John Riccitiello, after 16 years at EA and six years as its Chief Executive Officer, is stepping away from his post and leaving the company. The news came to multiple publications today via press release, which indicated former EA CEO Larry Probst, the man who hired Riccitiello in the first place, will take up his position temporarily as the company searches both internally and externally for a permanent replacement.
"We thank John for his contributions to EA since he was appointed CEO in 2007, especially the passion, dedication and energy he brought to the Company every single day," said Probst. "John has worked hard to lead the Company through challenging transitions in our industry, and was instrumental in driving our very significant growth in digital revenues. We appreciate John's leadership and the many important strategic initiatives he has driven for the Company. We have mutually agreed that this is the right time for a leadership transition."
A couple notable points of interest about EA during Riccitiello's time in charge. EA's "FIFA" and "Battlefield" franchises rose to dominance within the industry, the former even overtaking "Madden" as a source of income for the company, due to extreme popularity overseas. Additionally, Riccitiello mentions in a letter included in the release EA's extreme transition into the mobile market as phones and tablets came into popularity. All that said, Riccitiello took responsibility for EA's recent financially troubles in that same letter addressed to EA employees.
"My decision to leave EA is really all about my accountability for the shortcomings in our financial results this year. It currently looks like we will come in at the low end of, or slightly below, the financial guidance we issued to the Street, and we have fallen short of the internal operating plan we set one year ago. And for that, I am 100 percent accountable," Riccitiello writes.
