Andrew Wilson, CEO of Electronic Arts, said at a Goldman Sachs conference on Tuesday that the company sees a big opportunity in games that allow players to create their own content. It sounds likeEA wants to find more ways to let players create content in its own titles, as games likeMinecraft and Roblox have become huge hits with enduring popularity.
He mentioned The Sims, which will soon be free to play, and talked about how the upcoming live service Skate title will allow for player creation.
Similar to the real world, where skateboarding leans into fashion and music and automotive and building and brands, the franchise can do that as well. You'll see us invest more in creation. The Skate team has already teased some of the tools they are working on, such as in-gameCollaboZones that can be builtcollaborative and appear in others players' worlds in real time.
There will be new worlds that sit right next to the worlds we create and people will move between them. This sounds similar to what you can see in the game today, where expansive player-made worlds are served up next to the game's own modes.
There is a significant business opportunity for players to create content. He said that the correlation of minutes engaged and money spent is almost one to one, so whether players orEA creates the content, there's an extraordinary opportunity for the company.
Wilson talked about how the company doesn't plan to pour money into gaming-related entertainment opportunities like film, like some other companies have. He said he wouldn't buy a movie studio just because he thinks there will be a convergence between linear and interactive. There are different ways to do that.
He is not looking at expensive sports broadcast rights. I am not going to spend billions of dollars on linear broadcast sports rights because I think there is a way we can deliver and fulfill the needs and motivations of our sports fans in a more deliberate way.
We didn't deliver in the way that we should have in the last two versions.
He acknowledged that the launch of Battlefield 2042 didn't live up to expectations and that the state of the franchise is trying to recover. He thinks we didn't deliver in the way that we should have. A lot of work needs to be done there. He says that there is a good chance that Battlefield is on the right path. There are new Battlefield experiences in the works, including a narrative campaign and a mobile game, as well as Vince Zampella, who heads up Respawn, who is now in charge of the franchise.
Wilson thinks Battlefield could fill the vacuum left by Call of Duty. Being platform agnostic and completely cross platform with Battlefield is a tremendous opportunity in a world where there are questions over the future of Call of Duty.
Wilson is on guard for disruption from tech giants that have entered gaming, but he believes that the company will survive. He told his team to never underestimate the giant companies that have innovative DNA, monopolistic tendencies and deep pockets. If they get it right, we have to wonder what will happen. We have an opportunity to deliver the future of entertainment.
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