Google exec hops on EA board

Last year, Electronic Arts UK vice president Keith Ramsdale told attendees at the London Games Festival that they need to embrace online or miss out on a revolution. The publisher has been practicing what it preaches, both in the game room--launching online-only games such as Warhammer Online and Battlefield Heroes--and now in the board room.

EA announced today that it has appointed Jeff Huber, senior vice president of engineering at Google, to its board of directors. In his role with the Web-search giant, Huber has managed overseas development of the company's advertising businesses such as AdSense and Google apps. Over the course of a 20-year career, Huber has also worked in management at eBay and Excite@Home.

EA CEO and fellow board member John Riccitiello welcomed Huber in a statement, citing his "proven track record in technology and engineering" as an asset to the publisher. Huber will join a board stacked with a variety of expertise, from former EA CEO Larry Probst to Oxygen Media founder Geraldine Laybourne and Gary Kusin, cofounder of the GameStop forerunner Babbage's.

Whatever contributions Huber can make would no doubt be appreciated. EA is coming off an adversity-plagued year that saw the publisher post losses of more than $1 billion, with losses for the current fiscal year projected as high as $469 million.