Riccitiello: EA will kill a game or two a year

You’d think that a publishing company will fight tooth and nail just to maintain a game title. Apparently, that’s not sound business practice, as we learned from John Riccitiello. If something’s not meeting quality expectations – which should be high – then there should be no qualms about dropping it off the cliff — for good.

In an interview with Gamasutra, Electronic Arts head honcho John Riccitiello gave a brave front as he maintained that the publishing company does have an action plan for those titles that are not meeting quality expectations: shut them down.

Tough, huh? The statement was given following an inquiry into the cancellation of Tiberium Wars, an offshoot of the Command & Conquer franchise. The game was suspended only recently on the grounds of  “not meeting high standards”.

When something’s not meeting expectations… you can course correct by giving it more time, more money, changing the concept or killing the game. If you’re committed to quality, you take one of those paths. If you preclude any one of those paths, quality will suffer.

Riccitiello furthers that the suspension of the game should be no cause for concern, as one analyst pointed out. Instead, he said, “[t]his is a perfect example of EA investing in quality.” How far are they willing to go to keep up with their quality standards? Far enough, as we’ve seen with the fate of Tiberium.

But he hints that this won’t be the last we’ll be seeing EA fold out on a game. Said he, “EA will kill a game or two a year. Forever.” And with that we hear the final nail driven into the coffin — of which games we can only guess for now.

John Riccitiello also delved into the issue of DRM and his feelings for it, the protesters, and controversies surrounding their company right now. Read up on what he said on these things in full by checking out our source link below.

Via Gamasutra