EA's new chief technology officer might have the know-how to prevent another SimCity-like fiasco

Publisher Electronic Arts is grabbing talent from the tech industry to help build up its digital platform so that it won’t buckle under heavy demand — as it did during the infamous launch of SimCity in 2013.

The company revealed today that it is bringing in Ken Moss as its new chief technology officer. EA is responsible for two of the unsteadiest launches in recent gaming history with 2013’s SimCity and Battlefield 4, and Moss might have the skills and experience to prevent that happening again. Moss previously worked at eBay and Microsoft. At the Internet auction site, Moss led the data team that kept the company’s global marketplace functioning. At Microsoft, he spearheaded the development of what would eventually turn into Bing. Now at EA, Moss will apply his experience to help the publisher build and maintain reliable digital platforms.

“As CTO, [Moss] will lead the organization, strategy, and vision for EA’s digital platform and information technology divisions,” EA chief executive Andrew Wilson wrote in a blog post. “[Moss] joins us at an important time in EA’s journey, as technology continues to transform the experiences we deliver to our players.”

EA’s previous CTO, Rajat Taneja, left the company in November to take the role of executive vice president of technology at Visa. While at EA, Taneja worked on improving the publisher’s PC digital-distribution service Origin as well as building a single framework for all of EA’s games.

In his blog, Wilson wrote that EA is moving more toward games as “live services.” Something like League of Legends would fall into that category as it requires an online connection, and developer Riot Games is constantly providing new content and online tournaments. EA has a number of games that already run as a service, including its League of Legends-like PC game Dawngate. The company will obviously require a strong online backbone to support those types of experiences, and it is Moss’s job to ensure that happens.

While EA brought in Moss for his technical expertise and experience, Wilson also noted that Moss is also a gamer. That perspective should help the CTO understand his new, demanding customer base.