Electronic Arts chief operating officer John Schappert and EA Interactive mobile, social and casual online games head Barry Cottle both left recently to join up with Zynga. EA CEO John Riccitiello recently said that their departures were not a reflection of dissatisfaction at EA.
“To a person, they came and saw me at one point in the process, usually in tears or close to tears, with a story that basically goes like this,” said Riccitiello, who paraphrased, “’I love my company. I love Electronic Arts. I bleed blue, but they’re going to give me a bank account in the first 12 or 24 months that I couldn’t get anywhere and may never get anywhere for the rest of my life.’”
“So it was more about personal balance sheet stuff. To a person, they’ve told me – and I think if you speak to them, would probably say they believe in the Electronic Arts story and sort of where it’s going,” he noted. “So I don’t feel at all weakened by it. . . . They got some good guys, and I think we’re fine.“
Riccitiello also explained that Eric Brown, who was EA CFO for nearly three years, left to become CFO and COO of communications firm Polycom because he wanted the chance to head a company of his own.
“He wants to be and will be a CEO in his life,” said Riccitiello. “He had an ambition he wanted to realize, couldn’t realize it in the timeframe that was close to his ambition. So, we understood that sometime last year and he found what he was looking for and I’m really happy for him.”
Source: Gamasutra
