User-generated content key to EA’s growth strategy towards “over one billion” players

• EA discussed its growth strategy during its Investor Day 2024
• EA CEO Andrew Wilson promised “bigger, bolder and more innovative experiences”

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EA is on a mission to double its player base and surpass one billion players over the next five years.

To that end, the publisher plans to leverage user-generated content across its titles as a “high-frequency, low-investment” growth method. 

Roughly half of EA’s current community already engages with user-generated content, with 60 million hours’ worth produced over the past year racking up three billion hours of watchtime.

User-generated content’s place in EA’s growth strategy was discussed during its Investor Day 2024, which aimed to explore current initiatives and share long-term company strategies.

“Beyond the bounds”

EA has doubled its player base since 2016, and with hopes to do so again EA CEO Andrew Wilson suggested on stage that EA will deliver “bigger, bolder and more innovative experiences beyond the bounds of traditional games”.

He hopes to build a deeper connection between Triple-A intellectual properties and community-driven content, which he believes will in turn drive connections between games and players.

“There is a fundamental shift across all media in how people are consuming sports and entertainment,” said Wilson. “They’re embracing social interaction and connection in and around the biggest IP, oftentimes augmented and amplified through high-frequency, low-investment user-generated content.

“At EA, we believe this progression of players and fans embracing games and experiences to play, create, watch and connect will continue to evolve. We’re building for that future today. This is an incredible opportunity across the entirety of our IP portfolio and the new platforms that we are building to better serve our players by providing extended modalities of play, cutting-edge tools to create and share, and even more ways to connect.

“Doing this means engaging even more players for more time and capturing more value.”

EA Sports president Cam Weber also took to the stage to discuss the importance of user creation, expression and social connection, which form “the building blocks of fandom for younger generations”. The theme of attracting new, younger audiences to EA’s games was prevalent throughout this Investor Day.

Weber also teased some new projects within EA’s FC and American Football franchises, described as “virtual open-world playground spaces”. These will be places for players to come together with friends and the community for casual and competitive experiences, again focusing on leveraging EA’s player base, though little else has yet been revealed.

Head here for more of our coverage from EA’s Investor Day 2024.