The stock of Electronic Arts Inc (NASDAQ:EA) closed at $107.94 adding 0.58% in Fridsay’s trading session. This company has collaborated with Federation Internationale de Football Association (FIFA) and the two look forward unveil an esports tournament series for the popular FIFA video game franchise.
The collaboration involving FIFA is quite similar to that EA had with the NFL for its Madden Championship Series. This company has always been keen on releasing new versions of the sports titles every passing year. The FIFA 18 after the release in September was expected to reach players in about 50 countries.
The buzz for World Cup 2018 is ongoing at the moment, and the management is taking advantage of these esports tournaments in the hope that they will be able to increase player engagement as well as draw in more players to the game.
Over the years, Madden and FIFA have remained to be bellwether games for Electronic Arts. Experts have given their projections citing that digital card game might soon grow in importance.
The fundamental idea has always been to use the growth in live services to generate interest as well as engagement in the latest game releases. CFO Blake Jorgensen during the company’s first-quarter conference call gave an in-depth explanation regarding the critical link between the Ultimate Team digital revenue growth and the esports.
He opined, “You don’t get 22% year-on-year growth in live services without the esports power that we’ve seen in our Ultimate Team business. And I challenge any other console player to demonstrate where they’ve seen revenue growth of that level coming from esports.”
It was during the second-quarter conference call when the management proceeded to make a report regarding the number of players that participated in the online competitive game modes. A growth of about 30% was witnessed last year and the overall growth of the Ultimate Team revenue is taken with much importance by the company. The larger dynamic that usually affects player engagement is a challenge that needs to be dealt with.
