After missing a few financial forecasts a number of analysts have come out and said that investors aren't happy and something drastic has to happen to turn things around.
"Anytime you underperform, you should be worried about your job," said Janco Partners analyst Mike Hickey, via Reuters. "An inability to execute on his performance objectives this year could put him at risk."
Dante's Inferno
Video interview
4:33ANGER dev diary
Dante's Inferno
Video interview
4:33ANGER dev diary
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The issues have come from EA's shares rising just 2.7 percent in the last year while its rivals such as Activision, Take-Two and even THQ have all seen greater increases.
Analyst Michael Pachter sees trouble ahead: "Investors feel betrayed, and the comment I got most from investors today is 'They don't seem to care about investors.' This management team is running out of room to underperform. I think investor tolerance is gone ... they don't get another year to turn around."
Another analyst, this time Arvind Bhatia of Sterne, Agee & Leach, pulls no punches: "For a $4 billion-plus company, that just isn't acceptable. Something is going to happen here -- drastic costs cuts or them buying someone or getting sold -- something has got to give in the next 12 to 18 months."
Pachter reckons EA's March and June quarters could be a way out going as far as to say it could "save them". It's tough at the top.
Good for the head EA honchos that "Mass Effect 2" is about to be released then along with "Dante's Inferno", eh? I expect both games will do well, and that "ME2" in particular will do exceedingly well.
Later on in the year we might get to see "Dead Space 2" released which should also do well, if perhaps more modestly and then there are the prospects for "Bad Company 2" and the modernized "MoH". Again, "ME2" is likely going to be the big heavy hitter for EA out of the named titles, yet all of them carry enough weight to pack serious punching power.
Oh! And though it is further down the road there will be the release of EA's own MMO in the form of "Star Wars: The Old Republic". If it gains just a tenth of the subscription holders that "WoW" has it will still bring in significant amounts of cash. Speaking of steady revenue sources, I wonder how "Sims 3" and it's expected army of add-on packs are doing?
Tricky_Rich, completely agree with you, I was thinking the same thing as I read the article.
The first CEO of EA in a long, long time that has pushed the company in to taking a gamble with more original IP's and pushing for quality in EA games.
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