Electronic Arts is forming a new e-sports division, representing another major move for the burgeoning space. The new EA Competitive Gaming Division (CGD) will be run by former EA Sports head Peter Moore, who will shift from his current role as EA COO at the end of the company’s current fiscal year in March. Moore’s new title will be EA Exec VP & Chief Competition Officer. He will be joined by EA Senior VP/Product Marketing Todd Sitrin, who will be the Senior VP & GM and lead the strategy and operations for the new venture and report to Moore. EA’s CGD will include competitions around key titles such as “FIFA,” “Madden,” and “Battlefield,” among others, and intends to build substantially from roughly a decade of running smaller competitions around several of its core games. The EA initiative also follows recent moves in the space, such as Activision Blizzard’s hiring of former ESPN and NFL exec Steve Bornstein, and a joint venture between Turner Broadcasting and WME-IMG to create a new e-sports league. “Competition runs deep in the DNA of Electronic Arts, and our games are already at the center of competitive gaming events at different levels today,” said EA CEO Andrew Wilson in a company blog post. “The formation of the Competitive Gaming Division is a groundbreaking opportunity for Electronic Arts to celebrate your passion for play and competition.” EA also intends to shift its development operations to have competitive modes more fully baked into its titles. The company also seeks to expand its overall corporate revenue base by generating money from live events, advertising and sponsorship around its e-sports efforts (Eric Fisher, Staff Writer).
PIECE OF THE PIE: The WALL STREET JOURNAL's Sarah Needleman writes EA "plans to broadcast major tournaments online and will seek broadcast or cable deals." The group also will "look to develop new competitive games, drawing on EA’s development studios." EA has been "organizing e-sports competitions for more than a decade, but remains a small player." It is "hoping to make e-sports a more significant source of revenue by dedicating several hundred employees to the effort over time." Moore said that one big challenge is "demonstrating the potential to traditional marketers unfamiliar with the notion of watching other people play videogames" (WALL STREET JOURNAL, 12/11).
