Advertisement

Electronic Arts (EA), TBS Team Up for The Sims Reality Show

Electronic Arts EA has partnered with U.S. telly network TBS to produce a new reality competition called The Sims Spark'd, centered around the company’s famous franchise The Sims. The series will debut on Turner Sports' ELeague on Jul 17.

The Sims Spark'd will follow teams of top Sims players as they compete in weekly challenges for a grand prize of $100K. 12 contestants will have to take on challenges to build characters, stories and worlds within The Sims 4.

The four-episode series will be hosted by American Idol finalist Rayvon Owen and will feature a three-judge panel consisting of BuzzFeed Multiplayer producer Kelsey Impicciche, singer-songwriter Tayla Parx, and The Sims developer Dave Miotke.

Electronic Arts Inc. Price and Consensus

Electronic Arts Inc. Price and Consensus
Electronic Arts Inc. Price and Consensus

Electronic Arts Inc. price-consensus-chart | Electronic Arts Inc. Quote

Strengthening Portfolio Holds Promise

EA is witnessing growth in active player accounts, owing to new releases, increased engagement in popular franchises and live services growth. EA’s expanding game portfolio is a major growth driver.

The Sims Spark'd is a significant addition to EA’s solid portfolio of games and is likely to drive the company’s top line in the upcoming quarters. Notably, the newest edition of the franchise, The Sims 4, hit a peak high of almost 10 million unique visitors in the past quarter, with 2.5 million joining in the last two months.

EA recently revealed the first look of EA SPORTS Madden NFL 21 with NFL MVP Lamar Jackson on the cover across all editions. The game will be released on Aug 28 and include brand-new ball-carrier and D-Line mechanics, realistic open-field tackling and new celebrations among others.

Additionally, EA is set to release a new Star Wars game, Star Wars: Squadrons on Oct 2, 2020. The new addition is a first-person space combat game that will have players flying the series’ famous Star Wars ships.

Moreover, the release of Command & Conquer Remastered Collection with its enhanced features is likely to aid EA attract new players to the franchise. Notably, per SteamDB data, the game has already recorded a peak of 42,587 concurrent players on Steam. The original Command & Conquer was a hugely popular RTS series with large player base.

Further, the company stated that it expects to deliver 14 titles in fiscal 2021. Notably, per Research and Markets data, the global gaming market is expected to record a CAGR of 12% between 2020 and 2025.

Intensifying Competition

EA faces significant competition from the likes of Take Two Interactive Software TTWO, Nintendo NTDOY and Activision Blizzard ATVI, among others.

Notably, Take Two’s Red Dead Redemption 2 has sold 31 million copies while Borderlands 3 shipped 10 million units worldwide as of the end of the last reported quarter. Moreover, Nintendo stated that Animal Crossing: New Horizons, which released on Mar 20, sold more than 13.41 million copies in its first six weeks.

Activision is not far behind, with both Call of Duty: Modern Warfare and Call of Duty: Warzone becoming huge successes. Further, Take Two’s rumored Grand Theft Auto and Bully sequels, as well as Activision’s Shadowlands expansion for World of Warcraft are expected to intensify competition in the market.

Nevertheless, EA, which currently carries a Zack Rank #3 (Hold), is well poised to benefit from its franchise strength, exciting content and constant stream of new releases. You can see the complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank (Strong Buy) stocks here.

Zacks Top 10 Stocks for 2020

In addition to the stocks discussed above, would you like to know about our 10 finest buy-and-hold tickers for the entirety of 2020?

Last year's 2019 Zacks Top 10 Stocks portfolio returned gains as high as +102.7%. Now a brand-new portfolio has been handpicked from over 4,000 companies covered by the Zacks Rank. Don’t miss your chance to get in on these long-term buys.

Access Zacks Top 10 Stocks for 2020 today >>


Want the latest recommendations from Zacks Investment Research? Today, you can download 7 Best Stocks for the Next 30 Days. Click to get this free report
 
Activision Blizzard, Inc (ATVI) : Free Stock Analysis Report
 
TakeTwo Interactive Software, Inc. (TTWO) : Free Stock Analysis Report
 
Electronic Arts Inc. (EA) : Free Stock Analysis Report
 
Nintendo Co. (NTDOY) : Free Stock Analysis Report
 
To read this article on Zacks.com click here.