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EA Believes C&C: Rivals Perfomed Below Expectations

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In EA's official quarterly earnings call for Q3 of the current fiscal year that was released two days ago, the company touched on the performance of Command & Conquer: Rivals.

Quote

With our latest release, Command & Conquer: Rivals, we had positive soft launch results. But since global release, it is not driven in stores organically at the levels we anticipated. We are now working to bring more players into that game. We continue to be committed to mobile. We believe in the value of our franchise in the marketplace, and we are doubling down on these games through live services. We are also putting our best teams on bigger projects and exploring additional ways to create and iterate quickly. We have always focused on profitability in mobile, and we are evolving to better position ourselves for growth in the future.

(...) 

And on mobile, we moved one of our titles out of the year. C&C: Rivals is also ramping slowly, and we made changes to Madden Mobile that reduced monetization. On top of this, unprecedented competition for players' time impacted the growth of our titles.

EA seems to lament every single release as "below expectations" and try to hunt for a scapegoat for that outside the company (e.g. the same earnings call blamed the "poor" performance of Battlefield V on the "competition" of Fortnite and Red Dead Redemption II) instead of their own shortcomings. It would appear that the level of attention given to Rivals from its own separate fanbase, which surprised in size even myself as someone who immediately prepared a casket for it as soon as I heard about it, is not enough for the once overconfident publisher whose stocks have taken an insane dive in the past several months, and which fell even further on the day the earnings call was released alongside the stocks of many other publishers.

On a personal note, I'd just like to share my disbelief at the lack of self-reflection executives and select developers within major companies have, taking absolutely no responsibility of their own and blaming everyone and everything else for their own failures. If EA manages to survive the year without major blows, we are looking at an upcoming C&C remaster release which brings hope that at least someone (you know who you are) recognizes that their own customers matter more than shareholders in the long run, but time will tell sooner rather than later whether that will be properly put in deeds and not just words.

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Mobile games currently account for a larger percent of the gaming market than either console or PC games and are expected to reach 50% of gaming revenue by 2020. EA is doubling down because betting on mobile is the smart financial move right now.

EA has been floating in a reputation cess pit for a while and have taken several hard hits of more bad publicity over the past year. Their coffers are starting to feel the strain of it all and they are obligated to take it seriously at this time, but they aren't about to blame themselves for it in front of their shareholders who couldn't tell the difference between Pong and C&C: Rivals if their lives depended on it.

I am certain the C&C remaster wouldn't have even be considered at this time last year. The remaster was an ideal move at the moment they took it on, it will cost much less to make than a new title, will reduce C&C fans sabotaging their more profitable mobile release, and will grant them a cheap reputation boost if it succeeds and not really hurt too badly if it flops.

Every decision they make and everything they say to their shareholders makes complete sense from a business point of view.

EA has been snubbing their customers in the past because they know most customers are ignorant and easily manipulated. Previously, it was game journalists and news sites that told customers what to think, but companies figured out how to control them and they are no longer a serious threat as long as the companies give them what they want. But a new monkey wrench was unexpectedly thrown into the gears in the form of influencers on social media, who also have the power to persuade EA's customers. The few squeaky wheels who got offended by the way big publishers were treating the fans didn't use to matter, the majority would keep buying product. But once those squeaky wheels found places like YouTube, where they could complain to audiences of millions, suddenly the minority's voice held sway.

They still don't need to play nice with their customers, now they just need to suppress the influencers by giving them what they want too (oh look, a shiny C&C remaster). It may take them some time to refine their tactics to achieve this and have to be careful to avoid transforming the influencers into untrustworthy voices (i.e. shills). Eventually, they will figure out a technique, and their current need to be concerned with their bad reputation will no longer matter once again.

People say "vote with your wallet," but unless, by some miracle, even a tiny portion of people actually do so, and by their own conscience rather than being told to do so by someone else, EA does not need to move one toe closer toward what fans want them to be. Since that will never happen, EA wins, and the squeaky minority can suck it.

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Lootboxes are one of those reasons why EA is slumping. C&C Rivals, Battlefield V and FIFA19 all sucked. https://www.fool.com/investing/2019/02/07/fifa-19-battlefield-v-games-drag-ea-earnings.aspx
 

However, this statement is a toss-up.

