You may not have realized this, but EA, one of the biggest publishers in the video game industry, has been in search of a new chief executive officer for the last six months, following the resignation of its previous CEO, John Riccitiello, back in March. Now that search is apparently over.

Former executive vice president of EA Sports and Origin, Andrew Wilson, has been pegged for the role. The announcement was made via a blog post on EA's website, wherein Wilson expresses his deep gratitude and admiration for the company, and makes a few statements about his confidence in EA's current direction.

I envision EA as the World’s Greatest Games Company. This is not about what we are aiming for or what we will become. Rather, it is about an unfaltering commitment to what we will be every day. This is an attitude that must drive our culture as one team.

I also believe EA’s strategy is sound. Our focus on our talent, our brands and our platform together with our investment in next-generation consoles, mobile and PC free-to-play, as part of our ongoing transition to digital, is right. But we have plenty of work ahead to ensure our collective success.

In the short term, our mission is crystal clear: We are 100 percent focused on delivering our FY14 business plan. We have made strong progress in the first half of the fiscal year, establishing financial discipline and continuing to create a slate of fantastic games for current and next-generation consoles, mobile and PC. But now we’ve got to finish the job – execute in Q3 and Q4 and deliver on the promises we made to our fans and our shareholders.

Wilson, 39, has been with EA for 13 years. He immediately replaces Larry Probst, who had been sitting in as acting CEO since Riccitiello's departure.

Hope he brings the management skills that made EA Origin so amazing to EA as a whole. Good times all around!

interesting.

Makes sense, I guess.

That guy doesn't look a day over 30. LIES.

@shintsurugi: Nah I would peg him 35-36. That said what a lucky dude, must have worked his tail off to get to that type of position considering he started with the company at 26.

"Spohrtz!"

Really disappointed. Peter Moore would have been so amazing.

I bet he's not thrilled about it either.

Should we be concerned that he naturally lumped this together?

PC free-to-play

@swick: Well, you shoudn't be surprised...

You know, following Sim City I'd planned to just write off EA. And then those bastards got ahold of the Star Wars license and showed off Battlefront 3. So now I just don't know what to do. My head says forget they ever existed past Mutant League Football, but my heart still loves lightsabers and the pewpew of blaster fire.

I've got a baaaad feeling about this.

Remember when Ryan said he thought that if Peter Moore didn't get the CEO spot he would walk?

Wonder if that's gonna happen.

Good to know that they're going to be focusing on their brands and investing in next generation consoles.

Are we absolutely sure that its not Serious Sam?!

Unless they decide to put games back on Steam, I don't really care who in charge of EA.

Damn, he looks good for his age.

I guess I'm looking forward to how EA changes moving forward - I just hope it's for the better.

EA haters, ASSEMBLE!

Nice pile of meaningless PR speak in that blog post.

Wow, so after all that they did hire internally? Hmm.

I envision EA as the World’s Greatest Games Company.

Woops sorry, you lost me.

How much more evil did he promise to deliver per annual?

39? Damn that's awesome. Well done to him.

Darth Vader is kinda young...

Oh wait this is the EA Sports guy from the XB1 reveal? Interesting.

The EA CEO Game - Free 2 Play, Pay 2 Win

"Former executive vice president of EA Sports and Origin"

Holy christ, he's the spawn of everything shitty about EA.

This is what the blood of newborns gets you. I hear it's a luxury that comes complimentary with any executive EA position.

New Ceo and from his blog post the same as old ceo. EA was running better during their transition period than they ever did with a corporate douche as ceo.

This guy looks like a real bro.

I hope he can/will/wants to steer EA into a better direction. Maybe give their studios a bit more time and a bit more control. And stop turning them into annual game factories.

SPORTS

Sorry, irrational dislike of Origin went out of style about a year ago. Yeah Steam is great, but Origin works fine.

ORIGIN? UH OH!

damm so no moar Spoarts hea

Is that an OK Cupid profile photo? He has the crazy eyes.

You know, it might be a cultural thing... But if the first sentence you say in your job as CEO is that your company is the greatest in the world and you're not going to change anything at all,in my opinion kind of makes you look like a dick, or worse a puppet.

But i will forgive ea in a second! If they somehow manage to make Battle for middle earth 3 and make it as good (not picky here! no need to be much better) as bfme 1 and 2.

But if they make it free to play and make me buy factions or even single hero's... I will hold a hatred in my heart so dark sauron would not touch it with a giant mace.

Marcus Beer, is that you? Or are you just one of the other million entitled dudes who can't make a single funny joke on the internet? I wonder.

"I am a fist-bump in human form"

Speaking as a 37 year old, let me just say how insane it is to imagine being the CEO of a major company in 2 years. That's just incredibly young for a position of that sort.

What? The authoritative freak from the Xbone press event?

You may be right, but if Origin is so great, it should be able to stand on it's own now and not be propped up by exclusives. EA needs to put their games on Steam and let people choose where they want to buy.

I was sure Steve Balmer would take over..

Something something business speak assholery something.

I love Steam but how is EA not releasing their games on Steam any different from Valve not releasing their games on Origin?

A lot of salary for a sports licence asset manager. Also I looked at the prices for the reboot of Syndicate today, Asda in the UK (effectively Walmart in the US) were selling it for £11.25, EA's Origin service wanted £14.99. Amazon got my money at £3.84 since Jeff seemed impressed with the game overall, and the cost's ok for single player missions and a chance at multiplayer. It's idiotic that they want Origin to compete with Steam, but can't beat a brick and mortar store or the like of Amazon with their own product.

It is possible that he's had his hands tied on improving EA's sale strategy until now, but I can't see success for Origin unless he's committed to compete.

Maybe the young blood will bring about something awesome from EA in the future. We'll know soon enough.

Yeah, man, then Sony will put Last of Us and Infamous on 360 and Gears of War and Halo will go on PS3!