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Not nearly. More like he was fired after years of EA losing millions. If anything, I pin it on the SWTOR disaster.
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With good cause. What a debacle.
Under his stuardship EA has made it that much harder for paying subscribers to continue their subscriptions, made it nearly impossible to resubscribe without a tutorial that no one knows where it is, and made purchasing items at the online store even more cumbersome... Yes it is defeintely time for some new leadership... maybe the new guy will actually want customers to give the company money and facilitate that process with some more reasonable systems.
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Do you guys really think any CEO EA has ever had knew anything about the games they were producing, exspecially the computer games? Heck I would be willing to say that 90% of EA's CEOs know anything about video games at all.
The business/CEO world is not that simple. Bank CEO's don't know a thing about banking, retail CEO's don't know anything about retail sales, resturant CEO's don't know anything about the food industry, and so on. Instead all CEO's have the same "basic" skill set. Leadership, communication, decesion making, and surrounding yourself around other great leaders.
I could be wrong here, but I seriously doubt any CEO got their job by putting "Played Ultima Online since Beta" on their resume.
The business/CEO world is not that simple. Bank CEO's don't know a thing about banking, retail CEO's don't know anything about retail sales, resturant CEO's don't know anything about the food industry, and so on. Instead all CEO's have the same "basic" skill set. Leadership, communication, decesion making, and surrounding yourself around other great leaders.
I could be wrong here, but I seriously doubt any CEO got their job by putting "Played Ultima Online since Beta" on their resume.
What happened?
Hopefully the requirements for the new CEO include:
1) Making it quick and easy for a new customer to join one of their online games.
2) Making it quick and easy for old and new customers to be able to give money to EA to pay for their game subscriptions.
3) Move their online games back to the old server system so they run faster and make it more likely their online game customers will stay customers.
4) Restore EA customer service so that we can once again get in touch with a GM within 3 or 4 hours and have a phone number to reach EA Customer Service for things GMs are not able to help with.
5) Have the UOstore start letting us buy more than one of an item at a time.
6) Mandate that online game customers get popular changes to the games they pay to play instead of things they don't want. Happy customers tend to stay customers longer than unhappy customers do.
7) Mandate that the Quality Department that handles software testing have the people they need to seriously check new code before it's released.
8) Mandate that storyline event moderators have the ability and authority to evict players from events if the players are griefing the event. Making two or three players unhappy while making it possible for several dozen others to enjoy an event makes a game more popular with all except the griefer types.
9) Mandate all games EA has are advertised to draw in new customers. More customers means more money coming in. Require the advertising to point out strengths each game has that other games lack. UO's serious crafting feature, UO's being a sandbox where you are not locked into a set series of quests, abilities, and monsters as you play are good examples. It's not just a simple monster whacker.
10) Require each EA game to have a User's Manual to help customers get started playing the game. Something that can be downloaded in a printer-friendly layout so it can be printed out and kept handy by new players.
1) Making it quick and easy for a new customer to join one of their online games.
2) Making it quick and easy for old and new customers to be able to give money to EA to pay for their game subscriptions.
3) Move their online games back to the old server system so they run faster and make it more likely their online game customers will stay customers.
4) Restore EA customer service so that we can once again get in touch with a GM within 3 or 4 hours and have a phone number to reach EA Customer Service for things GMs are not able to help with.
5) Have the UOstore start letting us buy more than one of an item at a time.
6) Mandate that online game customers get popular changes to the games they pay to play instead of things they don't want. Happy customers tend to stay customers longer than unhappy customers do.
7) Mandate that the Quality Department that handles software testing have the people they need to seriously check new code before it's released.
8) Mandate that storyline event moderators have the ability and authority to evict players from events if the players are griefing the event. Making two or three players unhappy while making it possible for several dozen others to enjoy an event makes a game more popular with all except the griefer types.
9) Mandate all games EA has are advertised to draw in new customers. More customers means more money coming in. Require the advertising to point out strengths each game has that other games lack. UO's serious crafting feature, UO's being a sandbox where you are not locked into a set series of quests, abilities, and monsters as you play are good examples. It's not just a simple monster whacker.
