Electronic Arts is one of the largest, if not the largest, video game publisher in the world. While maintaining a firm position in the highly competitive market, the company has been criticized over the years for its business strategy. For example, scooping up smaller game developer studios for their intellectual gaming property assets to just produce mediocre games.
Over on the Game | Life blog, John Riccitiello, CEO of EA, admits to this faulty business strategy. In the past, EA scooped up fledging companies like Bullfrog Productions (Populous, Dungeon Keeper), Westwood Studios (Command & Conquer) and Origin Systems (Ultima, Wing Commander), whom were all promptly shut-down a few years later and key studio figures leaving beforehand.
Ricitiello said, "We at EA blew it, and to a degree I was involved in these things, so I blew it." While he admitted, he won’t change the business strategy. It’s due in part towards competition and consolidation. Also EA is running on its studios like Maxis and BioWare to shape the gaming market.
Regarding big publishers buying smaller developers – consolidation, Riccitiello said, "I think that there’s going to be fewer major publishers in 2010 than there are today. I think the second-tier players are going to thin out pretty significantly. The market share controlled by the few major publishers is going to be greater in 2010 than it is today."
