EA shifting game focus from consoles to digital

Electronic Arts CEO John Riccitiello forecasts a future where online and mobile platforms are as critical to the game publisher's success as its traditional console business, adding the firm will focus on building core franchises and trimming its overall number of titles in an effort to emphasize quality gameplay. Speaking Tuesday at the Reuters Global Media Summit in New York, Riccitiello said EA will reduce its slate from more than 50 titles to about 40 in the fiscal year ahead, speculating the company will produce even fewer games moving forward: "Thirty wouldn't shock me at some point in the future," he said.

While PricewaterhouseCoopers says gaming is now a $15 billion annual industry in the U.S., Riccitiello says the business is in a state of flux, with more gamers playing on their PCs and mobile handsets as well as turning to new gaming channels like social networking giant Facebook. EA acquired social network game creator Playfish for approximately $300 million in early November. "We're the world's leader in packaged goods games--we make more of them than anybody," Riccitiello said. "We're not suggesting that business is going away ... (but) there's this other thing that's growing." He anticipates digital platforms will account for half of all gaming next year, up from about 40 percent in 2009: "It's our goal for that business to be as important as, and over time maybe more important than, our packaged goods business," Riccitiello said. 

For more on EA's gaming future:
- read this Reuters article

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