10) Require each EA game to have a User's Manual to help customers get started playing the game. Something that can be downloaded in a printer-friendly layout so it can be printed out and kept handy by new players.
Well here's to hoping whomever takes over knows something about Customer Service. If they hired a CEO who knew something about that since this is where EA really epically fails..... then they Might be able to change their piss poor reputation and pull their Arse out of the Flames. But I'm not going to hold my breath.Indeed.
And we have seen how well that system has worked out for American, and indeed international, companies. We saw it especially in the 2007 through 2008 cycle.
And we see how great it is working out for EA.
Perhaps it is, after all, time for a CEO of a gaming company who actually knows the industry he is working in rather than one who knows how to yell out orders, fire people, and blame others for his own mistakes.
-Galen's player
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My great fear is that the new CEO is one of those who sees firing people as the solution to every problem, and whose change purse is richly rewarded while the company continues its overall slide.
A pattern we have seen again and again.
-Galen's player
A pattern we have seen again and again.
-Galen's player
some more coverage: Who Shot JR
Your right. I forgot how much better the economies of Spain, Greece, Portugal, Italy, Cyprus, Cuba, Russia, North Korea, Mexico, Jamaica, and so on are. In fact even with the economic down turn I still can't find an economy better than America's. Germany would be close, but their ties to the EU and all of the "bad debt" is really holding them back.
The way America does business is backwards compaired to those countries.
I guess I would take a couple of bad economic years over a lifetime of poverty, but what do I know.
SWTOR would have been a massive success if they had given it UO style PvP which everyone was hoping for. They left in there masses when they found out the true content of the PvP
The problem is that it will be another stiff neck that will try to run a gaming company like you would a regular business. And you cannot do that.
I've been involved in the gaming community for a long time. And time after time, you get a white collar in charge of a gaming company and they run it into the ground. It happened to TSR. The only reason TSR survived is because Wizards of the Coast bought them. It's happened time and again in the gaming world.
Umm....What?
The countries you mentioned have very little in common, and nothing in my post was about poverty in particular. Also if you actually read my post you'll see that first of all I specifically used the term "international," which by definition would mean outside the United States, as well as inside the United States.
Your post really has so little to do with mine, responding to it is pointless, but I've already typed it so I may as well post.
-Galen's player
Indeed, it would take a complete idiot to think that corporate management skills were entirely transfer-able across industries. At minimum one would need to get to know the industry.
Of course, I speak solely of being effective in a substantive sense. And, really, who cares about substance these days.
-Galen's player
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Who gives a rats arse unless you work for or have stock in the company?
*shakes head*
*shakes head*
Well if any of you remember this outgoing CEO his opening address to the playing public of EA games was that HE too wasa gamer and knew how we felt about changes and all.... well as you can see by how we have been treated.......
Mythic is not a child loved by its parent company....
EA split it off from almost all its dealings and told them here survive on this little or else...
Sim city and the other "box" games that took to the multi verse of game play with the public was soo screwed up that they have a knot as big as the empire state building still to unravel. Their only care is the console game sales..... Read his Letter to resign... carefully you will get the jist of it.
We should thank our lucky stars that that team of Dev is not ours....
All the Board of Directors and the CEO are is usualy other company executives and or major money ppl.... who are invested in EA stock. Their goal is to make money... though they have in the past made a mess of it... bad management and decissions in directions .... its a wonder we are still around. He missed the goal set for $ gains and said so.... In his listing of his great games did you se anywhere the name UO...?? we are a milestone they choose to let be hidden in the folds like a step child.
I do not doubt he is stepping down because of the trouble EA has been under with the Sims , also I would not put it past that they also sent him flying as they coudlnt find a buyer for the company .
Mythic is not a child loved by its parent company....
EA split it off from almost all its dealings and told them here survive on this little or else...
Sim city and the other "box" games that took to the multi verse of game play with the public was soo screwed up that they have a knot as big as the empire state building still to unravel. Their only care is the console game sales..... Read his Letter to resign... carefully you will get the jist of it.
We should thank our lucky stars that that team of Dev is not ours....
