Electronic Arts CEO Tired of the Same Old Games

Electronic Arts'(ERTS Quote) new CEO, John Riccitiello, has been on the job a little more than three months .

But this is his second go-round at the video-game publisher. Riccitiello was EA's president and chief operating officer before leaving the company in 2004 to be a co-founder at venture capital firm Elevation Partners.

Back at EA, Riccitiello is shaking things up. Last month, he hired Kathy Vrabeck, former president of the publishing division at Activision(ATVI Quote) to lead a new casual games unit at EA.

Riccitiello also reorganized EA into four divisions or labels: EA Sports, EA Games, EA Casual Entertainment and The Sims to consolidate the decision-making process and improve the company's focus and ability to bring new ideas to the market.

Next on his list is addressing the oft-repeated criticism that EA is too focused on sequels and isn't producing innovative games.

In an interview with TheStreet.com while attending last week's E3 Business & Media Summit in California, Riccitiello says it's not just EA but the entire video-game industry that needs to gets more innovative. EA, he promises, has some interesting games that should satisfy critics.

TheStreet.com: You say the video-game industry needs to go beyond sequels and licensed games and bring innovation back to the business. Can you elaborate?

Riccitiello: The industry, EA included, needs to do more innovation, offer greater accessibility and deliver fresher games to the marketplace or we risk being overtaken by other forms of media. We risk becoming less cool and interesting. When I look around a game show like this one and see 12 World War II first-person shooters -- everyone wearing khaki and carrying Kalashnikovs in the game -- it doesn't feel as fresh.