At a recent conference call EA CEO spoke his mind about the state of the industry.
"The industry has radically changed and the pace of change has accelerated dramatically. Gone forever is the 4-to-5 year console cadence that gave developers ample time to invest and retool for the next big wave."
Given the nature of this ever-changing gaming industry Riccitiello outlined EA's approach in three (easy to follow? steps).
1) Building and strengthening EA's existing portfolio of strong franchises (ballparked at 12 by Riccitiello).
2) Establishing EA as a platform rather than third party publisher, while maintaining strong relationships with traditional retailers (physical and digital).
3) Investing in talent, specifically creative and engineering talent that will help drive EA forward across a wide array of channels.
"Consider that just 18 months ago there was no iPad, Google was experimenting with Android, and most big games were limited to a single revenue opportunity at launch. Consider that each of the major consoles now has a controller that encourages users to get off the couch and get into the action."
"While the game industry has fundamentally changed, games are reaching a far larger audience base than ever before." Riccitiello concluded.