Also because of Battlefield 2042? EA boss gets 20 million less annual salary

Andrew Wilson, CEO of Electronic Arts, earned an annual salary of $39.2 million in the penultimate fiscal year. His base salary was only 1.25 million, but there were various bonuses and special payments, most notably stock shares. In the last fiscal year, which ended on March 31, 22, however, his income halved to the still immensely high sum of 19.9 million US dollars for mere mortals.

But what is behind it? In fact, shareholders had already been indignant about the high bonus payments last summer. The “CtW Investment Group”, which has been taking action against high manager salaries for years, apparently also played a role in this. She had taken various publishers such as EA and Blizzard to task and, in the case of Electronic Arts, complained that they had developed a very strong premium dependency. Finally, a non-binding “Say on Pay” vote among shareholders found that only 26 percent of shareholders believe the current remuneration system is justified.

Now a company dossier confirms that consequences were actually drawn. For example, Wilson’s stock grant, which was previously valued at $30 million, was reduced to a package worth around $18 million. Ultimately, Wilson’s total salary was reduced from $39.2 million to $19.9 million. What’s interesting about the bill is that Wilson’s base salary rose 3.2 percent to $1.3 million.

Also interesting: Battlefield 2042: EA denies report that DICE is dropping the title

This is an increase that is “consistent with company-wide base pay increases for high performers.” Basically, EA justifies the pay increases by saying the company has met its release schedule, kept live services running, increased engagement, increased employee diversity, and received good employee satisfaction ratings.

“FIFA 22 was the strongest FIFA ever,” writes EA in its new report. “[EA] has made Apex Legends one of the most successful live services in the industry, with a more than 35 percent increase in monthly active players year-over-year.” However, that success was partially offset by the performance of Battlefield 2042.

Source: axios, EA