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Until recently, Electronic Arts was sending messages that single-player games were dead. The players crucified them, however, the fact is that multiplayer games with live service have prevailed, and the culture of publishing and playing single-player games in a global sense is on the wane.
EA simply turned to the gaming sphere where the money lies today. Sony is also turning to it, which, however, does not intend to sacrifice the creation of narrative single-player titles. However, after the success of Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order, EA's rhetoric has been taking a slight turn lately.
A slight twist
A sequel to Jedi is being prepared, as well as a new Mass Effect and Dragon Age, a remake of Dead Space is scheduled for the beginning of 2023, and there is talk of a Black Panther title... Well, now the head of EA Andrew Wilson has a different answer to the shareholders' question about SP games.
For him, WC titles are no longer dead. “When we think about our portfolio and we think about building it out, we really think about it on two key vectors. One, how can we tell incredible stories? And two, how can we build tremendous online communities? And then how do we bring those two things together? So, when you look at our portfolio, what you should be looking for is, how are we doing that? How are we building these worlds and telling these stories? How are we developing global online communities? And how are we bringing those two things together for the fulfillment of motivations?”
17% higher income from live service
In the report for the previous year, EA established a record revenue of 7.5 billion dollars, which is 21% more than the year before.
At the same time, revenues from live services grew by as much as 17% to the current 71%, of which Apex Legends alone generated about one billion dollars. To put things into context, $4.6 billion from the live service is the equivalent of 130 million copies of console games sold.
“And the way we’re planning it over time is really just looking at our community and looking at how they’re spending their time and looking at where motivations can or can’t be fulfilled. And we will try to complement this by adding new online games, new multiplayer games, and new single-player games." the financial director is specific. So, SP titles for EA are not dead, but live service is king.