1 hour ago, Nmenth said:

Mobile games currently account for a larger percent of the gaming market than either console or PC games and are expected to reach 50% of gaming revenue by 2020. EA is doubling down because betting on mobile is the smart financial move right now.

Fortnite itself is already better than most of the mobile competition (since it can be played on either PC or mobile) and EA is already responding to that with Apex Legends. Apex Legends might give EA some hope because it's also Battle Royale with lootboxes. Betting on mobile? It's betting on Battle Royale right now.

Edited by PurpleGaga27

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1 hour ago, Nmenth said:

Mobile games currently account for a larger percent of the gaming market than either console or PC games and are expected to reach 50% of gaming revenue by 2020. EA is doubling down because betting on mobile is the smart financial move right now.

Numbers aren't everything here. Mobile games derived from things that are fundamentally mobile-unfriendly will fail to bring that same crowd to the fold. After EA, Activision-Blizzard found that the hard way.

 

1 hour ago, Nmenth said:

They still don't need to play nice with their customers, now they just need to suppress the influencers by giving them what they want too (oh look, a shiny C&C remaster). It may take them some time to refine their tactics to achieve this and have to be careful to avoid transforming the influencers into untrustworthy voices (i.e. shills). Eventually, they will figure out a technique, and their current need to be concerned with their bad reputation will no longer matter once again.

Guess which demographic they got to shill Rivals for them (for free, which makes it even sadder). And how "well" that turned out.

 

1 hour ago, Nmenth said:

EA has been snubbing their customers in the past because they know most customers are ignorant and easily manipulated. Previously, it was game journalists and news sites that told customers what to think, but companies figured out how to control them and they are no longer a serious threat as long as the companies give them what they want. But a new monkey wrench was unexpectedly thrown into the gears in the form of influencers on social media, who also have the power to persuade EA's customers. The few squeaky wheels who got offended by the way big publishers were treating the fans didn't use to matter, the majority would keep buying product. But once those squeaky wheels found places like YouTube, where they could complain to audiences of millions, suddenly the minority's voice held sway.

Well, the key turning point was when an entire community (bless you, Battlefront players!!!) gathered to resist EA's shit. Then some governments lent a helping hand. EA doesn't have much time to adapt, their stocks took the largest hit since the 2008 recession and they have a surprising number of studios left to finance while their upcoming game list is barren.

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16 minutes ago, PurpleGaga27 said:

Betting on mobile? It's betting on Battle Royale right now.

Battle Royale is a genre that is being oversaturated. Mobile is a platform that is on the rise and has no signs of slowing. The comparison is not valid.

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1 minute ago, Nmenth said:

Mobile is a platform that is on the rise and has no signs of slowing.

I think you underestimate how oversaturated that pathetic excuse of a gaming market is.

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>EA Believes C&C: Rivals Perfomed Below Expectations

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I see what you mean what about the lack of self-reflection. It's easier to blame others than take accountability.

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19 minutes ago, Plokite_Wolf said:

Numbers aren't everything here.

They are as far as EA is concerned. And eventually, the numbers will win, the numbers always win. A few road bumps are not relevant in the grand scheme.

19 minutes ago, Plokite_Wolf said:

Guess which demographic they got to shill Rivals for them (for free, which makes it even sadder). And how "well" that turned out.

As I said, it will take time to refine the process.

19 minutes ago, Plokite_Wolf said:

the key turning point was when an entire community (bless you, Battlefront players!!!) gathered to resist EA's shit. Then some governments lent a helping hand.

The "entire community" only moves in one direction when a minority of people can command the crowd as their leaders, these are the influencers. The governments only cared because of the publicity, which again, was due to the influencers raising a stink over it. The influencers are the cogs in the machine and if when EA can learn how turn the cogs to their tune, the "entire community" will dance to that tune.

16 minutes ago, Plokite_Wolf said:

I think you underestimate how oversaturated that pathetic excuse of a gaming market is.

That is the equivalent of saying the PC gaming market or console market is oversaturated. While it is theoretically possible to have too many games for sale at one time on one platform, it is not a serious concern to any company.

9 minutes ago, FRAYDO said:

It's easier to blame others than take accountability.

