Hasta La Gadget!

In what may seem like a surprising move (or maybe not, considering the circumstances), Electronic Arts CEO John Riccitiello will be stepping down from the big wig position, as well as giving up his position as a member of the Board of Directors. The resignation will go into effect March 30, and Larry Probst will assume acting CEO until the company finds a replacement.

Riccitiello says he takes full responsibility for EA’s less-than-stellar financial results as of late, and says that the company “will come in at the low end of, or slightly below, the financial guidance [EA] issued in January.” He also notes that the company has “fallen short of the internal operating plan” that was implemented a year ago.

Riccitiello says that “EA’s shareholders and employees expect better,” and he is “accountable for the miss.” Larry Probst will assume the day-to-day role as “Executive Chairman” in order to make sure that there’s a “smooth transition.” Probst was actually EA’s CEO from 1991 to 2007, and has served as Chairman of the Board since 1994.

Riccitiello joined EA in October 1997 as president and COO at the time, but he left the company in 2004 to spearhead a couple of projects, including becoming a co-founder and managing director of Elevation Partners, as well as chairman and CEO of VG Holdings. However, Riccitiello returned to EA in 2007 to take on the CEO role. Riccitiello’s full resignation letter can be read below.

March 17, 2013
Mr. Larry Probst
Chairman Electronic Arts

Dear Larry,

I hereby offer my resignation as CEO of Electronic Arts effective with the end of our Fiscal Year 13 on March 30, 2013.

This is a tough decision, but it all comes down to accountability. The progress EA has made on transitioning to digital games and services is something I’m extremely proud of. However, it currently looks like we will come in at the low end of, or slightly below, the financial guidance we issued in January, and we have fallen short of the internal operating plan we set one year ago. EA’s shareholders and employees expect better and I am accountable for the miss.

I have been at the helm as EA’s CEO for six years and served as COO for nearly seven years starting in 1997. I know this company well, and I care deeply about its future success. I leave knowing EA is a great company, with an enormously talented group of leaders and the strongest slate of games in the industry. I could not be more proud of our company’s games, from Battlefield and FIFA, to The Simpsons: Tapped Out and Real Racing 3. We have built many great franchises that will serve the company well in FY14 and beyond. In particular, I am confident that the investments we have made in games for next-generation consoles will put EA in a strong leadership position for many years ahead.

In offering my resignation, my goal is to allow the talented leaders at EA a clean start on FY14. I look forward to working with you in the coming weeks on an effective leadership transition. I’m extremely honored to have led this company and proud to have worked with all the great people at Electronic Arts.

Sincerely,
John Riccitiello

Electronic Arts CEO John Riccitiello resigns is written by Craig Lloyd & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2012, SlashGear. All right reserved.

Earlier this month, Electronic Arts announced that it would be providing those affected by the SimCity server issues a free video game of their choice based on a short list of games that the publisher would release later on. Today, EA has listed the games that SimCity owners can grab for free, but choose wisely, since you can only pick one.

The list of games that you can choose from includes Battlefield 3, Bejeweled 3, Dead Space 3, Mass Effect 3, Medal of Honor Warfighter, Need For Speed Most Wanted, Plants vs. Zombies, and SimCity 4 Deluxe Edition. A free copy of SimCity 4 seems mighty enticing, especially considering all the madness that we’ve seen with the newest installment.

NOTE: See our [EA Games tag hub] for more!

North American players will have access to pick their free game by the afternoon on March 20, and European players will be granted access a day later. Asia and South America will have access on March 22. The games will be available through EA’s Origin digital distributing service. You must register your copy of SimCity before you’ll be eligible for a free game.

Overall, you won’t get to pick any game you want, but EA has picked out a few gems here. However, we’re sort of baffled as to why they’ve included a couple of PopCap games in the list, especially when you can choose Battlefield 3 or even Mass Effect 3, but I suppose that those gamers who are yearning to defend their house from zombies have a chance to do so at no cost.

EA lists free games offered as apology for SimCity fiasco is written by Craig Lloyd & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2012, SlashGear. All right reserved.

When Real Racing 3 launched last month, it took a bit of heat over its new freemium model that Electronic Arts implemented for the first time in the game’s series. While you can get the game for free this time around, you could end up paying a ton of money for in-game upgrades and faster repairs. However, that doesn’t seem to be stopping most gamers.

It turns out that gamers have been spending a combined 14 million hours playing Real Racing 3 since it’s launch late last month. That’s a lot of game time, and more importantly, that’s a lot of batteries drained. According to EA, that’s 25 minutes per person per day on average, give or take a few minutes…or hours.

The game has hundreds of different events that you can compete in, and since launch, gamers have competed in a whopping 350 million races combined, with 25 million races being completed every day. That’s certainly a lot of races, as well as a lot of virtual fuel burned. Then again, we can’t say we’re too surprised anyway.

Currently, Real Racing 3 is the number one free app in the iTunes App Store in 90 countries. The game features “Time-Shifted Multiplayer,” in which gamers can go up against other gamers in the game, but they don’t necessarily have to compete against each other in real time. Instead, the game records your race and uses it for other races as a ghost of sorts.

Thanks, Seth

Real Racing 3 sees 14 million hours of gameplay since launch is written by Craig Lloyd & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2012, SlashGear. All right reserved.

One of the problems with games that require an always on internet connection is that if your net is giving you problems, or there is a problem with the game’s server, you can’t play. Games such as Diablo 3, and recently SimCity, have faced such problems and in the case of SimCity, many gamers are asking Maxis and EA to change the game in such a way that it will be able to be played offline. Since we aren’t developers, we can’t tell if taking out the always on DRM would require a complete overhaul of the game, or if it will be a simple change. Maxis has stuck to their guns and claimed that an internet connection would be required in order for SimCity to function properly. (more…)

By Ubergizmo. Related articles: Blizzard To Announce New Game At PAX East Next Week, Limited Edition Skyrim Dragonborn Statue Announced For $299.99,

EA’s SimCity launched with disastrous results. EA wanted to prevent piracy of the game, so they added the Always-On DRM feature that would require players to login to its online servers in order to play their game. While the Always-On DRM feature is good for protecting against piracy, it resulted in an unmitigated login disaster for SimCity. Many gamers were unable to login, downloads were severely slow, people weren’t able to unlock their games, and many were unable to enjoy a game they’ve anticipated for so long.

Lucy Bradshaw, the General Manager of the EA Maxis Label, released an update to players about the stability issues with the game. So what was the issue? There were a lot more people logging in and playing the game than they had expected. She stated, “A lot more people logged on than we expected. More people played and played in ways we never saw in beta.” In order to remedy this problem, EA is increasing their server capacities. So far they have increased their servers’ capacity by 120% in the past 48 hours.

In order to ease the outrage from the SimCity community, Bradshaw has informed all SimCity gamers (who have activated their game) that on March 18th, they will receive an e-mail that will allow them to redeem a free game from the EA store. She didn’t release any more details about the “free game”, but we’re hoping it’s not just some $5 piece of junk that no one would want in the first place.

EA will be working to improve SimCity’s stability all throughout the weekend. This game had similar (albeit worse) launch issues like Diablo 3, a game that also requires you to login to an online server to play. Diablo 3 was down for hours while Blizzard was working on its servers. Hopefully EA’s free game will be able to win back the hearts of all of the gamers it angered. Now it just has to work on those 1700 1-Star Amazon reviews.

[via EA Games]

EA offers all SimCity owners a free game is written by Brian Sin & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2012, SlashGear. All right reserved.