EA boss John Riccitiello is confused. Speaking at the *breath* William Blair & Company's 28th Annual Growth Stock Conference, he yearns for a day when Metacritic scores - for EA games, of course - were higher:
It used to be...All Metacritics were higher once upon a time because it was ten professionals rating them. Now, sort of anybody with a pen can rate them and it ends up with a bit of a wider track some times.
Uh, John? Think you got your Metacritics and your GameRankings mixed up. But hey, that's a simple mistake for the head of one of the industry's biggest companies to make. Totally understandable. What's a little less understandable is how he continues.
EA doesn't usually get the benefit of the cult - 'everybody has to rate it a hundred' thing going on - that happens sometimes even when they may not, based on the review, have played more than the first fifteen minutes of the game. But that's a separate issue
Poor John. Poor EA! Silly reviewers, not unanimously agreeing that any of EA's titles are of the calibre of something like Mario Galaxy or GTA IV. What a terrible, unprofessional oversight.
EA doesn't usually get benefit of the "cult" says CEO [GI.biz]