Electronic Arts executives, including CEO Andrew Wilson, have forgone their performance bonuses for the fiscal year ending March 31st. According to a Securities and Exchange Commission filing on June 21st, “Our CEO and his staff requested that they receive no performance cash bonus award for fiscal 2019.” This is due to the company’s poor results for fiscal year 2019, and also “in order to maintain alignment with our pay-for-performance executive compensation philosophy.”
The statement further noted, “While we are disappointed with our fiscal 2019 results, we understand the challenges we face, and we will continue to focus on how we can apply the strengths of our Company to capitalize on our opportunities.” Other executives who declined bonuses include CFO Blake Jorgensen, CTO Kenneth Moss, chief marketing officer Chris Bruzzo, and chief studios officer Laura Miele. Their bonuses will go into a separate pool of $4.8 million and be paid out to employees.
Interestingly, despite leaving in August 2018, former chief design officer and DICE CEO Patrick Soderlund also declined his bonus. GameDaily.biz also reported that the $20 million stock grant that Electronic Arts offered to have Soderlund stay was not accepted. This instead went into hiring new employees.
EA hasn’t had the best year thus far. DICE’s Battlefield 5 failed to meet sales expectations, and BioWare’s Anthem has been under constant fire, especially following reports of mismanagement and rushed development. Regardless, Battlefield 5 will continue to receive new content, and Wilson said he believes Anthem could improve in the long run.