Oxygen founder leaves EA board of directors
By
Eddie Makuch, News Editor
Television network founder Geraldine Laybourne retires from Mass Effect publisher after nearly four years with the company.
Electronic Arts board of directors member Geraldine Laybourne has retired after nearly four years with the Battlefield and Mass Effect publisher. Her retirement was revealed through government filings and is effective immediately.
Laybourne is the founder of television network Oxygen, and also served as president of Disney/ABC Cable Networks from 1996 to 1998. She also spent 16 years at Nickelodeon.
Laybourne joined EA in November 2008 and was one of four members of EA's Executive Compensation and Leadership Committee. This group assisted the board of directors in deciding compensation and benefit levels, and also helped foster leadership endeavors.
It is not clear how Laybourne's departure from EA will affect the publisher moving forward, and a company representative was not immediately available for comment.
By
Eddie Makuch, News Editor
Eddie Makuch (Mack-ooh) is a News Editor at GameSpot. He works out of the company's Boston office in Somerville, Mass., and loves extra chunky peanut butter.
69 comments
@WCK619 But you have been paying the oxygen tax, haven't you? And you also realise you have to plant a certain amount of trees that covers the amount of air you will breath in your lifetime? Get serious about this I'd say! Or they'll cut off your oxygen supply.
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2 Like @buccomatic Knowing EA, I wouldn't be surprised. I'd go far as even believing they'd charge just to connect to an official EA server.
Micro$oft has already beat them to that idea. There not that far off with their online passes anyways.
12 Like I think most people are interested to hear/read only two types of news when it comes to EA:
1. The board of directors was totally changed with a new one formed by people that loves gaming and are more interested in quality over quantity.
2. EA declares bankruptcy and all the studios are starting to work individually again (bigger competition between studios drives them to offer better quality games).
PS: No I would not like for people losing their jobs, even if they work for douchebags.
Regardless how many articles I read regarding EA, I always seem to come to the one and only conclusion:
SCREW EA (EpicfAil)
...He may have left...physically...but you know he is still the property of EA and always will be.
3 Like by reading what she did before joining EA, i think she was one of the reason why EA F**Ked up now
5 Like Screw EA, can;t stand those asshats. They corrupt and mutilate every franchise they get their hands onto.
Wish more developers/publishers like Rockstar were around. Those guys get to flex their artistic talent at will, not get choked and pidgeonholed like Bioware did.
1 Like Don't forget about CD Projekt Red it is a developer with a lot of potential and one of the few that believes in DRM Free games.
Next step "Coalition of EA haters" formation. Thats right EA just let special people walk away like that you'll get what's coming later.
1 Like @bongsyas_23 considering that Enron was essentially a fictional company with no products or services, I don't think your comparison holds water. Now if you wanted to say EA will be the next Xerox, Blockbuster, Barnes & Noble, etc... (large companies at one point leaders in their respective industry that ultimately failed), that might be a little more relevant. But...those failed companies were not forward thinking. They stuck to their old business models, didn't see the change that was happening and didn't adjust their business model to succeed in the changing times. Does EA fit that category? From what I've read EA dips it's toes into every possible future scenario of gaming to ensure that they stay relevant. Unfortunately for all of us, EA I believe is here to stay.
I disagree. I don't think EA are contemporary at all. They follow trends, and do so just one step behind. Look at ToR, which tried to be WoW, or all of their Facebook games, which tried to cash in on the fad (too late, though). Most importantly, they don't innovate with their games.
Unfortunately, their sports franchises might keep them alive long term. But I don't see them being the leaders of the industry in 5 years time.
3 Like I think his point is, Enron had pathetic business ethics, EA is not much better. Nowadays, they even emphasize the importance of business ethics in tertiary studies and believe me EA is failing miserably in that aspect... businesses which fail to show decent ethics fall
@GhostHawk196 They do innovate they, like it or not Origin going crossplatform (PC, android, IOS etc.) is pretty new since I don't think any other company has ever tried to create store that goes across so many different platforms. They try with a lot of ideas to adapt to the new mobile market conditions, I don't see activision trying the same approach. They were also the one of the first developer who actively picked a fight with Steams near monopoly on digital distribution which my book gotta count as trying to look out for their future revenue.
As for the quality of products they've some pretty strong labels within the EA fold. Both Bioware and DICE has consistently delivered highly praised games and that's not thinking of either their sports brand which remain strong as ever or Need for Speed. They definitely have the potential to produce high quality products.
