EA's New Games For 2020
Electronic Arts (EA) has plans to publish 14 new games in FY21, its next financial year starts in April 2020.
"We're launching four sports titles including new games in our blockbuster FIFA and Madden franchises; four other titles that draw from the breadth of our IP and we'll also publish four titles globally from smaller developers.
Finally we expect two new mobile titles to make it into soft launch. We expect growth to accelerate in fiscal 2022 as we leveraged the growing base of next-generation consoles with the launch of a new Battlefield. This is on top of the launches of FIFA 22 and Madden NFL 22 plus new and ongoing live services and other titles," the company said.
New games in the pipeline for FY21 include:
- Four sports titles including FIFA and Madden.
- Four other major titles.
- Four titles from third party/indie developers.
- Two new mobile games in soft launch.
The four major titles could include the remastered Command & Conquer. Another possibility is the Medal of Honour VR game and various projects in the works at Motive, DICE, Bioware, and Criterion.
The company is working with a partner in China to expand Apex Legends in that market, is expanding its presence in esports, and is looking at acquisitions in mobile, PC games and high-definition gaming, according to Chief Financial Officer Blake Jorgensen.
However, the company won’t release the next version of Battlefield for more than a year -- in fiscal 2022, Jorgensen said.
“Battlefield is the game that will take advantage of the power of the new consoles, and we wanted to make sure we release that when there’s a bigger installed market of consoles,” Jorgensen said.
Jorgensen hyped the new Xbox Series X And PlayStation 5 machines in the company's investor call, indicating that the leap from the current generation is going to be a lot more striking than people are expecting.
“The power of the new consoles is gonna be substantially greater than existing consoles,” he said during the call. “We can do a lot more [with PS5 and Xbox Series X]. Things we’re doing will blow people’s minds.”
Electronic Arts Inc. reported sales and profit that beat estimates, but the video-game publisher also issued a forecast that suggested the current quarter will be tougher.
Adjusted revenue for the period ending in March -- the company’s fiscal fourth quarter -- should rise to $1.15 billion, Electronic Arts said Wednesday. Profit excluding certain items will be 93 cents, the company predicted.
The company enjoyed a successful holiday quarter in which sales and profit slightly beat expectations. EA registered gains in both digital sales and packaged goods in the latest period, helped by growth from FIFA Ultimate Team and The Sims.
New releases such as Plants vs. Zombies: Battle for Neighborville and Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order, along with live services, also performed well during the period ended Dec. 31. Star Wars is expected to sell 10 million units in the fiscal year, the company said.