Blake-Jorgensen
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EA CFO: Microsoft is catching up to Sony
Electronic Arts CFO Blake Jorgensen believes Microsoft is "catching up" to Sony in the current-gen console battle. Jorgensen said during a talk at the UBS Global Technology Conference in Sausalito, California yesterday that "Sony has jumped out to a lead with a great console and I think a great pricing strategy" with the PS4. Shipments for Sony's latest home console reached 13.5 million consoles as of late October, whereas Microsoft reported that shipments of Xbox One consoles hit 10 million globally last week. Jorgensen saw the Xbox One's $50 price cut for the holidays as a tactic by Microsoft that "will continue to pull the consumer into the new consoles." The EA executive estimated that combined sales for the two systems will top 25 million consoles following the holidays. [Image: Microsoft]
EA holds onto Star Wars games license for 10 years, says SWTOR is 'profitable'
Electronic Arts' recent deal with Disney over the Star Wars video game license will extend for the next decade, meaning that any dreams of a non-EA Star Wars MMO are going to have to wait until 2023 or beyond. EA remains committed to the ongoing development of Star Wars: The Old Republic, and the publisher has given the go-head for a Battlefront reboot. Chief Financial Officer Blake Jorgensen commented on SWTOR's rocky first year: "Yes the original expectations obviously were very, very large, and obviously the multiplayer MMO world has -- the popularly has come down over time and we tried to restructure the Star Wars business to better match the economics. It's a great business that's very repeatable. We brought the economics in line so it's a profitable business for us."
New FIFA World Cup game in development for Xbox One and PS4
During yesterday's investor call to discuss EA's second quarter of fiscal 2014 financial results, CEO Andrew Wilson noted that the publisher is working on a new FIFA World Cup expansion game. Additionally, CFO Blake Jorgensen brought up FIFA World Cup again when asked about next-gen games in development, indicating that the game will appear on Xbox One and PS4. It is unknown if the game will also be developed for current generation systems. "In the last two weeks, you've also seen several announcements about our product slate for the remainder of this year and into FY15," Wilson said. "We are refining our focus on our biggest brands and great new IP in development, including The Sims 4, EA Sports UFC, FIFA World Cup and Dragon Age: Inquisition." EA Sports traditionally launches a new World Cup-branded game in line with the global sporting event, which occurs every four years. The last game in the series was 2010 FIFA World Cup South Africa, which launched in April 2010. Given that the next World Cup is scheduled to begin in June 2014 in Brazil, a new entry in the sub-series is hardly surprising. The publisher's next-gen efforts will not include Tiger Woods in its future golf games, and Jorgensen also noted that Titanfall will be exclusive to Xbox One, Xbox 360 and PC "for the life of the title" during the call. EA will launch the next-gen version of FIFA 14 along with the new consoles this coming month.
So EA isn't putting microtransactions in every game after all
Remember that one time when EA CFO Blake Jorgensen pissed off the entire internet (except for Beau) by intimating that the gaming giant would be building microtransactions into all of its upcoming games? Well, forget that, because apparently that's not what he meant. "I made a statement in the conference along the lines of 'we'll have microtransactions in our games' and the community read that to mean all our games," Jorgensen told Polygon. "And that's really not true. All of our mobile games will have microtransactions in them, because almost all of them are going to a world where they are play for free." Jorgensen goes on to say that EA will likely be putting in-house credit card processing and download support into all of its titles, but that doesn't necessarily mean a mass conversion to the microtransaction model.
EA discusses expected cost increase of PS4 development
The per-game research and development costs associated with developing on the PlayStation 4 will likely be five to 10 percent higher than equivalent development on current generation systems, EA CFO Blake Jorgensen said during an investors conference call earlier this week."On any one title, it might be five to 10 percent increases in cost, but the real opportunity comes with the ability to expand what you can do in that title," Jorgensen said. "Overall you might see larger titles or larger costs because of the capability that you can deal with, but we'll also see larger revenue streams, we believe, because of the excitement around some of those big titles."EA has yet to officially determine whether these increased production costs will translate to increased retail costs, though Jorgensen made such an eventuality sound unlikely: "Typically at the start of a cycle, you've seen the pricing raise say to $69 for a core piece of software, and then over the life of those they've stripped it down to an introduction price typically now around $59. We haven't yet set pricing on our gen four [games], but you'll probably see a similar trend to that during the start of the next cycle."Jorgensen misspoke, according to EA, and actually meant to say that current-gen games start at $59 and are reduced to $49, and that's a trend we're likely to see continue. This aligns with SCEA CEO Jack Tretton's assertion that PS4 games will cost between $0.99 and $60.
