EA has today announced that the head of its Sports games division, 39 year old Andrew Wilson, will be the company's new CEO. In a statement to employees he wrote:
"Let me start by saying I am deeply honored and humbled to become EA’s CEO. I have a profound respect and passion for this organization, as well as for our global community of fans, and I’m incredibly motivated to serve our people, our gamers and our shareholders at such an exciting time in our industry.
"I envision EA as the World’s Greatest Games Company. This is not about what we are aiming for or what we will become. Rather, it is about an unfaltering commitment to what we will be every day. This is an attitude that must drive our culture as one team.
"I also believe EA’s strategy is sound. Our focus on our talent, our brands and our platform together with our investment in next-generation consoles, mobile and PC free-to-play, as part of our ongoing transition to digital, is right. But we have plenty of work ahead to ensure our collective success."
Moving forward, he said the company has three main priorities.
1. Continued transformation for our digital future;
2. Delivering amazing games and services across platforms; and
3. Instilling a culture of execution that will drive profitable growth.
Wilson has worked throughout the company in Asia, Europe, and North America. His appointment follows the resignation of John Riccitiello in March of this year.
UPDATE ONE: In a separate statement interim CEO Larry Probst commented:
"The rigorous search conducted by our Board included several talented executives from both outside the company and from within EA, Andrew's appointment is a clear demonstration of the deep bench of management talent at EA, and reflects our fundamental belief that EA is on track to become the global leader in interactive games and services."
Wilson has worked at the Asia Online Publishing Group and been head of the FIFA franchise. He is the first studio executive to climb to the position of CEO at EA.
Probst will continue to serve on EA's board as executive chairman.
UPDATE TWO: In an interview with The Wall Street Journal Wilson has provided more details about his vision for EA.
"There were a couple of factors that fed into this process. Inside the company, I’m a known quantity. I’ve had the great fortune of having worked at this company for over 13 years. I’ve worked internationally, I’ve worked in a number of areas of the company, but I grew up inside our studio system.
"When I think about our vision for the future, we have a very strong strategy around the ongoing development of the most amazing teams in the world.
"We have a tremendous pipeline of intellectual property, both current intellectual property and new intellectual property, and we have been making investments against our digital platform that in my vision for the company moving forward will really start to pay dividends."
He also expressed confidence in the forthcoming console generation and said the free-to-play and PC arenas continue to be strong markets for the company.
