News

New EA CEO says video games are "boring"

You are here: blasteroids.com / news / new ea ceo says video games are "boring" /

Latest news | News archive | Search news

Not registered yet? Register here.

vurbal @ Jul 09, 2007 13:32 | 28 comments

According to EA chief executive John Riccitiello, in a recent interview with the Wall Street Journal, "We're boring people to death and making games that are harder and harder to play."

Riccitiello became CEO at EA in April in his return to the game maker. EA's former chief operating officer had left the company in 2004 to help found Elevation Partners, a media and entertainment buyout firm.

The video game executive criticized the industry for rolling out sequels to new games that add little from the previous version.

"For the most part, the industry has been rinse-and-repeat," he was quoted as saying. "There's been lots of product that looked like last year's product, that looked a lot like the year before."

At a time when both the XBox 360 and PS3 are losing sales, apparently at the expense of the Nintendo Wii, Riccitiello's comments seem dead on. While the Microsoft and Sony consoles have the advantage in technology and established titles, the Wii seems to be thriving on something completely different. It's fun.

Source: Reuters

Previous Next

Comments

There are more user comments available, read them here

Comment by: champ2131 (Jul 09, 2007 14:32)

The word "boring" was taken out of context...a typical way to stir things up.....

Comment by: gallagher (Jul 09, 2007 14:36)

EA is a major culprit behind this. I loved Microsoft's XSN sports titles, but EA then bought the rights to many of the professional sports and XSN vanished. EA continues to issue new games each year when all they should do is perhaps update the rosters. Games could be so cooler if they would just reissue them perhaps every 3 years--not this worthless new game trash every year.

Besides, I never liked EA anyway. They had to monopolize the sports titles to get business. Bad as Apple and Microsoft have been.

Look at Guitar Hero II. They should be selling new songs for it, not issuing a new disc every single year. Focus on quality, not quantity.

Comment by: akaangus (Jul 09, 2007 14:40)

Isn't this the same company that has released, in just TWO YEARS, all for money...

The Sims 2

The Sims 2 University

The Sims 2 Nightlife

The Sims 2 Open for Business

The Sims 2 Pets

The Sims 2 Seasons

The Sims 2 Bon Voyage (Soon)

The Sims 2 Holiday Party Pack

The Sims 2 Family Fun Stuff

The Sims 2 Glamour Life Pack

The Sims 2 Happy Holiday Pack

The Sims 2 Celebration Stuff

The Sims 2 H+M Fashion Stuff

Go shove it up your ass, EA

Comment by: newcloud (Jul 09, 2007 15:13)

the only games i think are boring are EA games
there good for half an hour then there shit
so i stop buying them i HATE EA games

Comment by: spydah (Jul 09, 2007 15:20)

Originally posted by akaangus:
Isn't this the same company that has released, in just TWO YEARS, all for money...

The Sims 2

The Sims 2 University

The Sims 2 Nightlife

The Sims 2 Open for Business

The Sims 2 Pets

The Sims 2 Seasons

The Sims 2 Bon Voyage (Soon)

The Sims 2 Holiday Party Pack

The Sims 2 Family Fun Stuff

The Sims 2 Glamour Life Pack

The Sims 2 Happy Holiday Pack

The Sims 2 Celebration Stuff

The Sims 2 H+M Fashion Stuff

Go shove it up your ass, EA

It doesnt stop there. Look at Madden all before they upgraded to the 360 level and even that also. EA has no more creativity left in them. They will keep pushing poor quality games out that no normal person will keep very long unless they are a collector. They care more about quantity then quality and fun. Sooner or later they will understand they people want to enjoy a game and have fun rather then seen 20miles around a damn stadium.

Comment by: vinny13 (Jul 09, 2007 15:26)

Look at Need for Speed. Got a little plain, so they made underground... and once again, plain. All downhill after Underground 2. Most Wanted is ok, but it lost a lot of creativity in customization, and then Carbon was even worse! Worst $60 I've ever spent!

Comment by: vurbal (Jul 09, 2007 15:43)

You guys did read the part where it says he left in 2004 and just came back this April, right? IOW he's agreeing with you.

Comment by: ZippyDSM (Jul 09, 2007 15:47)

Originally posted by vurbal:
You guys did read the part where it says he left in 2004 and just came back this April, right? IOW he's agreeing with you.

yes he is,however they tend to say things they never do,the whole industry is caught up in short sighted franchises and projects.

Comment by: scott2k7 (Jul 09, 2007 16:12)

he may say that but the games will keep coming out there mostly boring lol even though he thinks that he will just scam ya a little bit more

Comment by: vurbal (Jul 09, 2007 16:27)

Okay. I guess I'll have to bow to the psychics on this one. I'm not arguing the point. Only time will tell.

Comment by: scott2k7 (Jul 09, 2007 16:29)

they will bring out sims 3 soon then all the addons i u bought them itt would be like $300 lol

Comment by: duckNrun (Jul 09, 2007 16:49)

Hey here's a new idea, it might have a niche market but then gamers' machines ARE a niche market and they sell...

The Game? DIE-or-RIAA!

WAY too many jokes and ideas to be made out of that title. I'll leave the rest to you guys! lol

;-)

Comment by: ZippyDSM (Jul 09, 2007 16:55)

Originally posted by duckNrun:
Hey here's a new idea, it might have a niche market but then gamers' machines ARE a niche market and they sell...

The Game? DIE-or-RIAA!

