EA’s latest earnings call with investors revealed that Season 17 of Apex Legends fell short of their financial expectations. Despite the game maintaining an impressive 18 million active monthly players, the new gameplay variations and monetization introduced in Season 17 failed to generate the anticipated revenue.
During the call, EA’s CEO, Andrew Wilson, acknowledged the strength of Apex Legends as one of the industry’s top franchises but expressed disappointment with Season 17’s financial performance. Stuart Canfield, the CFO of EA, further elaborated in his prepared remarks, “Apex Legends is a highly successful original IP for EA with a strong community of loyal core players. This quarter, net bookings were below expectations largely driven by underperformance from Season 17.”
“We’ve seen these ebbs and flows in and around our live-services, and certainly we’ve seen that within the context of Apex,” Wilson said during the live call. “We came off record levels in Season 16. The team made some really interesting and creative and innovative changes in Season 17 that didn’t meet our expectations. It’s also relevant to note that we went into a very competitive quarter. The team has worked diligently to make very quick changes and respond to community feedback and community reactions. We are already starting to see momentum as we go through our current quarter.”
One notable concern was the feedback from players regarding the Ranked system in Season 17, which led to decreased engagement and spending. In response to this, Season 18, set to launch on August 8, will feature changes to the Ranked system in an effort to reinvigorate player interest and boost revenue.
Despite Season 18 lacking a new Legend, players can look forward to a rework of the existing character, Revenant, now known as Revenant Reborn.
EA’s acknowledgement of Season 17’s underperformance came as a departure from their usual positive outlook on the game. However, the company’s commitment to investing in the franchise and its ongoing efforts to engage players through constant innovation demonstrate their dedication to ensuring Apex Legends remains a prominent player in the industry.
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