The last couple of months have been extremely eventful on the business side of things for the gaming industry. Not only does Microsoft seem to be moving forward with its massive Activision Blizzard deal, but Sony also finalized its acquisition of Bungie in the meantime. This spurred a slew of rumors aboutElectronic Artsgetting acquired by a bigger company, too, which the company hadn’t chimed in on until now.
Andrew Wilson, the current CEO ofElectronic Arts, has finally decided to break the silence and go on record about what’s going on with the publisher as of late. This is a significant change of pace for the company’s official stance, as it had previously refused to comment on the matter in any way, shape, or form.
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According to Wilson, Electronic Arts could not “be in a stronger position as a standalone company” than it currently is. This information was brought about as part of the latest Q1 earnings call, and it’s bound to be bolstered by the fact thatEA’s live-service games are rather successful. Wilson claimed that the company’s objective is to keep its players and shareholders happy and that the current way of doing that doesn’t seem to leave much performance on the table.
“We feel very very confident and excited,” concluded Wilson, underlining the notion that Electronic Arts isn’t very likely to get acquired by a bigger company anytime soon. Alongside its tried-and-true flagships such asApex Legendsand the various sports franchises it’s collaborating with, EA also seems to have a hidden ace up its proverbial sleeve. Apparently, there’sa major unannounced EA game launching in 2023, and it’s entirely possible that it’s yet another live-service offering to bolster the publisher’s portfolio.
While it’s somewhat generic on its own, Wilson’s latest statements still suggest that the recentrumors of EA merging with another companyaren’t true after all. Still, it’s also worth pointing out that Wilson’s comment leaves enough wiggle room for the company to make big acquisition announcements in the future, as such discussions are exceedingly unlikely to get revealed as part of regular earnings calls.
It may be curious to note that recently EA’s previous CEOJohn Riccitiello insulted developers who don’t prioritize monetizationfeatures and systems. Riccitiello left the company in the midst of itsSimCitycrisis, only for Andrew Wilson to take over with relatively little experience in game publishing. The company has, however, proliferated under Wilson’s leadership, and the featured earnings call statements imply that this isn’t likely to change anytime soon.
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