonomous within the corporate umbrella (Riccitiello used the analogy of "city-states"). Overall, Riccitiello's was a promising message of awareness and change from EA -- at the least, reassurance that BioWare will never be relegated to Madden duty under his watch.

Tags: consolidation, dice, dice-08, ea, john-riccitiello

Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)

Moorio || peacebyanymeans @ Feb 8th 2008 7:47PM

Am I in the right Universe?

Josh @ Feb 8th 2008 7:52PM

I think EA and Ubisoft pulled a Freaky Friday.

DangerMouse @ Feb 8th 2008 8:20PM

No. Exit stage left plz. Thanks.

raptorspike @ Feb 8th 2008 7:54PM

EA....admitting.....fault? Did someone spike my drink? Am I dreaming?

Nick the Hero of Canton @ Feb 8th 2008 7:58PM

If they can fix my beloved Sims franchise, then damnit, I think I can forgive them.

Mr.ESC @ Feb 8th 2008 8:59PM

We need the Sims 3,stop with the goddamn expansion packs EA.Man I sure loved the sims,best game ever.

David @ Feb 8th 2008 9:17PM

Noooooo! I spent way too much money on the expansions to just get a sequel. :(

Damn it, there goes my investment.

Nick the Hero of Canton @ Feb 9th 2008 7:17PM

Yeah. Seasons was the first expansion pack to really begin the "there goes the series" feel. It was good but it was empty and you could tell from there the fans were fucked. With all these stupid offshoots (Sims DJ? Really?) and just badly made expansions (like the entire controversy over Bon Voyage) it's really kind of sad being a long time Sims fan.

unclee00 @ Feb 8th 2008 7:59PM

.......did I read that right?

EihBeir @ Feb 8th 2008 8:01PM

This'd be the same dumbass who complained about companies pumping out sequel after sequel.

NeverSage @ Feb 8th 2008 8:18PM

Good Lord, he speaks the truth.

JakubK666 @ Feb 8th 2008 8:22PM

Yeah...they'll be good for 3 months,then get back to their old habits.

Poisoned Al @ Feb 8th 2008 8:23PM

Actions speck louder then words. If EA stop shitting out sequels and buying and buggering up good dev teams, THEN I'll be impressed.

Dan K. @ Feb 8th 2008 8:28PM

"Ya blew it. Capiche?"

Magetto @ Feb 8th 2008 8:41PM

I'm liking more and more the direction EA goes in. Let's hope they continue down the path back to the 'old' EA. Before, you know, they were buying out everyone in site and creating sequel after sequel.

bigsofty @ Feb 8th 2008 8:59PM

I gotta T-Shirt "If its EA - Don't Buy!"

Jones75 @ Feb 8th 2008 9:06PM

It's like Bizarro-EA - I like it! Or is that "I am hate it"?

Bluebrake @ Feb 8th 2008 9:09PM

But... but... the synergy!

Seriously. Cheers to this guy.

ianp711 @ Feb 8th 2008 10:32PM

I still hope EA goes out of business. Especially after what they did with Origin and Westwood...

Jeff @ Feb 8th 2008 11:54PM

Activion is the new evil empire.

EA is, honestly, on the right path.

Youthinized @ Feb 9th 2008 12:11AM

Yes, lets all Hate Activision.

I think my hatred started to flow when they put GHIII out. I still haven't put that damn thing in since Rock Band. That and Tony Hawk trying to be original and brand new every year.

Thatoneguy64 @ Feb 9th 2008 12:28AM

I've been saying it over and over;

EA has been gradually rising to be a respectable developer/producer, while Activision has fallen into their old place.

LordPaul @ Feb 9th 2008 3:04AM

Cool - how's about my old job back?!?

(not really, I'm on more money with less stress now I'm out of that business!)

Sean @ Feb 9th 2008 4:08AM

It's ironic since EA was created because they wanted to give developers more autonomy as well as highlight their individual creative talents.

Poisoned Al @ Feb 9th 2008 5:12AM

The British Empire started out the same way, and look what happened to that.

Mr Khan @ Feb 9th 2008 12:08PM

They participate in a highly prosperous, global commonwealth?

I know they're not in any control, but Britain's influence still sits the world over

SoxFan13 @ Feb 9th 2008 7:55AM

"No, seriously guys. We tried the 'buy-up-all-the-studios-route' and we've barely made any money. You DEFINITELY shouldn't do it and give us any competition, er, I mean cause any problems for yourself."

OMGOMG @ Feb 9th 2008 4:47PM

18-1*

SoxFan13 @ Feb 10th 2008 7:58AM

OMGOMG- First of all, way to add to the topic at hand. Second of all, I'm a WHITE SOX fan, not Red Sox. I'm HAPPY the Pats lost.

Darkthrall @ Feb 9th 2008 9:42AM

IS this Cat dead??? i think so... look at teh blood on its left arm and on the ball as well... -_-

Barbie Fu @ Feb 9th 2008 11:36AM

hell yeah......let games be made by players, not corporate board m'EA'tings.......

Barbie Fu @ Feb 9th 2008 11:38AM

ps......the last madden i liked was on snes.....and the last command and conquer i likes was red alert......

Shiba @ Feb 10th 2008 11:29AM

I don't buy it, all of this somehow involves them trying to get us to give them more money.

A pathetic attempt at that, this is pretty much the equivalent of claiming to be "born-again" and your a tool if you can't see the cop-out in that.

Urza @ Feb 10th 2008 1:23PM

But can you imagine EA's sports engine combined with BioWare's roleplay experience? You'd have the best sports simulator ever... EVA!

Lol.. no, I changed my mind... free BioWare!