Electronic Arts
In February 2006, the EA acquired Jamdat mobile Inc and officially joined the growing-and promising mobile market. It later purchased Mythic Entertainment and Warhammer online. Later the same year, Successful Products were released which contribute the largest gain to the company. They include; The Simpsons, Tapped Out and Real Racing. There has been continuous acquisition and exclusive licensing for example the Criterion was bought so its product Burnout Series would be no longer compete with need4speed (An EA product).
A culture of diversity and timely relevance in technology is a vital adoption. The most famous fifa series can for instance, run on various platforms. Such include; the Windows PC, Play station, Nintendo and Xbox. The flexibility and stability of the applications on the various platforms seek to meet customers of different preferences or accessibility. Introduction of on-line gaming has had vast reception by customers. Users have a chance to compete with a wider variety of fellow users.
A collection of the best software developers in the industry was identified by the EA Canada. A total of 400 competent and experienced individuals were employed in the Burnaby firm (this is the factory responsible for fifa series production). With an aim of creative improvements and innovation, the team set out to meet the customer expectations by developing new creations and diverse gaming options in the fifa 2012 release.
The highest sales ever attained in 2007 was 5 billion dollars but it wasn't until 2004 that they recorded the highest net profit. Over time,since its birth in 1982 as EASN, EA sports has sold 100 million units of the most famous brand, fifa developed by EA Canada (Burnaby, British Columbia). In 2014, however, the largest contributor that drove the company to great heights of gain was the mobile title; Real Racing 3. 45 million of Real Racing3 downloads were recorded from the iOS Application store in the 1st quarter of 2014.
PEST analysis
Environmental factors
After the great 2007 achievement (of coming top as the world's leading independent developer in Publisher and marker of video games); Sony, Nintendo and Microsoft, among other companies, raised competition by making their own games. To expand their growth, Disney and Fox too followed suit. EA would later succeed in incorporating the improved technological features developed by these companies to gain customer satisfaction.
Socio-cultural factors
A big number targeted by the games are the teenage and young adults under 40. Luckily, this is the generation that owns the gadgets needed for playing the games. Nevertheless, they constitute the biggest percentage of world population. According to official EA Canada reports, Game players still demand more than what is available on the market currently.
Technological factors
Software technology innovation is the fastest growing industry globally. There are big strides in improvements every single day. Keeping track to catch up with the latest available innovation is crucial for not only Electronic Arts but all software Publishing companies (Kannegiesser 2008). Any time there is an error in for example on-line gaming or laxity to update newer features, the companies get great losses.
The porters 5 forces
Threat of new entrants
The EA has a strong and dependable brand identity and has grown to be recognized internationally as the earliest company to indulge in developing, publishing and marketing games. It is, therefore, not a considerable threat of great magnitude to the company's success.
Secondly, the company is protected by government monopolies through regulations. As much the government encourages competition, it is also keen on maintaining quality of products and consequently keeps ineffective and untested products from the market (Andrew, 2002.)
The company has also set low, fair and avoidable prices both locally and internationally. The cost of the products has been accepted the world over and works as an advantage of suppressing the threat of new entrants.
When Disney and Fox, for instance, invaded the market, Electronic Arts was barely shaken, it kept its focus on marketing the products worldwide and hence expanding the market internationally..
Lastly, EA products are readily available on the shopping malls globally. Customers can access products as close to them as possible.
Rivalry
There is evidently rivalry from giant companies like Sony and Microsoft, however, the fair prices have saved the day in keeping EA at the top.
Their concentration and involvement on only game development has branded the company as mainly concerned with games to the customer. The company has then grown bigger consistently. This marketing strategy has kept customers stuck to EA products thus shrugging off rivalry threats.
Sony (well known for music systems) and Microsoft (well known for the production of Personal computers) are mostly known for their initial and main products no matter how much they market the games.
Threats from substitutes
Competing companies began coming up with competitive products soon after the success of the fifa series. Such have never matched the quality of EA product but still naturally, affected the price elasticity. Over the years, EA has bought other companies and has had exclusive licenses and partnerships to widen their competitive scope.
Burnout was a game similar to need4speed. The competition that was ensued caused EA to buy the company the owned the game (Criterion). This removed the competition and need4speed acquired features from Burnout
Bargaining Power of Buyers
Electronic Arts has acquired a large number of customers globally. The big number of customers work to the advantage of the company as there is lower power to bargain (Meier, 2009). The company then seeks to maintain the customers by finding out responses to their products so they can improve to satisfy the customers.
Bargaining power of Supplier
The fifa Series is most famous for its uniqueness. It is unmatched and incomparable. There are more uniquely creative products for example need4speed and the famous mobile title real racing. The wide variety EA has to offer reduces the bargaining power of the Suppliers.
Competence
Final testing
Before a product is released to the market, the company lets in volunteers to try the product. A maximum of 150 people were randomly selected and allowed to test the fifa2012. This testing is meant to verify the validity and help procrastinate how the product will perform. Every time in testing, the analysis staff has never been disappointed. The consumers always receive these products gladly. The products are widely appreciated and celebrated. This is proven by a whooping sale of 15 million copies of the last product.
Real situations
In the making of fifa 2012; to have a possible real-life situation imitated; the firm invited members of a local soccer team in Vancouver. The players were asked to assume a real football action situation. On a small grassy replica of a football pitch, the players assume real soccer action as their movements and skills copied and incorporated into the video game. To achieve this, they are fitted with sensory gadgets that track their minor hand and general body motions especially the impact when in contact with another player (Sabri et al. 2010). The team of animators brought in from successful gaming companies, are responsible for this 'real player' detail capture and analysis.
Laws of Physics
The 400 member team in EA Canada has introduced and incorporated laws of physics (for the first time) into the new game (fifa 2012) to define player collision and contact in a better, more exciting and realistic way. Fighting off an opponent and the reaction and impact that follows is crucial to developers in creating a close-to-reality football action. A team of software engineers create complex codes that create fast and real impact reactions.
Mission
According to Shattuk (2013), the mission of the company seeks to guide the employees daily on decision-making to ensure attainment of effectiveness.
The EA actions, as stated in the EA official company policies, are;
- Think customers first; the company encourages employees to listen and respond to issues (that the users of the games) raise and purpose to deliver to their (customers') expectations (Finne et al., 2009).
References
Andrew, Mark, Rod Brown, and Bill Cope. 2002. Value chain clusterung in regional publishing services markets: emerging markets for books, from the creator to the consumer. Altona, Vic: Common Ground Publ.
Finne, Sami, and Hanna Sivonen. 2009. The retail value chain how to gain competitive advantage through Efficient Consumer Response (ECR) strategies. London: Kogan Page. http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&scope=site&db=nlebk&db=nlabk&AN=262772.
Kannegiesser, Matthias. 2008. Value chain management in the chemical industry global value chain planning in commodities. Heidelberg: Physica-Verlag. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/ebooks/ebc/9783790820324.
Meier, Andreas, and Henrik Stormer. 2009. EBusiness & eCommerce: managing the digital value chain. Berlin: Springer.
Neilson, Jeff, and Bill Pritchard. 2011. Value Chain Struggles Institutions and Governance in the Plantation Districts of South India. Hoboken: John Wiley & Sons. http://public.eblib.com/EBLPublic/PublicView.do?ptiID=819342.
Sabri, Ehap H., and Salim N. Shaikh. 2010. Lean and agile value chain management: a guide to the next level of improvement. Ft. Lauderdale, FL: J. Ross Pub.
