EA CEO: PC Gaming Has Been Growing for Years

Sure, there's no Madden on PC, but with games like Crysis, Spore, Battlefield Heroes and more, EA remains committed to what the company feels is actually a growth market.

During the Q&A session with analysts and investors on EA's earnings conference call, Chief Executive John Riccitiello pointed out that the PC games industry is actually doing just fine when you look at the total picture rather than isolating "soft" retail sales.

"I certainly recognize that the box side of PC is soft. It's been soft for some time. Frankly, if it were not for The Sims and World of Warcraft PC box sales, it'd be a pretty dismal sector," he acknowledged.

Thankfully for the PC market, retail is just one very small slice of the complete picture. "I would point, out, however, that one of the fastest growing parts of this industry is the subscription and micro-transaction [business] and casual games, much of which is centered on the PC," Riccitiello continued. "So one of the things we try to look at at EA is the total business... and we're seeing a growth business there. In fact, it's been growing for several years. It's just been categorized wrongly by simply looking at the box side of the equation."

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