John Riccitiello has today announced that he will be stepping down as CEO of Electronic Arts at the end of this month (March).

Riccitiello was made chief executive officer (CEO) of Electronic Arts in 2007 following his return to EA from the private equity firm, Elevation Partners which he co-founded in 2004 after leaving Electronic Arts for the first time.

Neither EA nor Riccitiello himself gave any definitive reason for departure, but one reason could be the steady drop in EA’s shares. When Riccitiello was named CEO in 2007 EA was trading at $60 per share, but as of last night EA shares have dropped to $18.71 per share. Recently EA has going through some tough times, especially with the disastrous release of SimCity which caused an out poor of complaints from those who bought the game.

Following Riccitello’s resignations, EA has announced that Larry Probst will take on the role of acting CEO.

For more information on this story, visit The Escapist.