AE FY23 – Michmutters

Tag: AE FY23

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EA didn’t mention Battlefield 2042 a single time in Q1 earnings call

EA didn't mention Battlefield 2042 a single time in Q1 earnings call 31 | TweakTown.com

EA’s most recent earnings call didn’t deliver any real substantial news on upcoming games or content with zero mention of Battlefield 2042.

EA didn't mention Battlefield 2042 a single time in Q1 earnings call 31 | TweakTown.com

Alongside BioWare’s failed game Anthem, Battlefield 2042 is one of EA’s biggest bombs in recent memory. The shooter launched to massive controversy due to performance issues and lack of basic features. ea you have publicly acknowledged Battlefield 2042’s shortcomings and has promised fixes are coming.

Fast-forward to EA’s recent Q1 FY23 earnings call and there’s absolutely no mention of Battlefield 2042. The usual suspects–Apex, FIFA, Madden–are touted, but DICE’s latest shooter is left out.

This is a stark contrast to EA’s comments from its Q4 earnings call from May, where CEO Andrew Wilson said:

“We’ve got incredible leadership over that team now. They’re rethinking the development process from the ground up and really using kind of the Vince Zampella/Respawn model of getting to the fun as quickly as possible.”

ReadAlso: Battlefield 2042 needs to go free-to-play to succeed, data suggests

EA management wasn’t asked about Battlefield 2042 in the earnings call but they didn’t talk about the game either. There was just one brief mention of Battlefield 2042 on an investor’s slide confirming the game is still live.

This avoidance reflects the current state of the video games industry: Lower earnings as pandemic spending stabilizes from inflation, delayed games due to COVID-19 dev interruptions, and a general sense of having to catch up from economic and industry-level negative trends.

Reports indicate that EA is working on an early version of the next mainline Battlefield game but nothing has been confirmed or announced so far.

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Technology

EA says Skate went free-to-play to better cater to Gen Z, Gen Alpha

EA says Skate went free-to-play to better cater to Gen Z, Gen Alpha 1 | TweakTown.com

EA explains why Skate went free-to-play…and the short answer is social interactions.

EA says Skate went free-to-play to better cater to Gen Z, Gen Alpha 1 | TweakTown.com

The main reason why most games go free-to-play is to maximize reach and microtransaction spending. This is certainly one of EA’s big motivations with Skate, which is indeed F2P and will also have microtransactions. EA makes billions every year from live services and Skate will feed into this stream.

Aside from the game’s business tactics, EA management gives more color, saying that Skate’s new F2P release will appeal and cater to a very specific age group: Gen Z and Gen Alpha, both of which are very much connected to live games.

“One of the most important growth potential that we have as a company is how we show up for Gen Z and Gen Alpha players, how they socially connect, how they consume content. There’s been a significant focus from the team on this,” EA Chief Operating Officer Laura Miele said during the Q1 earnings call.

“Back in the day, skate was a bit even ahead of its time. A lot of the core motivation around our skate experience was around creative self-expression and in social connection and competition. And we are bringing that to life in the biggest way we possibly can.”

EA CEO Andrew Wilson also had prepared remarks about these age demographics

“We continue to see Gen Alpha and Gen Z turning to games as their primary form of entertainment, consuming more content than any generation of the past. They love playing with friends. They stay connected with family. And they’re creating content at every turn, both in and around their entire gaming experience.

When we look at Skate, I think what happened is our ambitions have continued to grow. As you’ve seen what the team has been able to do around that experience, I think we continue to see opportunity.

Skateboarding is kind of a cultural language for many generations. It transcends so many things, certainly geography and as we think about the ability to bring a global community of youth together through the language of skateboarding, we think this represents one of the biggest and strongest opportunities we have to build a global online community deeply engaged. in a world that involves creativity both from us and from them experiencing what starts out as skateboarding and almost certainly reaches more deeply into the cultural sensibilities of a generation.

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