Electronic Arts CEO John Riccitiello has followed up the firm's disappointing Q2 2013 financials by stressing that the publisher's future lies within the digital arena.
Speaking during the firm's quarterly conference call, Riccitiello said EA had reached the "end of an era" thanks to the growth of its digital sales - particularly in mobile - with the role of packaged games likely to decline in the years ahead.
The growth game
"Digital games and services are surging, mobile is scaling nicely and free-to-play is bringing in millions of new consumers," said Riccitiello.
"The growth in social network gaming has slowed and console packaged goods are declining, which is typical for console games this late in the cycle."
Riccitiello said the firm's strategy was to take its existing IP into digital channels and to build its own technology to enable said releases to grow through EA's social gaming platform Origin.
"We are building bridges to the next generation of games and technology," added Riccitiello.
"We're pretty strong believers in revenue growth going forward. We think we've reached sort of an end of an era.
"We are reaching a tipping point relative to digital, and we've intimated, in many ways as we can, without getting ahead of ourselves that we are believers and it's worth investing in next-generation technology."
Socially speaking
Of Origin, CFO Blake Jorgensen said the firm's 20 percent year on year growth in the digital market has been coupled by the social platform hitting 30 million registered users 13 million of those on mobile alone.
"Additionally, we have signed agreements with over 70 independent developers to publish their games on our platform, along with our own vast catalog of titles and new launches," said Jorgensen.
EA CCO Peter Moore added that 4.4 million people have purchased games through Origin, with the average sale coming in at $64.
"People are buying multiple games," he concluded.
"The breakup of that 30 million is, I think, mostly interesting is we're now seeing as many as 13 million who are accessing Origin via their mobile devices."
You can read the transcript of the conference call in full over on Seeking Alpha.
News
With a fine eye for detail, Keith Andrew is fuelled by strong coffee, Kylie Minogue and the shapely curve of a san serif font.
Related Articles
News
May 8th, 2024
Q4 FY24 was EA’s strongest for mobile, but it still only earned them $307 million
Top Stories
News
Jun 7th, 2024
Week in Views - The hunt for the new Star Wars game, Xbox goes handheld, and cats versus monsters…
News
Jun 7th, 2024
Week in Views - The hunt for the new Star Wars game, Xbox goes handheld, and cats versus monsters…
News
Jun 7th, 2024
Metacore's Teppo Soininen: “Anybody who has put a game into soft launch knows there’s still plenty of space for f*ck ups.”
Events
Tribeca Games Festival 2024 | North America | Jun 5th |
Xbox Games Showcase / [Redacted] Direct | Jun 9th | |
PC Gaming Show 2024 | Jun 9th | |
Steam Next Fest: June 2024 Edition | Jun 10th | |
WN Conference Istanbul 2024 | Jun 11th | |
GamesForum Hamburg 2024 | Europe | Jun 11th |
ESI London 2024 | Europe | Jun 13th |
Indie Dev Play 2024 | Europe | Jun 14th |