Riccitiello: "EA will kill a game or two a year"

[Davis Nayagam]

Electronic Arts boss John Riccitiello has said that the company is not afraid to shut down in-development titles every year if they don't match quality expectations.

 

He was talking following the cancellation of shooter Tiberium, a title based on the Command & Conquer franchise, and recently suspended for 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," he told Gamasutra.

 

"If you're committed to quality, you take one of those paths. If you preclude any one of those paths, quality will suffer."

 

"EA will kill a game or two a year. Forever," he stated.

 

And on the subject of protecting PC games from piracy, Riccitiello said that he's personally adverse to DRM, but the nature of the business means it's a necessity for some titles.

 

Recent release Spore was heavily criticised for its DRM management, but the EA exec was unapologetic, pointing out that Spore is popular enough with consumers that it's currently outselling The Sims 2.

 

“We're going to see an evolution of these things," he said of DRM. "I wish we didn't live in a world where we had to do these types of things. I want it to be seamless and easy – but I also don't want to have a bonfire of money," he added.

 

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