How EA is expanding its footprint on mobile, the fastest growing gaming category, as part of a cross-platform portfolio to reach new consumers
Nick Statt / Protocol : Tweets: @nickstatt and @nickstatt Tweets: Nick Statt / @nickstatt : Electronic Arts' push into the mobile market tells us a whole lot about where the video game industry is going in the future. Talked to a lot of interesting folks who had a lot of interesting things to say for this! https://www.protocol.com/... Nick Statt / @nickstatt : Console obviously sucks up a lot of oxygen in the room, at least when it comes to Western-centric gaming conversations. But it's clear the world's biggest publishers aren't looking at consoles for audience growth anymore. https://twitter.com/...
Context & Ripple Effects
In late 2021, Nick Statt reported that EA was treating mobile not as a side business but as the growth engine of a cross-platform portfolio, on the argument that Western publishers could no longer look to consoles for new audiences. The spending data backs the thesis: Data.ai and IDC put mobile at more than 61% of a projected $222B global games market in 2022, and still 55% of $191B in 2023.
What came after complicates the picture. Take-Two answered the same thesis by buying capability outright with its $12B Zynga acquisition just before Apple's ATT and a casual-games downturn hit, while EA's own organic push faltered — by early 2023 the company had killed Apex Legends Mobile and its planned Battlefield mobile title. The 2021 strategy piece now reads as the opening move of an industry-wide test of whether publishers can crack mobile at all.
First-order effects
- EA reallocates development and live-service resources toward smartphone titles, betting that new consumers arrive through app stores rather than through console hardware cycles.
Second-order effects
- Rivals respond with M&A instead of internal builds: Take-Two's $12B Zynga deal shows publishers paying for established mobile studios and audiences rather than competing organically against incumbent free-to-play operators.
Third-order effects
- If the pattern holds, publisher portfolios consolidate around acquired mobile franchises while organic entries get culled — EA's own shutdown of Apex Legends Mobile suggests the category rewards bought scale over transplanted IP, concentrating mobile among fewer, larger owners.
The trend: Big publishers are repositioning around mobile-first, cross-platform portfolios, with acquisition — not internal development — emerging as the dominant route into the largest slice of game spending.