EA names EA Sports chief Andrew Wilson as CEO
After a leadership shakeup and mass layoffs earlier this year, the head of EA Sports steps up to assume the CEO position.
Electronic Arts has selected Andrew Wilson, the former executive vice president of EA Sports, to become its new CEO.
Wilson, a 39-year-old Australian native, has been with EA for 13 years. Most recently he lead EA's online portal Origin and headed up the publisher's successful sports franchises, including Madden and FIFA, the latter of which Wilson served as executive producer for prior to heading up the entire sports division.
"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," Wilson told The Wall Street Journal. "We have a tremendous pipeline of intellectual property, both current and new intellectual property, and we have been making investments in our digital platform."
Following former CEO John Riccitello's sudden departure in March, EA began what would become a six-month search for a new CEO. EA Chairmain Larry Probst took on the role in the interim. During that time, EA also went through multiple rounds of layoffs in an attempt to shift the company's focus to "priorities in new technologies and mobile."
"To support Andrew in his transition to CEO, I will continue to serve as EA's Executive Chairman for an indefinite period," wrote Probst in the company's official blog post announcing the transition on Tuesday.