EA says single-player games are ‘a really important part’ of its portfolio

Electronic Arts has said that single-player games are “a really, really important part” of its overall product mix.

After appearing to actively shift away from making single-player games during the 2010s, the company has seemingly warmed to them again following the success of Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order.

Single-player games in development at EA include Star Wars Jedi: Survivor, Dragon Age: Dreadwolf and a Dead Space remake.

During its first quarter earnings call on Tuesday, EA was asked how single-player games currently fit into the company’s portfolio.

“Our players, on balance, they have these core motivations—inspiration, escape, social connection, competition, self-improvement, creation—these things that bring us together as players of games,” said EA CEO Andrew Wilson.

“And the creation of worlds, the building of characters, and the telling of stories is really important in the fulfilment of some of those motivations.

“When we think about our portfolio and we think about building it out, we really think about it on two key vectors. One, how can we tell incredible stories? And two, how can we build tremendous online communities? And then how do we bring those two things together?

“So, when you look at our portfolio, what you should be looking for is, how are we doing that? How are we building these worlds and telling these stories? How are we developing global online communities? And how are we bringing those two things together for the fulfilment of motivations?”

Wilson continued: “And what we see when we get that is, one, we grow our network, and two, we grow the amount of time that players in our network spend in and around our games.

“And as we think about single-player games, we think it’s a really, really important part of the overall portfolio that we deliver in the fulfilment of those core motivations.

“And the way we plan for it over time is really just looking at our community, and looking at how they’re spending their time, and looking at where motivations may or may not be fulfilled. And we’ll look to supplement that with the addition of new online games, new multiplayer games, and new single-player games.”

However, EA’s chief financial officer Chris Suh followed up by noting that live services account for almost three quarters of EA’s total business.

“If we think about the model impact and the financial impact of it, I think the first thing to always keep in mind is that live services still encompass, on a trailing 12-month basis, over 70% of our business, and that has been a proven, very reliable, highly reoccurring revenue stream, and that will still be the predominant driver in our P&L [profit and loss] long-term,” he said.

“Second, we’ve talked a lot about the areas of investment that we’re making, and that’s both in the live service as well as some of the single[-player] title launches that you’ve seen.

“And so over the course of time we’ll continue to invest, our long-term growth will continue to invest in the ongoing, stable performance of our live services business and there’ll be some puts and takes along the way.”

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Last week it was claimed that EA is making a single-player, open-world Black Panther game.

The title is reportedly in the early stages of development and is likely being produced at a recently established EA studio headed by former Monolith Productions boss Kevin Stephens.