No, it is more reassuring to the shareholders to blame others. Some of the shareholders might even know EA is feeding them lines, but the last thing they want to hear from EA is, "Yeah, we screwed up big time. Mistakes were made left and right, but we have a vague plan or two that we hope will pan out in the short term, and in the long term, none of this really matters anyway."

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1 minute ago, Nmenth said:

They are as far as EA is concerned.

And this is where they fail. Numbers without weight are meaningless. There are more factors in this whole situation that is more than dry earnings.

 

2 minutes ago, Nmenth said:

That is the equivalent of saying the PC gaming market or console market is oversaturated. While it is theoretically possible to have too many games for sale at one time on one platform, it is not a serious concern to any company.

Well, they are oversaturated, especially the PC market. A company needs to be aware of that and try to adapt to that, if anything to maintain a relatively steady revenue from the games they make. If they make a 1:1 copy of something another company made but set in a different IP, they are cretins if they then wonder how the sales are "below expectations".

Again, pandering to nameless and worthless shareholders is a very short-term thing. What's currently happening with EA is the purest possible demonstration of that. All they cared about was stock growth at the expense of everything else, and they're now left with an empty upcoming portfolio and a lot of employees to feed with revenues from nothing. Lootboxes were removed from a major title that was supposed to reap their profits like nothing, another sold a million copies less than they anticipated, and the next one has little buzz going around it right before launch. It shows that only dim minds never think long term and discard the whole picture.

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11 minutes ago, Plokite_Wolf said:

It shows that only dim minds never think long term and discard the whole picture.

That is exactly what I am seeing right now from a bunch of people whose total understanding of business could fit up a dung beetle's exhaust pipe.

 

You don't have to like it. I don't like it. I hate EA, Rivals, and the whole gaming industry's tactics, but it is the truth. EA will most likely pull out of this current slump, will make boatloads of money, and treat all of their customers like landfill rats.

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You seem to keep implying and expecting that EA has competent businessmen. If that were the case, they wouldn't have allowed the past ~14 months to occur.

I don't say these things just because I hate their guts. I hate Apple's every collective organ too, and I'll always admit that their businessmen are among the best in the world, if not the best, because every step they make is so carefully calculated and based on what they can realistically accomplish. EA just gambles (heyy!) their way through everything and expect to consistently skyrocket in the stock exchange without properly evaluating their own markets.

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If only EA announce it along with proper C&c game it might perform better consider Rivals it self is very good game.

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Two things: all EA games perform "below expectations", always. Also mobile vs. battle royale is a false dichotomy - the most watched Twitch game is Fortnite for mobile.

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5 hours ago, Plokite_Wolf said:

You seem to keep implying and expecting that EA has competent businessmen. If that were the case, they wouldn't have allowed the past ~14 months to occur.

Competent businessmen can still make mistakes. Your post hoc fallacy proves nothing.

They made a calculated risk to pander to shareholders and game journalists at the expense of their fans. It backfired because they didn't expect their fans to have a powerful voice to rally them together. Now they know who else they need to start throwing bones to.

By this time again next year, I fully expect EA will be doing just fine and everyone will still hate them.

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1 hour ago, Nmenth said:

Competent businessmen can still make mistakes.

Not multiple mistakes in succession.

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They haven't made multiple mistakes. They made one lengthy mistake of pandering to the wrong people, and some financially good decisions that are unpopular, but will benefit them in the long term.

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1 hour ago, Nmenth said:

By this time again next year, I fully expect EA will be doing just fine and everyone will still hate them.

Yeah, right. No wonder why EA is still one of the worst companies in America.

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So coming from a retail standpoint the mobile market is slowing down a bit, just look at Apple and Samsung having to lower their forecast, i think we are in a flux point in the market as we are about to shift mediums again. you also have company's like Nintendo that have eroded away some of that portable gaming market again. plus you also have the quality of game being a big thing as well, consumers are now starting to pick Quality over Quantity and rivals lands half way between.

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Already found out EA's latest game from Bioware, Anthem is already becomingly an epic fail in ratings (a 61% average in Metacritic from 31 critics and a miserable  3.3/10 average user score). Most people thought it's a soulless boring and buggy co-op game. Every recent EA game now isn't doing well except Apex Legends.

I guess Apex Legends is now EA's last hope of success (not last resort).

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Oh boy with Anthem also being a disappointment with poor reviews and slow sales EA can't be doing too good.

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