Generally speaking, I don't have a problem with licensed games. Just the bad ones. Which means it's a good thing that EA has decided to swear off the 'crappy' licensed games of which they've become associated with.

What's happening right now is sort of the core creativity of our team is really coming forward. When you see titles like "Dead Space" and "Mirror's Edge" — or something like "Boom Blox" — these are sort of like art teams creating something new. We've always been good at that [and have decided], "Let them go out there and do it."

Frankly I think that a lot of the intellectual property we create are better than the licenses. That doesn't mean there isn't room for great licenses. We've had a 20-year partnership with the NFL. We're incredibly proud of that. A 15-ish year partnership with the NBA. NHL, etc. But also we partner with J.K. Rowling and Warner Brothers in bringing over the Harry Potter games to market and a great partnership with Hasbro — a lot of new stuff this year for the more casual consumer. There's room for both. I think what you're noticing is that in years gone by we haven't had as many great, original intellectual properties. There's a lot more of that this year from EA and I think from here forward. -- EA CEO John Riccitiello to MTV Multiplayer

Of course, why go to the trouble? As games such as SEGA's Iron Man have proven, you can crank out a subpar piece of software to poor reviews and still make a killing.

I don't actually believe EA is in the business of exploiting other people's licenses with bad quality games. We've been there. Most of our competitors are there or have been there. That's not what we do. We're not really after that market. Now Metacritic isn't always the best quality measure for some licensed games, but I know a good game when I see it. My team and our developers know a good game when we see it. The products we're putting out this year from Hasbro — I don't know how they're going to do with Metacritic, but they're innovative, they're different. We've got the first E-rated shooter with our Nerf game. What we're doing with our "Family Game Night," what we're doing with "Littlest Pet Shop" — really cool stuff — what we're doing with "Sims" — really cool stuff. It feels like it's demographically similar but it's very highly innovative. I think what redeems our industry is quality, and I think we take a step back every time we take a license and exploit it with a crappy game. That's not what we're about. -- EA CEO John Riccitiello to MTV Multiplayer

Good to know. Now if only the other company mentioned, SEGA (hell, among many others) would go back to when a licensed game wasn't a bad thing and figure out where it all went wrong, and do the opposite, then maybe things will be better.

Of course, in SEGA's case, they should do the same with their original games, too.