John Riccitiello has announced at DICE that the economic recession is ”a blessing in disguise,” or at least for EA, helping to purge deadweight.
The industry became too complacent with ”junk” and that anyone who could ”draw a guy with a gun with a crayon” got funding at EA. Riccitiello urges quality over quantity moving forward.
”Junk is hard to compete with,” said the EA CEO during the DICE summit in Nevada.
”We did get fat in too many places. It seemed like anyone who could draw a guy with a gun with a crayon could get funded. At least for EA, we got a little too fat, and a little too reliant on where things were.” The publishing giant has been cutting team sizes and closing studios in a bid to downsize.
”I’m not pro-recession,” affirms Riccitiello, ”but to quote Rahm Emanuel: never waste a crisis.” Those words may soothe the corporate boards of the world but it offers no comfort to the developers who’ve lost their jobs.
Source: Gamasutra
