Finally, Riccitiello cleared the air on whether the failed buyout talks between him and Take-Two Board chairman Strauss Zelnick was because of ego. "I've invested ego in a lot of things at EA," said Riccitiello. "In quality, in growth, in making it a place that people want to work, being able to embrace artists... I've invested zero ego in Take-Two."

After expressing his feelings that the press wanted to impose their own story, he added, "I don't remember ever getting angry, or any of that. Strauss and I remained civil... we honestly had a different point of view. He believed time was on his side... and we said we had a price and it was time-dependent."

"I don't get any more emotional about that than I do about my daughter's math homework -- which, actually, I occasionally get emotional about," he concluded.