Connie Booth joins EA as group general manager - Via Zubytech & Shinobi602

[Jim Ryan]

Exclusive: Connie Booth, One of the Chief Architects of PlayStation's First-Party Studio System, Is Joining EA - IGN

Connie Booth, one of the major architects of Sony's first-party studio system before her departure in 2023, is joining EA to help run Respawn, BioWare, and Motive.

www.ign.com

 

[AshHunter216]

Wasn't David Jaffe hoping she would join Xbox so she could help them lead a revolution against PlayStation? lmao

Also, we need to find another source. Zuby just tweets things with no source for engagement.

 

[Gediminas]

Wasn't David Jaffe hoping she would join Xbox so she could help them lead a revolution against PlayStation? lmao

 

[Evilnemesis8]

Wasn't David Jaffe hoping she would join Xbox so she could help them lead a revolution against PlayStation? lmao

Also, we need to find another source. Zuby just tweets things with no source for engagement.

Exclusive: Connie Booth, One of the Chief Architects of PlayStation's First-Party Studio System, Is Joining EA - IGN

Connie Booth, one of the major architects of Sony's first-party studio system before her departure in 2023, is joining EA to help run Respawn, BioWare, and Motive.

www.ign.com

 

[Jim Ryan]

Wasn't David Jaffe hoping she would join Xbox so she could help them lead a revolution against PlayStation? lmao

Also, we need to find another source. Zuby just tweets things with no source for engagement.

Yes, he said that Microsoft should get a truck of money and unload it over at her house to get her onboard to do such a thing.

 

[shrike0fth0rns]

Wasn't David Jaffe hoping she would join Xbox so she could help them lead a revolution against PlayStation? lmao

Also, we need to find another source. Zuby just tweets things with no source for engagement.

anything he says can be pretty much disregarded

 

[thicc_girls_are_teh_best]

This might confirm that part of her departure from SIE was over the GAAS push (as in, SIE wanting to revert/scale back on it and Connie wanting to make the push for GAAS instead), because EA is heavily focused on GAAS these days. Well, that and licensed games.

Beyond Good & Evil 2 probably won't even release until next decade.

In any case, I wish her the best of luck with the new endeavor.

Yes, he said that Microsoft should get a truck of money and unload it over at her house to get her onboard to do such a thing.

Jaffe is a deranged idiot. His best work is decades in the past and he hasn't come to terms with that fact.

 

[Gediminas]

This might confirm that part of her departure from SIE was over the GAAS push (as in, SIE wanting to revert/scale back on it and Connie wanting to make the push for GAAS instead), because EA is heavily focused on GAAS these days. Well, that and licensed games.

Beyond Good & Evil 2 probably won't even release until next decade.

In any case, I wish her the best of luck with the new endeavor.

or, Jimbo and Hulst pushed her with GaaS garbage and, she as SP girl, couldn't make it work.

 

[shrike0fth0rns]

She was fired from ps

This might confirm that part of her departure from SIE was over the GAAS push (as in, SIE wanting to revert/scale back on it and Connie wanting to make the push for GAAS instead), because EA is heavily focused on GAAS these days. Well, that and licensed games.

Beyond Good & Evil 2 probably won't even release until next decade.

In any case, I wish her the best of luck with the new endeavor.



Jaffe is a deranged idiot. His best work is decades in the past and he hasn't come to terms with that fact.

beyond good and evil 2 is an ubi game I don’t see the connection and EA specifically said in their last quarterly reports they were moving away from many licensed games and focus on original ip and gaas that’s why they cancelled Star Wars projects

 

[JAHGamer]

This might confirm that part of her departure from SIE was over the GAAS push (as in, SIE wanting to revert/scale back on it and Connie wanting to make the push for GAAS instead), because EA is heavily focused on GAAS these days. Well, that and licensed games.

Beyond Good & Evil 2 probably won't even release until next decade.

In any case, I wish her the best of luck with the new endeavor.

What do you mean? Connie was never pro GAAS, look at the games she's associated with and pushed for, it's all single player games. From Crash and Spyro in the 90s to TLOU2 and GoT to 2020....

