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EA - industry is going to bounce back, hardware race for faster and faster hardware may have slowed
“We continue to see a challenging environment. The retail channel is cleaner than it was one quarter ago, but retailers continue to be cautious…waiting for confirmation of strong sell-through before committing to more inventory.” - Electronic Arts CEO John Riccitiello
Mr. Riccitiello also discussed the race for new hardware by console/portable manufacturers.
“I think there’s always going to be new aspects.. new handhelds, new peripherals, new things coming out that invite investment from companies like ours. [There is an] increased rate of change provided for by the first parties… look at the iPhone… [it’s] a new platform in the handheld industry. If you’re looking for good solid reasons for investing in R&D against new platforms, the market is providing us that. I think that arms race… I can never say that it’s done, but the relevance of doing that faster and faster… seems to have subsided. We’re projecting, relative to the core tech we develop, for [this] to be a very extended cycle.”