Former EA CEO Slams Angry Birds Studio For Lack Of Innovation

Former Electronic Arts CEO John Riccitiello criticized Rovio for milking the Angry Birds brand through physical merchandise and Star Wars branding without trying to innovate.

“I don’t think branding has anything to do with making stuffed toys,” he told the audience at Gaming Insiders Summit. “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,” asserted Riccitiello. “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.”