EA is continuing to move toward a larger live service-based games strategy as full game sales dropped 19% compared to the previous year, according to the company’s latest financial report to investors on Wednesday. EA reported revenue of $1.55 billion for Q1 FY22, up 6.3% from last year. Net income for EA, however, dropped to $204 million, compared to $365 million the previous year.
Despite the drop in-game sales, EA’s live service revenue is offsetting the loss up to 13%.
[ignvideo url="https://www.ign.com/videos/2021/08/02/apex-legends-emergence-battle-pass-trailer"]EA attributes its growth to various live-service aspects of its most popular games, including FIFA Ultimate Team, Apex Legends, mobile games, and other franchises. EA said that more than 31 million people have played FIFA 21 on console and PC since launch. Meanwhile, FIFA’s Ultimate Team mode matches have grown 48% year-over-year.
Apex Legends also set a new record for concurrent players with the launch of season 9 and averaged 13 million weekly active players.
It’s easy to see why EA is continuing to shift towards more live-service-focused games like FIFA and Apex Legends. The publisher is hoping to expand its sports game offerings to a target audience of more than 500 million players in the next five years. That would effectively double EA Sports’ audience from what the studio says is a current audience of 230 million players.
[ignvideo url="https://www.ign.com/videos/2021/07/22/dead-space-remake-reveal-trailer"]While the live-service sector continues to grow, and companies like Ubisoft lean into developing more ongoing titles, EA does have single-player games in the works. BioWare is working on the next Dragon Age, while EA recently announced a full Dead Space remake.
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