Riccitiello: UK Retail War Unfair and Aggressive

10 Dec 2009 at 16:43:04 by Bill Vaughan

EA's CEO John Riccitiello has said that the pricing wars going on between top UK retailers is unfair, and that these companies are aggressive in their tactics.

While speaking at the USB media conference, Riccitiello pointed the finger at UK retailers, highlighting their tactics when it comes to selling games. “The UK retail channel at times runs on their own a little more aggressive than usual. What I'm seeing right now is a market share war going on at retail.” quotes MCV.

Last month, ASDA slashed the cost of Modern Warfare 2 from the RRP of £55 GBP to £32 GBP. This was then followed by an announcement from Sainsburys that it was selling the game for £26 GPB, a further reduction of £6 GBP, leaving many smaller and independent retailers without a hope of competing.

“What I've been witnessing at retailing the last couple of years is an unfair fight,” Riccitiello said. “One retailer that has got a lot of staff on the floor was pursuing an effective share model to take share from competitors that are less able to execute that model.” He continued “And those guys were taking pretty high margins on their videogames and now they have decided to get aggressive on price which is where they're strong.”

Comment