Electronic Arts EA recently announced that it has pushed back the release date of Battlefield V, one of its highly anticipated games, to Nov 20.
Shares of EA lost 9.3% compared with the industry’s decline of 2.9%, following the announcement on Aug 30. Additionally, the company reduced its fiscal year sales guidance.
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Reportedly, the game was delayed to make a few changes to its core gameplay and Tides of War, its new live service option.
The news comes after the company announced the availability of the beta version that will be available on PC, Microsoft’s MSFT Xbox One and PlayStation 4 for early access members (Sep 4) and others (Sep 6).
EA’s original release date in October would have led to a clash with Activision’s ATVI Call of Duty: Black Ops 4 and Take Two’s TTWO Red Dead Redemption 2.
Is It a Good Move to Delay the Game?
EA’ decision to delay the game comes after it received feedback from players at Gamescom and E3.
The company plans to come up with its best version to compete against Activision’s Call of Duty: Black Ops 4 and Epic game’s Fortnite, which have already gathered enough interest and user base for their shooting-based games.
EA's efforts to come back stronger to attract gamers with its new technology and features, even though users and investors are disappointed with the push back, are a positive.
Moreover, the company’s delay will help it stay out of the competitive race with other major companies coming up with big releases. This will also allow players to engage more with Battlefield V, which will eventually drive in-game revenues and add to the company’s top line.
However, EA's failure to meet user expectations will have significant impact on its fiscal year revenues.
Additionally the company is also likely to lose market share to its competitors’ in addition to reduced engagement levels, which is expected to hurt EA's performance going forward.
Electronic Arts currently carries a Zacks Rank #3 (Hold). You can see the complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank (Strong Buy) stocks here.
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