Andre Yoskowitz
13 Jan 2012 23:55
Electronic Arts (EA) has announced this week that 2011 saw its digital businesses bring in over $1 billion revenue.
The gaming publisher has spent significant money moving towards a digital strategy and away from retail, and it finally appears to be paying some dividends.
EA spent billions purchasing "casual" and "social" gaming companies like Playfish, PopCap and Chillingo over the last two years and also recently launched its own digital distribution portal, dubbed "Origin." Additionally, the publisher started strategies like "Online Pass" and "Season Pass," which give you access to online features and bonus content for your games.
For 2012, EA says it will be folding its "EA Interactive Label" division into other divisions, meaning social and casual games will be part of the general company and not separate.
Social gaming giant Zynga also noted that they had hired former EA Interactive Label boss Barry Cottle to be executive VP of business and corporate development, joining two other experienced execs who left EA for Zynga in the last 3 months.