WAY too many jokes and ideas to be made out of that title. I'll leave the rest to you guys! lol

;-)

mmmmm more like R.I.A.A or D.I.E (Download It Everyone)

Comment by: duckNrun (Jul 09, 2007 17:02)

But if it's that way then the play on the way the words sounds isn't the same. lol

Comment by: bicuspid (Jul 09, 2007 17:28)

Yeah, of course what he is saying is redundant, but hey, at least the guy is actually acknowledging it! Perhaps it is just to get on the good side of gamers and build hope for more sales; but, maybe a top exec is finally seeing that the gamers weren't just complaining, they were actually right. EA has put out mediocre games since 96 (as far as I'm concerned), maybe they can help rejuvenate the market and edge other companies to produce worthwhile games again.

The gaming community has been mostly dead to me for a while, trying to be an optimist for once haha.

Comment by: rosedog (Jul 09, 2007 17:35)

Wanna talk about rushed games, NFS:Carbon... BORING! Most Wanted is still better than that game.

Madden games? Every year, nah, pass.

Comment by: spydah (Jul 09, 2007 17:49)

Originally posted by rosedog:
Wanna talk about rushed games, NFS:Carbon... BORING! Most Wanted is still better than that game.

Madden games? Every year, nah, pass.

What EA needs to do is relinquish the damn football game license and let other companies compete on that market and drive the creativity up. Its sad they choose to take away our opinions as customers on what we can buy as far as football games are concerned for the poopie madden series thats just getting worst with better looking stadiums and 20mile sights to see out side the stadium. All i can say is ALL PRO FOOTBALL 2K8!!!!

Comment by: spydah (Jul 09, 2007 17:50)

Oh i meant to mention Live also. Complete crap!!! 2k7 Basketball best B-Ball game ever!!!

Comment by: Xplorer4 (Jul 09, 2007 18:41)

I cant see the fuss on NFS Most Wanted and Carbon. Most Wanted ventured into the free roam capability. Maybe SRS and Midnight Club series went there first but it was something new in the NFS series. Carbon was the first NFS game to venture away from being focused on tuners and super cars and allow you to venture into Muscle Car Racing.

Sure some customization options were lsot which sucked, but I believe most of the games being released on PS2/Xbos these days are maxing out the capacity of the discs so the programmers had to sacrifice some things in order to bring new things to the game, and bug fix things

Comment by: spydah (Jul 09, 2007 18:58)

Originally posted by Xplorer4:
I cant see the fuss on NFS Most Wanted and Carbon. Most Wanted ventured into the free roam capability. Maybe SRS and Midnight Club series went there first but it was something new in the NFS series. Carbon was the first NFS game to venture away from being focused on tuners and super cars and allow you to venture into Muscle Car Racing.

Sure some customization options were lsot which sucked, but I believe most of the games being released on PS2/Xbos these days are maxing out the capacity of the discs so the programmers had to sacrifice some things in order to bring new things to the game, and bug fix things

I love Most Wanted but the glitches suck the most about that game. EA did steal from Midnight Club on both games of Most wanted and Carbon with the free roam and muscle cars in so forth. EA needs to be consistent and need to build from Most Wanted with that series. I hope they dont screw up Need for speed Pro Street.

Comment by: sandeep14 (Jul 10, 2007 06:34)

they need to improve FIFA and NBA; gameplay-wise.

Comment by: ChromeMud (Jul 10, 2007 08:41)

Quote:
"New EA CEO says video games are "boring""

Yeah,well he would say that while he's sipping champaign on his
luxury yacht in the Caribbean while a supermodel gives
him a good...!

Comment by: BcMester (Jul 10, 2007 13:28)

Originally posted by Xplorer4:
I cant see the fuss on NFS Most Wanted and Carbon. Most Wanted ventured into the free roam capability. Maybe SRS and Midnight Club series went there first but it was something new in the NFS series. Carbon was the first NFS game to venture away from being focused on tuners and super cars and allow you to venture into Muscle Car Racing.

Sure some customization options were lsot which sucked, but I believe most of the games being released on PS2/Xbos these days are maxing out the capacity of the discs so the programmers had to sacrifice some things in order to bring new things to the game, and bug fix things

Free roaming was introduced in Underground 2, and there were quite a few muscle cars in the game as well. And removing the variety of customization options of UG2 from the new games was the single biggest mistake NFS had to suffer so far. I actually think that MW and Carbon didn't bring ANYTHING new to NFS, but on the contrary: they got worse and worse - BORING. The EA man is right.

Too bad you can't return PC games once the box is opened.

Comment by: ZippyDSM (Jul 10, 2007 13:34)

Quote:
Originally posted by Xplorer4:
I cant see the fuss on NFS Most Wanted and Carbon. Most Wanted ventured into the free roam capability. Maybe SRS and Midnight Club series went there first but it was something new in the NFS series. Carbon was the first NFS game to venture away from being focused on tuners and super cars and allow you to venture into Muscle Car Racing.

Sure some customization options were lsot which sucked, but I believe most of the games being released on PS2/Xbos these days are maxing out the capacity of the discs so the programmers had to sacrifice some things in order to bring new things to the game, and bug fix things
Free roaming was introduced in Underground 2, and there were quite a few muscle cars in the game as well. And removing the variety of customization options of UG2 from the new games was the single biggest mistake NFS had to suffer so far. I actually think that MW and Carbon didn't bring ANYTHING new to NFS, but on the contrary: they got worse and worse - BORING. The EA man is right.

Too bad you can't return PC games once the box is opened.

and thanks to the anti consumer activities of the industry you cant even take them to EB/GS and sale them used,no you can only do it online and a few local shops that are not run by the industry....

Comment by: borhan9 (Jul 17, 2007 03:31)

For the most part EA makes good decent games but only when they stick with sports i love their sport based games.