Pachter: EA boss fears for his job

EA president John Riccitiello fears he is at risk of losing his job over the publisher’s falling stock, according to US analyst Michael Pachter.

The media pundit told an audience at the Develop Conference that the EA president confided in him about the company’s falling stock.

Riccitiello wanted to know why EA’s stock is at an all-time low, despite its earnings going up.
The length of the current console cycle has taken EA by surprise. Patcher said the lack of new console announcements between 2008 and 2009 “contributed to sequelitis”, which is bringing companies into decline.

“I had lunch with John Riccitiello last week. He was asking me why no one wants to buy his stock,” said Pachter. “He doesn’t understand what’s going wrong.”

Pachter thinks that the reason EA’s stock isn’t rising is because “we’re in fifth year of the three-year turnaround”.

Riccitiello’s response, said Pachter, was: “‘Yeah, but, in 2008, when we said it’ll be a three-year turnaround, I thought new consoles were coming out in 2010-2011’.”

Pachter cited sequelitis as one of several issues that are harming the games business today, using Guitar Hero and similar music games as examples of a segment that has gone bust completely.

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