Blog: EA

New year, new research! We capped off 2024 by asking a representative sample of gamers [n=6,300] how they feel about developers using generative AI to make games (and how it affects purchasing decisions).

Couch co-op gaming, when two or more players in the same room play together co-operatively, already has some proven success stories: It Takes Two , a co-op-only platformer from EA studio Hazelight, has sold over 20 million copies.

Since publishers first increased AAA game prices from $60 to $70 in 2020, many people have asked MIDiA if publishers will raise that price further. Our answer: they already have – sort of, anyway. Via collector’s editions – more expensive versions of games with extra content – publishers are already leveraging superfans’ FOMO to grow launch revenues.

EA are heavily committed to the live service model, with their earnings release for financial year ending March 2023 putting their share of games revenues from full game purchases at just 26%, meaning that 74% came from live services and other revenue sources.

Hidden in the stream of high-profile broadcast rights announcements from DAZN this month was an announcement that EA sports will be DAZN’s now global sponsor of its UEFA Women’s Champion’s League (UWCL) broadcast coverage.

Last week it was reported that FIFA and EA are at an impasse regarding the renewal negotiations of an exclusive license deal. EA stated that it is considering renaming its flagship football title, while FIFA responded with a press release stating that “the future of gaming and esports for football stakeholders must involve more than one party controlling and exploiting all the rights’’ This is less about who is right and who is wrong, and more about the synergy of this once symbiotic partnership having run its course.

It has been well-documented that Gen Z’s and Generation Alpha’s interest in watching live sports has waned . It is important to dispel the notion that the younger cohorts are less likely to engage with sports, but rather to appreciate that they just consume them differently .

EA’s portfolio is still heavily dependent on third party IP licenses EA’s revenue is heavily dependent on licensed IP titles. This includes FIFA, Madden NFL, NHL, as well as its whole Star Wars games portfolio.

Amazon-owned Twitch is no newcomer to sports. However, in a deliberate move to double down, Amazon has conceded that it needs to improve the discoverability of live sporting events for its platform users – so, as of last Wednesday, ‘Sports’ has become a standalone category with the return of Twitch.

The English Premier League (EPL) is set to return to screens next Wednesday, over three months since the last fixture graced our screens. Considering the pandemic enforced-postponement has deprived sports fans of any live content since early March, the return of the EPL is big news for sports – even if the viewing spectacle is going to be inherently different.

In 2003, FIFA updated its primary logo to include the words ‘For the Game. For the World.’ Fast forward 17 years and governments around the world are instructing their citizens to stay inside. Now it is almost as if Nike consulted FIFA on its latest marketing campaign ‘Play Inside, Play for the World’, imploring enamored fans to play for the 7.

We pointed out the risks associated with the app economy being too dependent on a few hit apps back in 2014. The big question always was whether new titles of hit mobile game publishers could replicate or supersede the popularity of their previous hits, before users started becoming bored and investors start to panic.