Yes you're right, the main goal of every corporation is to maximize profits and wealth for the shareholders and almost everytime, cost cutting is more important than overall welfare and that includes all the things you mentioned above. But EA is not going to survive long in a monopolistic competitive market with their ethics unless their products are vastly superior to its competitors. I know they?re not the only company which is notorious for their overpriced additional content, and I can accept that as a consumer. But as for EA?s long term survivability, I?d be pretty skeptical if I were a shareholder, all they?re ever focused on these days is trying to mimic activision?s success with the Call of Duty franchise. I suppose its behaviour is natural of how the market works but the gaming market is quite unique. Dedicating so much effort procure another firm's consumers...well they?re trying to achieve something which is completely out of their scope.
@GhostHawk196 I think you are living in a very naive world. Plenty of corperations survive with little or no regard to ethics at all. Simply look at the arms produceres, energy companies and generally most companies that operate over the entire globle end up being involved in one corruption scandal or antitrust case.
The modern business world is a cutthroat place and trying to hold EA up to a standard few ever attain seems counterproductive.
I wonder what kind of benefit package she decided she was entitled to before leaving? Hmmm...
3 Like Like my Grandmother always says, "When you do people dirty, it comes home to you." I get the feeling that people leaving EA is just that happening to the company. Hope it spreads to encourage other companies to change their ways.
6 Like Tells you something about whats going on at EA, might aswell jump the sinking ship whilst its still afloat.
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7 Like @buccomatic Thank you, I was going to say something like this myself. She knows nothing of video games so how can she be expected to make good gaming decisions?
3 Like @CyhortI82 Uhh BioWare is dead the founders of the Company BioWare quitted or if you want the technical term retired this year. And gave the company to EA.
4 Like If the ship is sinking, it isn't because of their quality of games. It's because of their stupid consumer base.
http://www.ign.com/articles/2012/09/28/fan-negativity-behind-bioware-founders-departure
8 Like you got it backwards. It "IS" there "POOR" quality of games.
games require hours and hours of "our precious" time, so we have a justified right to complain if it goes down hill.
3 Like I thought EA was holding all of their staff hostages. Probably it was time to renewed contracts and some of them had a chance to run away.
Two sentences of news, three paragraphs of recaps that no one cares about. GameSpot has hit a new low, congratulations!
6 Like LOL wow.... I knew EA was bad but leaving after only 4 years? No wonder they won the golden poo award.
1 Like I hope that this means someone good will take her place. I mean I don't KNOW that she is bad but the person who found Oxygen networks is probably not the best person to be making video games. Just a thought.
7 Like I've been wondering for years about Electronic Arts board of directors member Geraldine Laybourne, and I was afraid to ask.
Thanks Gamespot.com for filling me in, Finally answers! ~~~
2 Like @aldronlin Why are all these nerds going off about companies. I mean both sides, the haters and the fan boys. I care about games. I don't even spend 2 seconds of my day thinking about what companies are doing well. I think more about what's the next game I will like. I don't care who makes it. If a game is bad I do not buy it. Follow that and things will work out.
1 Like Raditz5 i think the same as you. it never crosses my mind who made the game.if it`s a game i like i get it if it don`t like i don`t get it.i got games from many different companies.
@resident_jisen @Raditz5 @aldronlin
It does matter to some just like a director in movies for example: Michael Bay - Idiot (he killed Jazz!) Ridley Scott - Genius (well most of the time)
In marketing terms it is known as branding like Patek Philippe, or Armani you expect a degree of excellence and quality. Another example of companies being destroyed is when Yum Brands bought Pizza Hut - When Pizza Hut first came out it was great then when Yum Brands bought them they turned into "fast food", quality suffered then the business suffered.
And don't you dare call me a nerd. I am a geek not a nerd. I live dangerously...I don't use pocket protectors.
1 Like @aldronlin BioWare isn't dead, idiot. They still make great games. Just because you like being a "free thinker" that blindly hates on every corporation doesn't mean EA is the devil and killed BioWare just to spite the true and righteous gamers.
4 Like @CyhortI82 @aldronlin I'm sure if you were old enough to remember the real BioWare and had actually played thier games we'd respect your opinion. Dragon Age 2 made me weep...do you actually think DA3 will be better? With a 2 year life cycle??? TOR was just dull and cookie cutter just as predicted. Mass Effect 3 Just call it an action game with action trees already.
7 Like @CyhortI82 first of all, calling people name on public fourn is unnecessary. Second, if Bioware so good and smart what the f**k is Dragon Age 2?! that is the one that slap me in the face for being a royal customer to Bioware. To me, Bioware is dead. To you might be different.
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12 Like @vault-boy wow, i didnt know there is such thing as EA fanboy, and i am the one who need to grow up because i am dispointed with the game i bought. You learn new things everyday :)
1 Like @aldronlin EAs strategy when buying studios is incredibly thickheaded. Everytime they take over a succesful studio and make them make more superficial and simplistic games. It NEVER works and they KEEP doing it
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