EA Hires Two VIE Execs

Electronic Arts has appointed two vice presidents to manage Origin Systems, both of whom come out of Virgin Interactive. Neil Young, formerly the vice president of product development at Virgin, will serve as vice president and general manager of Origin. And Chris Yates, formerly the vice president of technology and operations at Virgin, will be Origin's new vice president and chief technology officer.

Last week EA hired a SegaSoft vice president to head up its online gaming enterprise.

In related news, Origin is getting ready to roll out its Ultima Online beta test, which (as GS News reported last week) will go live before E3.