A lot of hardcore gamers perceive EA as a giant soulless corporation that thrives by buying exclusive rights for sports trademarks and successful gaming franchises; and abusing them.
EA's CEO, John Riccitiello, is well aware of that reputation and promises to turn it around.
"I don't actually believe EA is in the business of exploiting other people's licenses with bad quality games," he said. "We've been there. Most of our competitors are there or have been there. That's not what we do. We're not really after that market."
"Now Metacritic isn't always the best quality measure for some licensed games, but I know a good game when I see it. My team and our developers know a good game when we see it. The products we're putting out this year from Hasbro - I don't know how they're going to do with Metacritic, but they're innovative, they're different."
"We've got the first E-rated shooter with our Nerf game. What we're doing with our Family Game Night, what we're doing with Littlest Pet Shop - really cool stuff - what we're doing with Sims really cool stuff."
"It feels like it's demographically similar but it's very highly innovative. I think what redeems our industry is quality, and I think we take a step back every time we take a license and exploit it with a crappy game. That's not what we're about."
We won't comment on Mr. Riccitiello's promises until we see the end results.