She was shoved out by Jim and Hermen BECAUSE of the GAAS push. Connie was replaced by a former Guerilla employee.... aka Hermen's friend. And look at the studios that Sony has acquired under Jim/Hermen leadership, almost all GAAS and PC focused. Even Nixxes is located near Guerilla. Hermen is running the show now and is giving all the positions to his buddies and the people who actually know how to run the company are thrown to the wayside (Shuhei) or fired (Connie).

EA said they want to focus more on original IP, largely including single player titles, which means Connie is there to right the ship. The last thing EA needs is more GAAS people especially from someone who has very little GAAS experience...

 

[Loy310]

Good for her. I aint expecting anything great from this, i can't remember a PS executive that left PS and went to another company and accomplished anything good.

 

[Yurinka]

This might confirm that part of her departure from SIE was over the GAAS push (as in, SIE wanting to revert/scale back on it and Connie wanting to make the push for GAAS instead), because EA is heavily focused on GAAS these days. Well, that and licensed games.

What do you mean? Connie was never pro GAAS, look at the games she's associated with and pushed for, it's all single player games. From Crash and Spyro in the 90s to TLOU2 and GoT to 2020....

Connie worked on a lot of both GaaS and non GaaS titles. Her work wasn't related to greenlight games, decide the monetization method of the games or the strategy of the company. She was an executive producer (late vice president) of product development in SIE America.

Maybe EA just offered her more money than what Sony wanted to pay and after all that time at Sony she prefered a change. Or who knows, maybe just had some family stuff that made her want or need to move somewhere, or maybe several projects she pushed for failed and got responsability for them.

Or maybe lost some game of thrones like politics fight against other executive who stabber her in the back to get her position, or something like that.

Who knows, it can be anything.

She was shoved out by Jim and Hermen BECAUSE of the GAAS push.

Something doesn't match in that theory: she already was working on most of these GaaS before Jim and Hermen got their positions. Plus she also worked in many more SIE had released before that. Most of the known games greenlighted by Jim+Hermen aren't GaaS and they cancelled several GaaS.

Beyond Good & Evil 2 probably won't even release until next decade.

A couple weeks ago there was an Ubisoft Barcelona related event for the women day, and they had a big banner with several female characters from recent Ubisoft games where they did work like AC or R6S. Two of them were from BGE2, meaning they continue working on it.

In any case, I wish her the best of luck with the new endeavor.

Same here. Hopefully helps EA to make great games again and keeps the focus away from the greedy practices.

 

[Dabaus]

My tinfoil hat theory is that she wasnt actually fired but more of a "scout" at EA to nudge them into Sony's direction? Sort of like Sony's former third party cheif now at Disney. Revolving door industry and all that.

 

[Yurinka]

My tinfoil hat theory is that she wasnt actually fired but more of a "scout" at EA to nudge them into Sony's direction? Sort of like Sony's former third party cheif now at Disney. Revolving door industry and all that.

This theory makes a lot of sense. Maybe EA saw that they are performing great in terms of money, but in terms of quality many of their games suck or are stuck in the past, and fail whey trying to move new IPs.

And saw that Sony consisently deliver GOTY winners or GOTY candidates games every year, which also perform great in reviews and sales, and many of them are new IPs. So maybe poached her to help EA improve in these areas.

 

[Dabaus]

This theory makes a lot of sense. Maybe EA saw that they are performing great in terms of money, but in terms of quality many of their games suck or are stuck in the past, and fail whey trying to move new IPs.

And saw that Sony consisently deliver GOTY winners or GOTY candidates games every year, which also perform great in reviews and sales, and many of them are new IPs. So maybe poached her to help EA improve in these areas.

Im not even suggesting poached. Perhaps like you said EA wanted some quality control so Sony sent her over there for marketing agreements or just to keep tabs on them "just in case" is what i mean. ABK deal closes, Sony becomes more tight with EA? Its mutually beneficial for both.

 

[Yurinka]

Im not even suggesting poached. Perhaps like you said EA wanted some quality control so Sony sent her over there for marketing agreements or just to keep tabs on them "just in case" is what i mean. ABK deal closes, Sony becomes more tight with EA? Its mutually beneficial for both.

That's possible too.

Not sure how Sony's relationship with EA (and Take 2 too) will evolve after the ABK acquisition. When negotiating stuff like marketing deals, bundles, -often timed- exclusivity for betas, demos or inclusion on PS+, or even to make an exception reducing the 30% cut, they already had a preferential case because after ABK they were the 3rd party top dogs.

