Electronic Arts Inc.
's (
EA
) free-to-play division, Phenomic, recently announced the
availability of the free beta version of
Command & Conquer Tiberium Alliances
. The free-to-play game is the latest version of the yester-year
classic franchise
Command & Conquer
.
In December last year, EA's BioWare division announced the
revival of this popular franchise through a new installment of
Command & Conquer: Generals 2
, a sequel to the 2003 release of
Command & Conquer: Generals
.
Command & Conquer: Generals 2
is expected to release in 2013 and will be exclusively available on
PCs.
Gamers with an origin account can play the beta version of the
latest installment for free. The massively multiplayer online (MMO)
real time strategic (RTS) game challenges gamers to embark on a
journey for world domination. In the course of the game, you have
to ally with other players, produce and collect valuable resources
and also fight battles to conquer and command new territories.
Presently, gamers can play the beta version from any web
browser. Going forward, with the support of EA's cloud-based
platform Origin, gamers will be able to play the game from their
mobile devices and tablets.
Command & Conquer Tiberium Alliances
is EA's first MMO RTS game. In an RTS game, players have to
maneuver units to secure areas of the map and/or destroy their
opponents' assets within a very short span of time.
Free-to-play games, popularly known as freemium games, have
become a rage among gamers. Although gamers access the game for
free, developers and publishers earn revenues through the sales of
in-game items and advertisement. The freemium model has gained
further momentum with the increasing popularity of social games,
co-operative games and mobile games.
According to research firm IBISWorld, social gaming is expected
to reach $11.3 billion by 2016. According to market intelligence
firm In-Stat, the worldwide market for virtual goods was worth $9.0
billion in 2011 and is expected to touch the $15.0 billion mark by
2014. As per Juniper Research, revenues from purchases of virtual
goods totaled $2.1 billion in 2011 and are expected to grow to $4.8
billion by 2016.
According ABI research, mobile gaming is expected to generate
$16.0 billion in revenues by 2016, a massive increase from
approximately $5.0 billion reported in 2011. It is believed that
the social gaming market will further benefit from increased usage
of smartphones and tablets going forward.
In this evolving scenario, EA has been focusing on building its
social free-to-play portfolio to counter strong competition from
the likes of
Zynga Inc.
(
ZNGA
) and also to offset declining sales of its core packaging
division. Over the last few quarters, EA has been launching some of
its popular franchises such as the "The Sims" in the social and
mobile gaming arena. We expect that EA will continue to release
social and mobile versions of its popular games going forward in
order to gain market share over the long term.
EA also made significant acquisitions such as Klick, PopCap
games and Playfish over the last couple of years to bolster its
presence in the social and mobile gaming market. The company has an
important partnership with Facebook, which has helped it fight
significant competition from Zynga.
We have a Neutral recommendation on Electronic Arts over the
long term (for the next 6 to 12 months). Currently, Electronic Arts
has a Zacks #3 Rank, which implies a Hold rating in the short
term.
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