EA: Players are embracing digital content

Electronic Arts has said that its user base for hardcore online multiplayer games has almost doubled in the past year, from 33 million to 60 million registered players.

Titles such as Battlefield: Bad Company 2 and FIFA have driven those numbers in the last quarter, with the company stating that controversial initiatives such as the $10 Online Pass have not hampered sign-up.

"We now have 60 million unique core registered users in our nucleus database, up from 33 million a year ago," revealed John Schappert, COO of Electronic Arts in a call to investors last night.

"Titles like Battlefield: Bad Company 2, FIFA 10 and 2010 FIFA World Cup South Africa drove registrations in Q1."

He also said that EA has 52 million monthly active users in the social games space, and that users of the company's Playfish titles on Facebook "remained stable, while other Facebook games have seen their monthly active user count fall by 25 per cent."

Online Pass, which charges second-hand users of its games $10 for online multiplayer gaming on consoles, continues to see strong pick-up, with 60-70 per cent of NCAA and Tiger Woods players redeeming their codes.

EA's digital and social gaming initiatives are performing well, with the publisher estimating digital growth of 25 per cent compared to last year's first quarter. In contrast, boxed product sales were down seven per cent for the same period.

"We're seeing good growth for our full game downloads through PC-download retailers, particularly Battlefield: Bad Company 2 performed well. We're also seeing good results on popular full games through the console networks such as Battlefield 1943 and Death Spank."

"Consumers are embracing downloadable content," he said. "Additional content for FIFA Ultimate Team 2, Dragon Age and Mass Effect 2 has been strong."

Playfish games on Facebook have been holding up well against declining usage on the service, with Schappert pointing to the success of FIFA Superstars as evidence that established brands and IP will become increasingly more important on the social network.

"So we were very excited about FIFA Superstars because it's really the first sports game in the social networking space," said Schappert. "I think what we've proven is a couple of things: that there's a category for sports; and that our hypothesis that proven brands and franchises matter there.

"And just as we've seen happen in mobile, I think that's the first example of that happening in the social networking space with branded IP. So you can expect to see more of that to follow in the not-too-far-distant future."

In the home console sector, EA games sales are being driven by the PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360, said EA, while the Wii market continues to decline.

"We are starting to see signs of strength in the high-definition console software market, which we estimate is up 14 per cent or $1.1 billion year-over-year and 21 per cent calendar year-to-date," detailed Eric Brown, CFO.

"This is driven by the Sony PlayStation 3 which is up sharply on its attractive price point. Microsoft is also starting to gain traction with its new enhanced Xbox 360 form factor."

EA recorded a profit of $96 million for the first quarter of the financial year.