All the Board of Directors and the CEO are is usualy other company executives and or major money ppl.... who are invested in EA stock. Their goal is to make money... though they have in the past made a mess of it... bad management and decissions in directions .... its a wonder we are still around. He missed the goal set for $ gains and said so.... In his listing of his great games did you se anywhere the name UO...?? we are a milestone they choose to let be hidden in the folds like a step child.
I do not doubt he is stepping down because of the trouble EA has been under with the Sims , also I would not put it past that they also sent him flying as they coudlnt find a buyer for the company .
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Most of us play a game called Ultima Online, which is an EA product. If you review the message boards dedicated to this product, you will note a fair amount of apprehension over the product's future. Some of that apprehension is warranted, most is not but some is. Top level changes at the parent company have a way of filtering down to the children.
Hence why folks pay this news mind.
Sorry for the confusion. Some links have been provided in the text of this message which will provide further information.
-Galen's player
First - EA is in the entertainment industry.
Secondly do you really think 'Bank CEO's don't know a thing about banking'?? Tell that to Jamie Diamond. *laughs*
Seriously? Go pick up any item in your house. Look at where it is made....
China is the second largest economy and still growing at 8%. It will pass the US soon as we are growing at around 2%.
In addition US is 4th in standard of living index.
http://www.mapsofworld.com/world-top-ten/world-top-ten-quality-of-life-map.html
If you don't know what you are talking - best suggestion is just be quiet.
First off ............ EA is a console game program manufacturer... with a side intrest in mmorg's .. its why we are still alive and not on the dead list.
CEO's usualy have a finger on what is best for the company and the board.... not its subscribers...
You can tell this in many ways... Lets look at facts...
Blizzard in its game WoW... had roughly 9 to 10 MILLION accounts active.....
EA .... Unknown But player estamates are way below the 2 million mark
Blizzard updates their games and adds in content in well tested additions... players are given encentives to keep in game and to play other games a well
EA ... Rushes its product out as it sets impossible deadlines for staff early on in production without thinking of hazzards in said production ... Established games are ether ignored or get small publishes with very little testing or trouble shooting ...
Blizzard advertizes all its titles and pushes the product to the masses on all genre's of ad's and tv
EA ... Newest issue gets a main blast to the media.. followed by smaller then its left to rot... on to the next publish $ making game..... Who cares it has a landmark in its stable of games .... (us if your wondering silly)
Blizzard is not afraid to put every ounce of its clout to push its full title list...
IF by now you see what is wrong here ... its quite plain. The Board is out to make for itself the most $$$ and screw the rest of its employees and dont even think they care one wit of the players who are the true source of the money that the pocket even in resigning ... 1.7 mill for a departing CEO... in under a weeks time......
Idont know about you all but is it me or do these people wh are CEO's and such earn more cause they work harder then the guy who is out in the streets filling pot holes in 106 degree weather? Or your job... I find that we have allowed these exec's too much in power, pay and privlage..
CEO's usualy have a finger on what is best for the company and the board.... not its subscribers...
You can tell this in many ways... Lets look at facts...
Blizzard in its game WoW... had roughly 9 to 10 MILLION accounts active.....
EA .... Unknown But player estamates are way below the 2 million mark
Blizzard updates their games and adds in content in well tested additions... players are given encentives to keep in game and to play other games a well
EA ... Rushes its product out as it sets impossible deadlines for staff early on in production without thinking of hazzards in said production ... Established games are ether ignored or get small publishes with very little testing or trouble shooting ...
Blizzard advertizes all its titles and pushes the product to the masses on all genre's of ad's and tv
EA ... Newest issue gets a main blast to the media.. followed by smaller then its left to rot... on to the next publish $ making game..... Who cares it has a landmark in its stable of games .... (us if your wondering silly)
Blizzard is not afraid to put every ounce of its clout to push its full title list...
IF by now you see what is wrong here ... its quite plain. The Board is out to make for itself the most $$$ and screw the rest of its employees and dont even think they care one wit of the players who are the true source of the money that the pocket even in resigning ... 1.7 mill for a departing CEO... in under a weeks time......
Idont know about you all but is it me or do these people wh are CEO's and such earn more cause they work harder then the guy who is out in the streets filling pot holes in 106 degree weather? Or your job... I find that we have allowed these exec's too much in power, pay and privlage..
