July 3, 2012 Update: Adding UFC to EA Sports' roster can't hurt.
Why He's Powerful
He's only been on the job a year, so this listing may be more about the influence of the office than the man who holds it. For now.
In years to come, Andrew Wilson's priorities and the decisions he will make as the head of EA Sports will have enormous influence on the choices available to millions of video gamers. Wilson rose to the top job from the development ranks, notably as executive producer of its FIFA series during a resurgence that's become as much an aspirational model for other publishers as for its siblings within EA Sports.
If it stood on its own as a publisher, EA Sports would, every year, have at least two of the top 10 selling titles (across all platforms)—FIFA and Madden. Both broke sales records this year, with FIFA pushing 3 million copies sold in its first week and Madden selling 1.5 million in its. That's to say nothing of heavyweight franchises like NHL, NCAA Football, Fight Night, and Tiger Woods PGA Tour, which face no direct competition. EA Sports is the top carnivore in its ecosystem, with no natural predators. (Except in basketball, of course, where EA has retreated while Take Two's NBA2K series surges.)
The man who runs EA Sports not only sets much of the agenda in an entire publishing sector, he plans the menu for video gaming's sports fans all over the world.