Forget sports tournaments or new movie releases as boosters for game demand. Electronic Arts' latest hero is America's most famous chat show host.
Chief Executive John Riccitiello, at the Reuters Media summit, went out of his way to praise Oprah Winfrey, whose recent shout-out of Scrabble gave a new lease of life to the not-so-new word game.
"We're very thankful to Oprah for mentioning Scrabble on iPad as one of her ultimate favorite gifts. There was a 400 percent pop ... on her word." He said. "I think there's different grades of favorite so we were happy to be among her ultimate favorites."
So did Riccitiello contact Oprah directly to say thanks? "My sense is that the number of people sending her flowers is too many for her to notice my petunias," he said.
(Photo: Reuters)