How FIFA was outplayed by Electronic Arts
The video-game publisher called the football chiefs’ bluff—and won
A new football season will begin on September 27th: not the Premier League or La Liga, but the annual update of the world’s favourite football video-game. “FIFA”, as the franchise was known from its pixelated debut in 1993, sells nearly 30m copies a year. In-game spending pushes its annual revenue above $3bn, estimates MoffettNathanson, a firm of analysts, which calculates that the title contributes nearly two-thirds of the profit of its publisher, Electronic Arts (EA). Gaming has few bigger names than “FIFA”.
This article appeared in the Business section of the print edition under the headline “It’s in the game”
Business September 21st 2024
From the September 21st 2024 edition
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