Wed, May 06, 2009 | 06:58 BST

EA: The PC is “rapidly becoming the largest gaming platform in the world”

crysis

EA CFO Eric Brown said in the publisher’s Q4 earnings call last night that PC is to become the dominant hardware in gaming.

He said digital game distribution nearly doubled in revenue year-over-year to $80 million, while CEO John Riccitiello said digital revenue in total had risen to $400 in the last fiscal year.

“This is a big year for us,” said Brown. “The online part of our business is growing as much as 60 percent year over year.”

“In terms of distribution, the way we look at a lot what’s happening in the future is, we’ve got probably a billion PCs out there in the world,” he continued. “Very rapidly the PC is becoming the largest gaming platform in the world, just not in a packaged-good product.”

EA reported a $1 billion loss for fiscal 2009 yesterday. Thanks, Shacknews.

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7 comment-trail-alt Posted in: EA, Financials, Hot, PC, Trade
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7 comments

#1

Hero of Canton
06/05/09, 7:23 am

PC GAMING IS DEA-oh.

It’s a shame that digital revenue only adds up to about £270, but still. Well done, the PC.

#2

Grimrita
06/05/09, 8:07 am

The PC still slaps consoles in the face when it comes to revenue. In the UK, it has a higher % of sales then the PS3 and back in Feb, the 360 – despite it not having any triple A titles to buy.

Yes Dawn of War 2 came out but that was a major let down, hence why it didnt make #1 in the all formats like Empire:Total War did.

The PC has a much wider install base and the model for purchasing games is changing – yes but as normal, its the PC that leads the way in digital downloading.

#3

Blerk
06/05/09, 8:16 am

I think the PC is in a bit of a resurgence. But not with the sort of stuff that EA produces. I’ve played more PC games in the last year than I have in the last ten, but it’s all been ‘easy on the hardware’ indie stuff, Flash games or PopCap-style time-sinks.

My biggest gripe with PC gaming was how much it cost to keep up. Now that people seem to be realising that there’s tons of money to be made out of games which run on ‘just about any old computer’, I’m more than happy to start picking stuff up again.

#4

hitnrun
06/05/09, 8:28 am

It depends on what you mean by “games.” If by games you mean experiences like the one depicted in that screenshot, then certainly not. Those types of games have long since fled the Jolly Roger to the relatively secure waters of consoles.

If by games you mean secure MMOs and casual games for people who think ISOs have something to do with the housing collapse – and both genres are growth markets – then yes, the PC is the place to be.

Not too much good there for EA, though.

#5

blackdreamhunk
06/05/09, 11:28 am

Pc gaming has always been a jugeranut. Now that EA has started to go online like must of pc gamers are now they release how much we are worth.

#6

SwiftRanger
06/05/09, 1:17 pm

“Yes Dawn of War 2 came out but that was a major let down, hence why it didnt make #1 in the all formats like Empire:Total War did.”

I don’t know, if you read some forums then you’d be surprised how many people see Empire as a major let down. DoW II wasn’t finished but the same can be said about Empire (or about most major PC games nowadays, even for titles like L4D). Anyway, I think both did well at retail and DD (hardcore strategy games on PC and all that) but you can never compare them to console blockbusters which will always have more marketing and hype.

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