EA touts ‘close tie between developers and marketers’

Writing in a post on the company blog, EA CEO John Riccitiello has said the secret to the company’s success is a ‘close partnership between developers and product marketers’.

That may surprise or annoy those developers that love and encourage the ‘them and us’ sentiment of developer vs publisher, but Riccitiello says his thinking is borne out in EA’s label structure.

The firm has been split into divisions for each type of game for sometime. Sports, Games, Casual and The Sims labels were created in 2007 – since then the structure has changed somewhat into EA Games, EA SPORTS, EA Play and BioWare with a fifth division EA Interactive including Playfish, Pogo, EA Mobile, Hasbro, EA’s online and mobile business in Asia and soon PopCap.

Speaking in an announcement in which the likes of Peter Moore, Frank Gibeau and Barry Cottle were named as new EA COO, EA Games President and EA Interactive head specifically, Riccitiello said:

"I think it’s a great reflection on EA that we are able to tap so much world-class leadership from within our own ranks. The depth of talent and leadership in this company is inspiring.

“As I look across EA and back on its history, I come to an important realisation. The people who succeed here are the ones who map their creative vision over a deep understanding of what our consumers want. Our Label structure reflects that strategy. It creates a close partnership between developers and product marketers that connects the creative process to our consumers.

“This is an exciting time. The opportunities are growing exponentially and EA is growing and changing to capture them.”