EA plans to release 14 games over the next 11 months.

Sports
EA plans to release 14 games over the next 11 months.

Earlier this year, EA announced that 14 games would be released in fiscal year 2021, which began last month (confusingly, yes, it is now 2021 as far as EA's finances are concerned). During today's investor conference call, EA reiterated this figure: despite the fact that many employees are working from home in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic, the publisher plans to release 14 games by the end of its fiscal year next April.

Four of the 14 games are sports games: "FIFA," "Madden," "NHL," and one unannounced game. No word on platforms, but expect EA's NHL series to join Madden and FIFA on PC.

Four more games will "draw on the breadth of [EA's] IP," CEO Andrew Wilson said, including "Command & Conquer Remastered"; "Burnout Paradise Remastered" for Switch; "Medal of Honor" along with VR games, could be one of them.

The other two games would be for mobile, and some would be "indie" games by partnered developers.

Otherwise, Wilson had nothing else to announce, except to say that EA has "new IP" in development and "a number of new incubation products that are coming together."

The new Battlefield game is not included in the new games for this year. The game will be released after April 2021, and according to Wilson, it is "coming along very well." (While the COVID-19 pandemic has depressed the revenues of many companies, EA and other major game publishers are doing better than in previous years as a more confined public seeks more entertainment at home. In other words, people spent big bucks on "Madden" and "FIFA Ultimate Team."

"In a world without sports, we became the sport for people," said EA COO and CFO Blake Jorgensen.

EA expects another strong year, with net revenue of $5.525 billion, but cautions that it is not sure if the current strong performance will continue, and that "deteriorating economic conditions," continued closure of brick-and-mortar stores, third-party partners' ability to work remotely to get things back on track, its He noted that a number of variables could affect earnings, including the ability of the company to get things off the ground remotely.

Nevertheless, EA executives repeatedly praised the company's staff for continuing to develop despite the situation, especially its live-service games, such as "Apex Legends Season 5," which launches next week.

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