The huge hype around the latest Star Wars film “The Force Awakens” has given the publisher Electronic Arts (EA) quite a strong final quarter in 2015.
Star Wars Drives Huge Profits
The publisher Electronic Arts can also look back on a good year in 2015 – especially in the last quarter, from October 1, 2015, to December 31, 2015, the gaming giant was able to make significant gains. The hype around the latest Star Wars film seems to have boosted sales across all platforms.
One of the big successes was the shooter Star Wars: Battlefront, which was released on PlayStation 4, Xbox One, and PC. In total, 13 million copies of the game were delivered to retailers – it is unknown how many actually reached players. However, it is noteworthy that the game has prompted many people to purchase a PlayStation 4; the various “Star Wars: Battlefront PS4 Bundles” sold more than 1 million units worldwide.
The appeal of the new players becomes even clearer when comparing revenue with the previous year. While in the autumn quarter of 2014 only “$388 million” in profit was achieved, this year it made a substantial “$596 million”.
However, a similar success was already predicted for EA – as pure revenue, a value of “$1.775 billion” was estimated, which was narrowly surpassed with “$1.803 billion”.
The thematically appropriate MMORPG Star Wars: The Old Republic also seems to be flourishing, as it recorded the highest subscriber count in nearly 3 years over the past three months! This was brought about not only by the film but also by the expansion “Knights of the Fallen Empire”, which placed a strong focus on story – and its conclusion will last until summer 2016.
Apart from the lightsaber swinging, European players are thrilled by the round leather – even virtually. “Fifa 16” was the cross-platform bestseller in Europe in 2015.
For more details on the report, you can find them in our sources.
