INTERVIEW: JENS UWE INTAT, ELECTRONIC ARTS The new republic
Electronic Arts is changing. As well as the ‘fewer, bigger’ strategy being applied to its boxed product business, it is even more significantly transforming into an all-round digital entertainment company. Dave Roberts talks to the publisher’s European senior vice president Jens Uwe Intat about the progress to date
MCV TALKS to Electronic Arts’ European boss Jens Uwe Intat just after the firm announced losses of $276m and revenues of $3.59bn for its FY2011. So many of his answers are peppered with facts and figures first aired during the associated analysts call.
He also, inevitably, echoes the current corporate themes that CEO John Riccitiello pushed to the fore as part of the full year announcement – most specifically the ongoing and much-trumpeted transition from boxed product behemoth to shiny new digital entertainment company. Only once does he, well, not exactly stray from the script, but certainly give it a bit of oomph. Towards the end of the interview he’s discussing Battlefield 3and, inevitably, the CoDwars. Asked if he thinks Battlefield, as a brand, can ever overhaul its great rival commercially, he replies: “Certainly. The only question is when that day will be. And for me, the sooner the better.”
No deviation from the corporate line there, but it’s all about his intonation in that last phrase: “The sooner the better”. He doesn’t quite growl it, but he sure does mean it. Either that or he’s tired of being asked about the question and his ire is for unimaginative journalists, not rival franchises.
First, though, some re-packaged nuggets from FY2011. “HD console and PC revenues grew by 13 per cent in the Western world during the year – and they account for 80 per cent of our packaged goods business. “So that’s an attractive business in that sense, but it’s also attractive because it offers digital expansion opportunities. People start with the disc and then they buy additional digital content.
With Battlefield 3 we are convinced we will have a better product than our key rival.
“ Jens Uwe Intat, EA
“This is the transition between boxed and digital and I would say we’re in a leading position in terms of that transition – and we’re nicely ahead of our own targets. We were planning for $750m worldwide in digital revenues in FY2011, but we actually achieved $833m.”
THE BOXING RING
Back in the boxed world, on a pan- European basis, EA held onto its No.1 position, with an 18 per cent share in terms of value (the same as in FY10). In its Q4 (calendar Q1) it actually climbed to 20 per cent (thanks to titles such as
30 June 3rd 2011
Bulletstorm, Crysis 2, Dead Space 2 and Shift 2: Unleashed) compared to 17 per cent in the same three months last year.
Intat offers further evidence of
EA’s progress away from the packaged goods sector via some FIFAstats plucked from the FY2011 highlights package. FIFA 09 (released in ‘08) generated $15m in digital revenues, whilst FIFA 10 (released in ‘09) clocked up $32m. Up to March 31st, FIFA 11managed $46m, but Intat expects it to eventually double FIFA 10’s total, so it should climb to about $64m.
DIGITAL BOOM
The publisher’s digital revenues should receive a substantial boon later this year with the release of Star Wars: The Old Republic, the eagerly awaited MMO. EA isn’t discussing its expectations in terms of sales and subscribers, but it has revealed that over one million consumers are participating in a free beta programme. Intat says: “The MMO sector has been more polarised than any other and it is a difficult one to get right. But we are in a good place to make a strong play. For a start, the franchise is one of the most admired in the world of entertainment and has an amazing number of fans.
PLATFORM BOOST?
One of the more intriguing statements from CEO John Riccitiello during EA’s FY11 analysts call was that the publisher is going to ‘become a platform’.
Now, we live in what buzzword aficionados like to call ‘disruptive’ times, and many previously rock solid industry terms are evolving. But, for EA to be a platform? That’s going to require a shift in definition. Inevitably, many pundits nodded along regardless to this latest pronouncement, but did anyone know exactly what Riccitiello meant? Did Intat? “The core of us being a platform is us trying to enter into a direct relationship with the consumer as best we can. We have our own distribution platform, we have our own EA Store, but outside we are also building relationships. “Consumer relationships in the old world meant us doing advertising and driving consumers to stores to buy the game and they would have a relationship only with the retailer. Now we have more relationships with more consumers, through different devices and different games and the aim is to aggregate that into one relationship between us and the consumer.”
www.mcvuk.com
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