Andrew Wilson, CEO of Electronic Arts, said in an analyst call that EA Sports College Football saw five million players in its first 11 days (not counting 500,000 who played a free trial).
That was part of EA Sports coming in with stronger results than expected in EA’s first fiscal quarter ended June 30.
“As I look to Q2, our sports-packed quarter began with a bang – the successful debut of EA Sports College Football 25,” Wilson said after EA reported earnings that beat expectations. “This is a monumental moment for EA Sports. We are returning to a sport we love, reimagined for a new generation of platforms, breaking new ground with athletes through the world’s largest single sport NIL program, and delivering an experience that has absolutely ignited college football fans – both longtime and new – around the U.S., and across the world.”
He said EA’s development team created 150 unique stadia and over 11,000 player likenesses for the game, and it shipped the title with Team Builder, an extensive creation and customization UGX suite that enables players to create their own teams, jersey combinations, logos, field designs, and more – and then publish and share their creations within the game. To date, players have created nearly one million teams created by players.
Wilson said EA’s reach is to hundreds of millions of people around the world, but he didn’t give a precise number.
EA Sports FC 24 and Madden NFL 24
“Our focus continues to center around entertaining more players, for more time, across moregeographies. And we believe there are secular tailwinds in social media and sports that favorour enviable position as a company that will drive sustainable long-term growth built across theengagement modalities of play, create, watch and connect,” Wilson said.
He added, “We believe the lines between traditional sports consumption and interactive sports entertainment will continue to blur as hundreds of millions of fans increasingly connect with theirfavorite athletes, clubs and competitions through EA Sports.”
This quarter, in EA Sports FC 24, Wilson said the soccer game saw better than expected monetization given the popularity of real-life soccer events, with results in FYQ1 coming out better than expected despite comparison to a World Cup summer a year ago. The company also released its F1 24 racing game.
“We blurred the lines in Madden NFL 24, connecting real-life cultural events to in-gameexperiences with live content that fuels deeper engagement,” Wilson said. “We were onsite for the NFL draft to support the immediate inclusion of rookie players into Madden NFL 24, resulting in an expandedsocial experience as they played live in front of millions of fans before even stepping on the field.”
And he said, “Our teams are also engineering moments that ignite the football fan community withunique and valuable content that extends the in-game experience – like our collaboration to bring leading sports personality Pat McAfee into the game, the special Michael Vick edition, orour in-game Ring of Honor event.”
He said the 2025 edition of Madden NFL will significantly push the franchise forward, delivering enhanced audio and visuals, an all-new version of FieldSense, and innovative physics technology, getting playerseven closer to the action with their favorite NFL superstars.
He said EA Sports FC 25 will feature more innovation, as well as more realistic and authentic gameplay driven by enhanced tactical sophistication using AI and realworld footballing data. It will also introduce an entirely new, deeply-social 5v5 experience called Rush available across all major modes in the game, and a new content capture and creation tool.
Apex Legends and The Sims
In Q1, Wilson said Apex Legends was in line with expectations. The game is having troubles now holding the attention of players. Wilson said EA is committed to “evolving and learning is a foundational part of our strategy to return Apex Legends to growth.”
Stuart Canfield, EA’s CFO, said in the analyst call that Apex Legends’ decline lessened compared to the prior quarter.
During the quarter, the dev teams continued to introduce changes to this multibillion-dollar franchise as they test and iterate in the lead up to Seasons 22, 23, and beyond, he said.
Wilson said EA continues to engage and inspire fans across the massive Sims 4 community, as it rolls outmore content updates to this beloved franchise. Q1 saw healthy engagement throughout the community with excitement building for the launch of the Lovestruck Pack as a throwback to original Sims games with classic items. He said EA has 15 updates coming for the game.
Battlefield hopes
Meanwhile, competitors are trying to come up with more modern “life sim” games to compete with The Sims 4, as the game is nearly 10 years old. Wilson said EA is working on introducing multiple new experiences into the Sims universe over the coming years.
He noted that season 7 of Battlefield 2042 is wrapping up. He said each season has shown the team has developed a unique ability to listen, learn, and draw inspiration from the community. The franchise has surpassed 25 million players in the last 12 months.
“The community is energized by what our teams are doing and excited for what comes next. This is not just one of our top priorities, it is also one of the most ambitious projects in our history,” Wilson said. “Wehave brought together the very best team coupled with the resources and technology they need to deliver an epic Battlefield experience. I am excited about what is to come next, as we continue to make progress across our strategic priorities.”
He didn’t say when the game is coming. And he said EA continues to make progress with Skate and Dragon Age: The Veilguard.
Canfield also said Dragon Age: The Veilguard release is coming in the fall. EA did not disclose the number of employees in the quarter.
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