Well, I think another thing people are missing was in the early days EA wasn't writing games - they where contracting out publishing houses of games and being distributors - not producers. They may have had a few in house games, but the ones we remember where all 2nd party to them. Bullfrog actually wrote Populous - a game I still play today via GOG.com -
http://www.gog.com/gamecard/populous. Also Interplay was another developer they gobbled up. When I shopped EA titles back then, I looked at the developers to determine if it was a game I cared to try. Companies like EA and Activision realized around 95-96 that with growth and distribution capability of the internet that they either bring these developers/titles in-house or be cut out of the loop. It is why so many developer companies are getting bought up and brought into the fold of these large publishers like EA.
EA also paid companies to port titles from Amiga to PC or vice-versa -that is why so many hardcore gamers won't touch ports because for their $50-$60 cash - a port isn't worth it.
As for the Genesis titles - they did get better - but after 5 years of trial and error - it would make sense. The Amiga was great at exposing poor programming and slack effort - because there are so many great games with awesome music and graphics that a lackluster effort stuck out like a sore thumb - which I do believe was the point the Rich was trying to make in the interview.
