EA zones in on market share

The past year was ‘not great’ for Electronic Arts – and the firm is gunning to grab back market share from rivals Activision and Ubisoft this year.

That’s according to UK boss Keith Ramsdale, who has boasted of EA’s ‘amazing line-up’ for the next 12 months.

FY09, which I have to say thankfully has just finished at the end of March, wasn’t great for us,” he admitted.

It’s well recorded. We feel incredibly optimistic about FY10. Thank heavens for FIFA in FY09 – it would have been worse without it. We really have an amazing line-up for FY10 – we are going to take back market share. That’s our aim and certainly our belief, and we are onto a very good start.”

EA is scheduled to release new sports titles such as EA Sports Tennis and EA Sports Active this summer.

Speaking at EA’s Spring Showcase, Ramsdale said that the company’s new strategy would involve more focus on Nintendo Wii, with a much broader” sports offering than in previous years.

Ramsdale also revealed that since the ‘EA Sports Season 09′ kicked off players have played half a billion EA games online.

We also have a vision for online as to how consumers are going to play,” he said. We see that consumers go and buy packaged goods versions of, let’s say FIFA, but they may well increasingly download a digital version.”

EA Sports picked up the prestigious Grand Prix prize at the MCV Industry Excellence Awards last week.

EA Sports president Peter Moore flew in to collect the gong. He paid tribute to Ramsdale’s bold leadership” in his acceptance speech.

England star Wayne Rooney filmed a special presentation to congratulate the label on its success.