14 DAY TRIAL // Video game publisher Electronic Arts has recently announced that it has acquired independent game developer PopCap and analysts are predicting that the move might mean that the company will get more than 1 billion dollars worth of revenue through digital means this year.
The analysts at his Screen Digest have written in a report that, “EA should realize its ambition of creating a $1bn digital business this fiscal year with aplomb.”
Last year Electronic Arts has reported that it has managed to get 833 million dollars from digital enterprises.
PopCap is predicted to generate about 75 million dollars on its own this year with its free-to-play games and mobile applications.
The PopCap acquisition has strengthened the position that EA has on Facebook, where it is the second largest video game publisher behind Zynga, mainly because of the huge popularity enjoyed by Bejeweled Blitz.
EA had already made big strides on the social service after it has picked up Playfish during 2009.
The publisher has said that it plans to allow PopCap to continue development on its own projects in the near future, focusing on social and mobile titles, and that it will seek to put the already existing catalog of titles on as many platforms as possible.
A big slice of the digital revenue that Electronic Arts is counting on will be created by the launch of the MMO Star Wars: The Old Republic, which is now officially slated for the holiday season of this year.
The MMO is subscription-based and the popularity of the intellectual property on which it is based means that a lot of people will be signing in when it is launched to check out the experience that the developers at BioWare have managed to craft around the Star Wars universe.
The launch of The Old Republic could double the revenue from subscriptions and in-game advertising for EA.