E3 '07: EA CEO: 'We're boring people to death'

SANTA MONICA, Calif.--"We're boring people to death and making games that are harder and harder to play."

That's one of the things Electronic Arts CEO John Riccitiello told The Wall Street Journal in a story that ran today. The recently restored executive was referring not necessarily to EA's own titles, but to a greater trend in the industry that sees the same games made again and again, with little in the way of innovation.

"For the most part, the industry has been rinse-and-repeat," Riccitiello said. "There's been lots of product that looked like last year's product, that looked a lot like the year before."

While Riccitiello's company is known for releasing annual installments of series like Madden NFL and Need for Speed, it is also spending some of its resources on games that will court the casual market and other nontraditional audiences, as opposed to $60 epics that require 40 hours or more of gameplay to finish. In addition to Will Wright games like The Sims and Spore, Electronic Arts is also helping to bring out original properties like Boogie, Crysis, and Army of Two. It also has partnered with filmmaker Steven Spielberg for two forthcoming titles--a Wii puzzle game and a futuristic action title for the PS3 and 360.