The second quarter earnings call from Electronic Arts has pretty much confirmed what most people were probably assuming: 73% of the company’s business is “associated wtih live service games.”
The figure comes from COO Christopher Suh, who further notes that such live service features of its latest FIFA and Madden titles are both up from previous releases: FIFA’s Ultimate Team feature – aka the one with lootboxes – is seeing a 6% increase in players, while Madden 23’s own version of the FIFA lockbox scheme is also seeing double-digit bookings year-on-year. Additionally, Suh pointed out in the call that 66% of EA game sales are digital.
While live service games and game features don’t appear to be going away, EA also has some potentially intriguing news for fans of the highly acclaimed Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order. Investors were informed that the company’s fourth quarter would see a new release from a “major IP,” which has set off speculation that the sequel to Fallen Order is up next. This is primarily fueled by the fact that EA’s other “major IP” releases for the quarter have already been detailed, which include Need for Speed Unbound, the monster hunting game Wild Hearts, and the remake of the single-player survival horror game Dead Space.
