Electronic Arts Executive Chairman
Larry Probst of EA
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Chairman Larry Probst steps down as an active employee at Electronic Arts

  • Posted byby Dean Takahashi
  • Updated
  • 1 min

Larry Probst, a longtime fixture at Electronic Arts, will step down as an employee of game publisher Electronic Arts on Jan. 1. He will move from executive chairman, which is an employee position, to non-executive chairman as 2015 starts.

Probst joined EA as vice president of sales in 1984. He became CEO after EA founder Trip Hawkins left to run 3DO. Probst was CEO of EA from 1991 to 2007. During that time, EA became one of the juggernauts of the game business.

Probst was appointed executive chairman in March 2013, after CEO John Riccitiello left. Probst returned to EA as an employee at that time. Andrew Wilson was appointed CEO in September 2013, and Probst helped guide the company through the transition.

It now appears that Probst trusts Wilson enough to step back from actively running the company..

 

Written by

Dean Takahashi

Dean Takahashi is editorial director for GamesBeat at VentureBeat. He has been a tech journalist since 1988, and he has covered games as a beat since 1996. He was lead writer for GamesBeat at VentureBeat from 2008 to April 2025. Prior to that, he wrote for the San Jose Mercury News, the Red Herring, the Wall Street Journal, the Los Angeles Times, and the Dallas Times-Herald. He is the author of two books, "Opening the Xbox" and "The Xbox 360 Uncloaked." He organizes the annual GamesBeat Next, GamesBeat Summit and GamesBeat Insider Series: Hollywood and Games conferences and is a frequent speaker at gaming and tech events. He lives in the San Francisco Bay Area.