EA’s mobile games got around 30 seconds of airtime and represented just two slides during a wide-ranging, three hour-long EA investor event yesterday.
The publishing giant’s fleeting mention of its mobile business toward the end of the marathon event outlined a strategy that would only continue to invest in “concentrated bets on standalone titles with breakout hit potential”.
EA CFO Stuart Canfield was the only executive to mention EA’s mobile games in a section near the end of the investor briefing, and neither of EA Mobile’s forthcoming mobile releases, EA FC Tactical and Plants Vs Zombies 3, were mentioned during the three hour event.
“An important element of scaling our massive online communities is being able to reach and acquire new players,” said Canfield. “Mobile represents an integral element of that strategy to expand acquisition for hundreds of millions of new players by penetrating new markets, extending the reach and delivering new experiences for broader demographics.”
“Our mobile strategy is focused on leaning into massive online communities, investing behind concentrated bets on standalone titles with breakout hit potential, all while driving profitable growth.”
“The success of EA Sports FC Mobile illustrates how this platform can expand our reach. The top five geographies show significant differentiation compared to HD, including territories such as Brazil, Turkey and India, demonstrating our ability to penetrate new markets and scale our communities globally.”
“In addition, mobile platforms can significantly extend and deepen player engagement, leading to greater monetisation. As we shared earlier, EA Sports FC players who engaged through the companion app spent approximately five times more.”
There was, however, a very brief mention of a new standalone Sims mobile game codenamed “Project Stories”, described as “a platform for creating and sharing stories in The Sims Universe.” During a section on the forthcoming Skate, EA did not mention the mobile SKU at all, only referring to it as a PC and console title. The Skate reboot was announced as a mobile-inclusive cross-platform free to play game in 2022.
There was also an extended section on a forthcoming all-purpose EA Sports app, intended to be a hub for all of the sports content produced by its EA FC and Madden franchises, with some elements of gamification in the mix.
It appears to be all over for Apex Legends and Battlefield on mobile, too, despite EA previously suggesting they might return to mobile after each games’ cancellation in January 2023.
It is perhaps no surprise that EA made very little mention of its mobile plans – it has recently merged its mobile teams into its ‘HD’ counterparts and closed several games, including Kim Kardashian Hollywood, Lord of the Rings: Battle for Middle-Earth, Tap Sports Baseball and F1 Mobile.
Those moves followed the cancellation of Apex Legends Mobile, Battlefield Mobile, and the shuttering of mobile studio Industrial Toys in January 2023. (We later discussed the demise of Battlefield Mobile studio Industrial Toys with studio founder Alex Seropian.)
Prior to its recent run of mobile game and studio closures, EA had acquired Glu for $2.1bn in 2021, but has since shuttered two of Glu’s top performing games.
Though there seems to be relatively few new games incoming for EA Mobile, its existing slate is pretty robust, with EA FC Mobile, Star Wars Galaxy of Heroes and Golf Clash its three top performers by far.
According to Appmagic estimates, EA’s top 10 IAP earners in the last 30 days are:
- EA FC Mobile ($11m)
- Star Wars Galaxy Of Heroes ($6.6m)
- Golf Clash ($6m)
- Design Home ($3.6m)
- SimCity BuildIt ($2.7m)
- The Sims Freeplay ($2.2m)
- Madden NFL Mobile ($2m)
- Covet Fashion ($1.7m)
- Plants Vs Zombies 2 ($1m)
- The Simpsons: Tapped Out ($900k)
Legacy titles Real Racing 3 and Need for Speed: No Limits also each earned EA roughly $700-900k in the last 30 days.
