John Riccitiello, the former CEO of EA Games, argues that brands need to stay true to themselves to be successful. Speaking at the Gaming Insiders Summit in San Francisco, Riccitiello pointed to series like Grand Theft Auto, Call of Duty, and FIFA as good examples of brands that have both innovated and stayed consistent with their original visions, and mentioned that other games should follow suit to stay relevant in the ultra competitive gaming industry.
When asked about Angry Birds, Riccitiello wasn’t too complementary of Rovio.
"I don't think branding has anything to do with making stuffed toys," he said (via Polygon). "They are great ways to extend brands but they can also diminish a brand. They can counter relentless innovation and polish.
"Adding a Star Wars brand is not an innovation. It plays pretty much as it did. Maybe tomorrow they will do something so fundamentally innovative that they will prove me wrong, but they haven't really mastered the microtransaction model. I wish they had put as much innovation and energy into the code as went into all the other stuff. Maybe they wanted to be Disney before they had done enough."
We’ve heard about the Angry Birds movie, as well as the fact that the game was downloaded more than 8 million times last Christmas. Even if the series hasn’t stayed true to itself, the sales figures make it difficult to argue against what the team has done.