1) IMO from a players standpoint being apprehensive or worrying about parent companies of MMORPG's is so nuts cuckoo that I cannot even compute it.
2) I read the boards for actual gameplay info/issues. I have played UO for 15 years and never once have I needed to know the name of its parent companies CEO. Does he sell gold cheap? Maybe I should buy from him?
3) Just out of curiosity though what is your plan of action now that there have been "Top level changes at the parent company"?
Close some accounts? Open some accounts? Dump all your gold? Quit and move to another game that has a CEO you like better?
Business will go on at EA no matter who is in charge.
Changes may happen but that will be the next CEO job and what she/he ( have they picked one yet havent had time to check) would decide.
Any product they carry can be axed so no product at EA is safe atm.
Most likely with the SWTOR and Sims is the root of the cause that the CEO is out. There has been others circumstances that fall in the same catagory but lets face it. EA isn't making the money they want. Stockholders want to see $$$$$ signs and currently EA hasn't been producing what stockholders are wanting.
EA reputation of buying good smaller succesful companies and then ruining their good name has been EA standard practice for years. Cant lay all the blame on EA when the owner/CEO of those smaller companies take EA's money and run without a second thought what may happen to their creation.
I know this. If I had a up and coming game company and was making good money, good reputation, good people working for me, and EA came along and offered me a ton of money more that would take years for me to make, I would pass. Reason why is easy to explain. In the end my company built and made by me would suffer and taint my name as a reputable gaming CEO that sold out. Who would work for me if I wanted to go at it again knowing what I did the first time and those employees lost their jobs and all because that is what EA does. Down size and put out unfinished products has been the practice under the former EA's CEO. If I am going to fail, I would rather fail on my own than let EA do it for me.
Sometimes making the quick big money is easier for some but EA needs a CEO willing to build quality products, listen to its customers, improve CS, and focus on the market what gamers are looking for.
Changes may happen but that will be the next CEO job and what she/he ( have they picked one yet havent had time to check) would decide.
Any product they carry can be axed so no product at EA is safe atm.
Most likely with the SWTOR and Sims is the root of the cause that the CEO is out. There has been others circumstances that fall in the same catagory but lets face it. EA isn't making the money they want. Stockholders want to see $$$$$ signs and currently EA hasn't been producing what stockholders are wanting.
EA reputation of buying good smaller succesful companies and then ruining their good name has been EA standard practice for years. Cant lay all the blame on EA when the owner/CEO of those smaller companies take EA's money and run without a second thought what may happen to their creation.
I know this. If I had a up and coming game company and was making good money, good reputation, good people working for me, and EA came along and offered me a ton of money more that would take years for me to make, I would pass. Reason why is easy to explain. In the end my company built and made by me would suffer and taint my name as a reputable gaming CEO that sold out. Who would work for me if I wanted to go at it again knowing what I did the first time and those employees lost their jobs and all because that is what EA does. Down size and put out unfinished products has been the practice under the former EA's CEO. If I am going to fail, I would rather fail on my own than let EA do it for me.
Sometimes making the quick big money is easier for some but EA needs a CEO willing to build quality products, listen to its customers, improve CS, and focus on the market what gamers are looking for.
Your post simply has too little of a relationship to anything I actually said to actually be able to craft a response without being similarly random. And I don't do random as well as you do, I'm glad to say.
-Galen's player
With that reaction to my list, PLEASE!!!! don't apply for the EA CEO job! EA's stockholders would lose even more customers and money as the downhill slide continued.
Code 420 in the random hair test?
http://www.nbcnews.com/technology/i...nues-gamers-petition-ea-white-house-1C8769125
This is my favorite part as I am sick and tired of DRM relying on servers to verify digital ownership, as an example take Skyrim, Steam Client and EA's Sim City title mentioned above.
And so on Friday, a second petition was filed, this one with the White House, asking the Obama administration to get involved. Forbes contributor Jason Evangelho started the petition asking for "an industry-wide return policy for video games that rely on remote servers and DRM to function properly."
..and finally possibly one of my favorites reviews regarding the disaster... http://www.wired.com/gamelife/2013/03/simcity-outage/
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