EA Sports is in expansion mode

The biggest player in sports video games intends to get even bigger – on mobile, in football, maybe even with basketball again – said EA Sports chief executive Daryl Holt , in an exclusive interview with Axios.

Why is this important: Sports games don’t get much publicity, but it is a booming market with increased competition and many players up for grabs.

• EA says it now reaches 230 million sports players, and it is trying to increase that number to 500 million over the next five years.
• The expansion will involve “new business models, new geographies” and a sustained delivery of sports game content to gamers around the clock, Holt said.
• Part of the plan is to link the players to each other. “We create a social aspect and social networks in our games,” he said.

Between the lines: EA is known for its success with American football (“Madden NFL”), soccer (“FIFA”) and professional hockey (“NHL”).

• Earlier this year, EA announced plans to return to golf, college football and baseball.
• He also recently extended his UFC contract and bought a studio that makes Formula 1 games.
• The competition is not resting: Rival Take-Two is increasing its golf offering and plans to resume making NFL games after many years of stoppage.

In the United States, the flagship product of EA Sports is his series “Madden NFL”, which remains popular but was hammered by critics last year.

• Holt is overseeing the series and says this year’s game, “Madden NFL 22”, should perform better, citing “a responsibility for us to manage know-how in terms of bugs or instability issues.”

On the mobile, EA’s realistic sports games work well, but more casual fast-paced options tend to top the charts.

• The company is addressing this with the recent takeover of Playdemic for its game “Golf Clash” and Glu Mobile, which offers an MLB game.

And after: EA Sports’ long-standing business model involves annual releases, but a large chunk of games are moving to fewer releases that are developed more often – hence the reason there is always new “Fortnite” content but never a “Fortnite 2”.

• Don’t expect the annual “Madden” games to end anytime soon, but Holt said EA is aware of this shift to perpetual service games, just as he is aware that there is annual cyclicality in the schedule. athletic.
• “I think it’s an evolution that’s happening in the gaming industry in different ways,” Holt said. “How we unlock the great pace of sport in this type of service, I think we will see in the future. “

The most visible hole Within EA Sports’ portfolio is basketball, where its once-a-year “NBA Live” console series has skipped five of the past 10 years.

• Take-Two dominates with its “NBA 2K” series, which is one of the most successful franchises in the industry.

What they say : “We have next-gen HD basketball projects that we’re talking about, designing and working on,” said Holt, using “high definition” as a shortcut for non-mobile console and / or PC games.

• But the company has yet to announce an official return to the format, only continuing to expand an existing “NBA Live” mobile game.
• EA Sports last announced an NBA deal in 2011. When asked if there is an NBA deal now, Holt said, “Definitely around mobile. And then we discuss what we want to do on the HD front.

Fun fact: EA also still owns the rights to “NBA Jam,” the arcade classic he picked up over a decade ago, although it last released a game from that series in 2011.