Riccitello: 2009 console price-cuts came "too late"

EA CEO John Riccitiello said last night the first-party hardware price-cuts made in the second half of last year came "too late".

Speaking in the company's Q3 FY10 financial call, the exec said price-cuts for PS3, Xbox 360 and Wii were too slow in bringing down the price.

"I think a... factor in 2009 was sort of a lack of aggressive pricing on first-party if you will, a little bit too late with their price-cuts," he said, answering a question on overall industry weakness and decreased tie-ratios.

He added, however, state that console use was on the up, despite the emergence of social platforms.

"First up we do have data and research on the amount of time consumers are spending with games, and increasingly and importantly they're spending more time with their consoles than they ever have before - so I don't think it's a consumer behaviour issue if it's anything at all," he said.

At gamescom last August, after much pressure, Sony cut the price of PS3 down to £249/$299/€299. It was a move Riccitiello welcomed.

It was then followed up by a Wii price-cut for Japan, US and Europe - but not the UK - at Toyko Game Show, before Microsoft announced a European price-cut for Xbox 360.

Find everything from EA's Q3 FY10 financials here.