EA CFO suggests 'new Battlefield' running on PS4
During a recent investor conference call, Electronic Arts' chief financial officer Blake Jorgensen specifically referenced having seen "the new Battlefield" running on a PlayStation 4. EA has not announced Battlefield 4 as coming to Sony's new flagship box, though it's hardly a stretch to envision the military shooter on the new platform.Jorgensen shut down the implication that EA's absence from Sony's PlayStation 4 press conference last week meant its support of the new system wouldn't surface until 2014 or 2015. "I'd say between now and E3, you're going to see a lot of stuff from us," he said."The technical power on the platform is going to allow us to do a substantial amount of things that we've never done before," Jorgensen continued. "I've seen the new Battlefield and it is stunning, I mean it is just amazing; what the imagination of the game developers are allowed to do with that much power."We've reached out to EA for more information about Jorgensen's statement and will update with any new information we receive.
EA is building micro-transactions into its PC and console games
Electronic Arts isn't backing down after a flurry of controversy about the micro-transactions in Dead Space 3. In fact, the company is planning to build micro-transactions into all of its PC and console games. CFO Blake Jorgensen says that EA is building "the ability to pay for things along the way, either to get to a higher level or to buy a new character" into all of its games and that "consumers are embracing and enjoying that way of business." While some people may balk at the idea of levels being locked away behind a paywall, Jorgensen also mentioned more innocuous micro-transactions, like trucks, guns, and other useful items that probably aren't ultimately necessary to enjoy the game.
EA 'pleased' with SWTOR F2P so far
In EA's third quarter earnings call, the company mentioned SWTOR and expressed cautious optimism toward the changes that free-to-play brought to the game. "As a reminder," CFO Blake Jorgensen reported, "on November 15th we launched our free-to-play option for Star Wars: The Old Republic. Very early indications have been positive and we are pleased with the initial results, but it is too early to know how successful this will be in the long term." Jorgensen said that SWTOR, among other titles, helped to contribute a tidy sum to the company: "Extra content and free-to-play contributed $185 million, up 50% led by FIFA and Madden Ultimate Team and Star Wars: The Old Republic." [Thanks to John for the tip!]
EA recognizes Q3 will be 'soft' due to Medal of Honor: Warfighter, lack of NBA
A running theme during today's Electronic Arts second quarter investor call was the impact of Medal of Honor: Warfighter's critical failure and the publisher's canceled NBA game. No less than three times the pair of titles were mentioned in a negative manner, particularly when compared to the success of Battlefield 3 Premium and FIFA 13."We are managing the ups and downs. Our Q1 and Q2 were better than expected. Our Q3 appears soft, due mostly to Medal of Honor," said EA CEO John Riccitiello. He went on that the company reduced its guidance for the year because of the "weakness in Q3 associated with Medal of Honor."New CFO Blake Jorgensen also mentioned Medal of Honor's "weaker than expected performance" in his prepared remarks, also mentioning the decision to cancel the company's NBA title would also impact Q3 performance."EA Sports is committed to basketball and we will publish a basketball game when we can match the quality of franchises like Madden NFL, NHL Hockey, Tiger Woods PGA Tour and FIFA soccer," remarked EA labels prez Frank Gibeau later. He went on to note that Medal of Honor: Warfighter's critical reception fell below expectations, but that the company feels it's a "good game with a receptive audience."EA plans to support Medal of Honor: Warfighter with more marketing over the holidays, and, as Gibeau put it, going to school to improve NBA and meet EA Sports' standard of quality.
EA gets a new CFO
Electronic Arts announced today that Blake Jorgensen will be the company's new chief financial officer, following the sudden departure of Eric Brown earlier this year. Jorgensen was formerly the CFO of Levi Strauss & Co. and Yahoo!."His deep understanding of finance and experience in online commerce and entertainment will be instrumental to EA's transformation into digital distribution of game content and services," said EA CEO John Riccitiello about Jorgensen. "Beyond his experience and leadership profile, we think Blake is a great cultural fit for EA and the game industry."The appointment comes less than a week after the EA board stated it had a "very high level of confidence in Riccitiello." EA will announce its first quarter earnings later today.
