BioWare, a studio of video games developer and publisher Electronic Arts (EA), recently announced a co-operative multiplayer for its upcoming Dragon Age: Inquisition game. The multiplayer mode will allow four gamers to team up and play any of the 12 characters across the three Inquisition classes of Warrior, Rogue and Mage.
Dragon Age has been one of the most popular franchises of EA. EA released the first installment of the franchise Dragon Age: Origins way back in 2009 and the second part Dragon Age II in 2011.
After much delay, EA announced that the third installment Dragon Age: Inquisition will be released on Nov 18, 2014. The game will be available on Sony’s PlayStation 4 and 3, Microsoft’s (MSFT) Xbox One and 360 and personal computers through Origin.
Post debacles with Battlefield 4 and SimCity, BioWare needs a hit to prevent it from going into oblivion. EA also hopes that Dragon Age: Inquisition will be able to attract gamers and regain some of the holiday season revenues, expected to be lost due to the postponement of Battlefield to 2015.
EA recently released Madden NFL 15 that is expected to boost its top line for the rest of fiscal 2015. The company is set to launch FIFA 15 in September. FIFA is an important franchise for EA. For the last couple of years, the franchise has contributed a significant part of revenues. FIFA 14, which was the first soccer game on new consoles, also gained good traction.
Innovative product pipeline will continue to boost EA’s market share on new consoles in the long run. We believe that EA’s strong digital portfolio and continuing growth in the tablet and smartphone market are the key growth catalysts. Moreover, the company’s efforts to optimize costs through overhead reductions will be beneficial, going forward.
However, the company faces a number of headwinds that include significant competition from other game makers such as Activision Blizzard (ATVI), Glu Mobile and Take-Two Interactive (TTWO). Additionally, higher consumer spending on new consoles may cannibalize software sales in the near term.
Currently, EA has a Zacks Rank #2 (Buy).
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