Riccitiello: EA to increase focus on Wii

EA suffered losses of $641m for the quarter ending December 31st 2008, up from a loss of $33m in the same period in 2007. As a result, the firm has confirmed that 1,100 people are to lose their jobs – 11 per cent of the publisher’s global workforce.

Now boss Riccitiello has cited casual gaming as a big part of its restructuring going forwards. Casual was one of the few successes for EA last year, with key casual titles such as Littlest Pet Shop and NERF N-Strike performing strongly. EA’s digital sales are at $300m for its financial year-to-date, up 27 per cent on the same period the year before.

It’s online games portal POGO is currently riding high with record subscribers of 1.7m, and EA Mobile has so far this financial year generated $141m – an annual increase of 29 per cent. The publisher also currently lays claim to six of the top 20 iPhone games on the Apps Store.

“In the past, we have highlighted two focus areas of our strategy, drive hits in our core business and grow our direct-to-consumer businesses,” Riccitiello said in a conference call reported by SeekingAlpha. “To these pillars, we add two more, manage expenses aggressively and increase focus on the Nintendo Wii platform.

“We will capitalize on the progress we've made on the Wii. We have a spectacular slate for FY10, which will be supported by a Wii focused advertising campaign. We are starting FY10 strong with Tiger Woods PGA tour, EA Sports Active, EA Sports Tennis, Boom Blox 2, Harry Potter, and MySims Racing; all in Q1, and it gets better each quarter.”