Electronic Arts boss has hit out at his company's performance, speaking to business analysts about the firm's average Metacritic rating, which we learn dropped to 72 last year, from 77 in 2006.

The CEO described the critical average as unacceptable, adding: "Our core game titles are accurately measured and summarized by these assessments, and that is a very big deal."

Riccitiello even goes so far as to describe the mediocre scores as "the most important chart in this presentation, we need to recover here."

Better games are what is needed, Riccitiello refusing to obsess over scores, but rather aim for a general raising of the bar. "The process often gets in the way more than it helps. That sort of circus has unfortunately sort of defined our company for too long. And it's not a good process."

More from in due course.

By Luke Guttridge