Now ABK is out of the question, they are the top dogs, so have better negotiation power against Sony, so could ask for more money. But at the same time, it also means MS will now need less stuff from 3rd parties since they'll always have the ABK stuff, and they seem to be moving their focus away from their console, so pretty likely MS won't ask people like EA or Take 2 for expensive deals of that type.

Which gives Sony more negotiation player being the only high end console who would be interested on paying for it. But having Xbox almost out of business, Sony may not need to invest that much in these kind of exclusives, so maybe moving forward as Xbox dies even more they may offer less money for them or even to stop paying for them.

So who knows, it's hard to guess.

 

[Danja]

or, Jimbo and Hulst pushed he with GaaS garbage and, she as SP girl, couldn't make it work.

This is exactly what happened.

 

[Danja]

Connie worked on a lot of both GaaS and non GaaS titles. Her work wasn't related to greenlight games, decide the monetization method of the games or the strategy of the company. She was an executive producer (late vice president) of product development in SIE America.

Maybe EA just offered her more money than what Sony wanted to pay and after all that time at Sony she prefered a change. Or who knows, maybe just had some family stuff that made her want or need to move somewhere, or maybe several projects she pushed for failed and got responsability for them.

Or maybe lost some game of thrones like politics fight against other executive who stabber her in the back to get her position, or something like that.

Who knows, it can be anything.


Something doesn't match in that theory: she already was working on most of these GaaS before Jim and Hermen got their positions. Plus she also worked in many more SIE had released before that. Most of the known games greenlighted by Jim+Hermen aren't GaaS and they cancelled several GaaS.


A couple weeks ago there was an Ubisoft Barcelona related event for the women day, and they had a big banner with several female characters from recent Ubisoft games where they did work like AC or R6S. Two of them were from BGE2, meaning they continue working on it.


Same here. Hopefully helps EA to make great games again and keeps the focus away from the greedy practices.

Connie was tasked to take over new GaaS initiatives like Factions, Concord, Haven, London Studios and so forth... She was fired, she didn't quit.

 

[Yurinka]

Connie was tasked to take over new GaaS initiatives like Factions, Concord, Haven, London Studios and so forth... She was fired, she didn't quit.

I just saw that in October 2020 she was promoted (by Jimbo/Hermen) from VP of product development to SVP, head of internal production. Which means she became in charge of the production of all Sony games since then, obviously both GaaS and non-GaaS. She is credited as such in Spider-Man 2 or TLOU2 Remastered.

She left Sony in November 2023. In this October 2020-November 2023 period they cancelled several games and delayed other ones causing the restructuring onf Japan Studio and shutting down Pixel Opus, London Studios and even if not owned by them, Deviation. To cancel or delay some game from time to time is ok, but maybe the volume, plus needing to fire almost a thousand people was too high here.

Neither she or Sony mentioned if she left, was fired or if it was a mutual agreement. But now seems clear that being in charge of production, since the production of all these projects more or less at the same time went wrong is the reason of why she is no longer in the company.

 

[Danja]

I just saw that in October 2020 she was promoted (by Jimbo/Hermen) from VP of product development to SVP, head of internal production. Which means she became in charge of the production of all Sony games since then, obviously both GaaS and non-GaaS. She is credited as such in Spider-Man 2 or TLOU2 Remastered.

She left Sony in November 2023. In this October 2020-November 2023 period they cancelled several games and delayed other ones causing the restructuring onf Japan Studio and shutting down Pixel Opus, London Studios and even if not owned by them, Deviation. To cancel or delay some game from time to time is ok, but maybe the volume, plus needing to fire almost a thousand people was too high here.

Neither she or Sony mentioned if she left, was fired or if it was a mutual agreement. But now seems clear that being in charge of production, since the production of all these projects more or less at the same time went wrong is the reason of why she is no longer in the company.

I don't see the point in including single player games greenlighted prior to the European Coup that happened Under Jim Ryan since those were set in motion under a previous team with Connie already being involved. They absolutely put the GaaS initiative onto her. It's pretty obvious to tell when someone is fired or forced out from PlayStation lol.

Amy Hennig
Shawn Layden
Connie

No positive PR or public statement from the departing party

Jim Ryan getting stealth fired however is different for optics