Why Is E3 2015 Important For Electronic Arts & Activision Blizzard?

As the U.S. gaming industry eagerly awaits the 2015 Electronic Entertainment Expo (E3), the gamers have high expectations from top gaming developers and publishers, such as Electronic Arts (NASDAQ:EA), Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT), Bethesda, Nintendo, Sony, Ubisoft, and Activision Blizzard (NASDAQ: ATVI), to showcase trailers and other specific details of some of the most awaited games lined up for this calendar year. The 2015 E3 is scheduled to take place at the Los Angeles Convention Center in Los Angeles, California from June 16 to June 18. The annual event has always been a major event for these companies to lay out their plans, as well as to exhibit their innovative new titles and other products. We believe that this year’s E3 event will be a great platform for Electronic Arts and Activision Blizzard to release details about the annual editions of their core franchises. Here’s why:

• Activision, the leader in the First-Person Shooter (FPS) genre, will get a chance to showcase the new edition of its Call of Duty franchise- Call of Duty: Black Ops III, along with further information about the Destiny’s next expansion pack and Skylander’s next title.
• On the other hand, Electronic Arts’ Star Wars Battlefront, Plants Vs Zombies, and Mirror’s Edge Catalyst are also lined up for the event. Moreover, this year is going to witness the return of the highly popular racing franchise: Need For Speed.
• After a sluggish performance by the gaming industry in terms of software sales last year, the industry is witnessing a year-over-year (y-o-y) improvement in video game sales, and that, too, in the absence of any core title. Most of the ace titles in the respective genres are released towards the second half of the year.
• According to the research group NPD, the software sales strengthened by 5% y-o-y in the first trimester of 2015.
• Attracting gamers by showcasing exciting features of their new innovative titles, and strategically deciding the release dates of these games, might provide a boost to the initial unit sales of these respective games, which, in turn, might drive the revenue growth in the second half of 2015.

                                                                            Source: NPD research Group

This annual event has always been a driving force for the gaming giants in setting a tone among the gamers regarding the new releases, and this year is much more crucial with the software sales showing some signs of improvement.

See the links below for more information:

• These are the E3 2015 games we can’t wait to play
• E3 2015 preview: EA, Ubisoft, Bethesda, Rockstar, and more
• What to expect from EA at E3 2015: Star Wars, Mirror’s Edge, and more
• New Dragon Age & Battlefield Titles boost Electronic Arts’ Fiscal 2015 revenue growth
• Activision’s Q1 earnings review: Record digital revenues driven by core FPS titles & new entries
• Trefis analysis: EA’s number of units per title, ATVI’s next generation console revenues

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