Electronic Arts CEO John Riccitiello recently gave a talk at Berkeley's Haas School of Business discussed he revealed EA's plans to forego licensed franchises in favor of in-house-developed new ones.
Riccitiello stated EA's recent purchase of Bioware and Pandemic Studios for $860 million as a means to bulk up its library of original, high-quality games.
EA's CEO then discussed the currently common $59.99 price point for next generation games which he thinks will untenable for the next few years. He then pointed at the rise of free-to-play games in China and compared the big gaming companies' behavior to ABC, CBS, and NBC's half a century ago. Thirty years ago the three networks had more than 90 percent of the television market. Today, the big three account for less than half. "They were extremely arrogant," Riccitiello says. "They viewed the rise of cable as being insignificant."
Riccitiello concluded that "people who benefit from the current model will need to embrace a new revenue model, or wait for others to disrupt" and confirmed that EA will experiment with different pricing models.
