This former Starbucks exec is now tasked with making gamers like EA

Video game publisher Electronic Arts has hired former Starbucks executive Chris Bruzzo as its chief marketing officer. It may seem like an odd shift to go from marketing coffee to marketing digital entertainment, but EA chief executive Andrew Wilson said that the company is engaged in a “transformation to put our player relationships at the center of everything we do.”

EA hasn’t had the greatest connection with its gamers, who have staged protests against the company in the past over things like the controversial ending in Mass Effect 3 and the ill-fated, always-connected reboot of SimCity (which failed to work at the outset for many consumers). Such uprisings led to EA being labeled the “worst company in America” in past years. Wilson, who took over at EA a year ago (and who will be the opening fireside chat speaker at our GamesBeat 2014 event), has made it a priority to put “players first.”