EA CEO warns against prioritizing profits
Electronic Arts CEO John Riccitiello spoke to Gamasutra about how prioritizing profits alone should be avoided by game publishers. He noted that to make games, one can seek to make the most profitable games or one can make great games that are profitable. It’s a balance of these styles that he feels is the key to success in the industry.
Although one might think him a touch hypocritical for saying so, EA CEO John Riccitiello spoke to Gamasutra about how prioritizing profits should be avoided by game publishers.
This is something he admitted that EA had to struggle with in recent years but is working to correct such self-destructive behavior. It would otherwise be “the beginning of the end,” he explained.
The problem is that the quickest way to increase profits is to cut research and development so that a given company can see a nice spike in their numbers within a 24-month period. Such increased profitability will naturally improve their image in the financial market so there is an obvious attraction to this route that Riccitiello describes as “a drug in and of itself.”
A lot of companies fall prey to relentlessly pursuing profitability that the quality of their products starts to suffer and in the end, so does their profitability. “Companies go through cycles where they are on the drug of profits,” Riccitiello said. “I’ve not only seen it, I’ve experienced it.”
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Via Gamasutra