Electronic Arts Leader Says Company Will Regain Industry Leadership

John Riccitiello, who is the chief executive officer of video game publisher Electronic Arts, has expressed confidence that his company is on the right track to becoming yet again a leader in its industry, after having a fairly bad couple of years.

The executive spoke at the Goldman Sachs Technology and Internet Conference and said, “Through this last transition to the PS3 era for a whole bunch of reasons that are worth getting into, I think it's fair to say we dropped the ball. Our IP deteriorated, our costs went up, and we didn't really have an answer for the rise in digital.”

The CEO did not detail the exact reasons for the tough period, but says that the leadership moved quickly to remake the company, by limiting the number of actual video games that it launches during one year and by reducing the costs associated for development.

He also detailed how Electronic Arts quickly jumped on the free-to-play and casual game train, with the acquisition of developer Playfish providing a boost, and has had more success in the space than rival Activision, which currently sees the market as an unimportant sides how.

The CEO stated, “As the head of our Playfish division likes to say, 'There's no such thing as free to play... it's play first, pay later,' and that's a very compelling model.”

In recent financial reports, Electronic Arts has detailed impressive increases in revenue that has come from digitally distributed products, singling out performance of the Ultimate Team card-based mode for FIFA 11, which has brought in more than 40 million dollars.

At the moment Electronic Arts is creating side experiences based on popular series, like Dragon Age and Dead Space, launching them for mobile devices in order to draw in a more wide slate of gamers but also delivering game linked experiences on Facebook.