EA's Sims 4 Get Famous Expands Holiday Season Portfolio

Electronic Arts (NASDAQ:EA) expands its gaming portfolio with the release of The Sims 4 Get Famous expansion pack for PC and Mac on Nov 16, targeting the holiday season.

The new game is based in Del Sol Valley, a new fame-oriented city, where the players introduce their Sims to a life of luxury and gain world-wide acclamation for their careers, among others. Additionally, the players get to adorn their home with lavish amenities and can establish their Sims as fashion icons by dressing them in designer outfits.

As the Sims rise to fame, the players get to earn Fame Points and unlock new perks as well as quirks in the game, in order to boost player engagement level. Notably, EA has partnered with “musician and social media star Baby Ariel” to create her Sim version.

The Sims: A Key Catalyst

The Sims is one of the most important revenue generators for EA. In fiscal 2018, there were 80 million active Sims players across PC and mobile.

In the last reported quarter, The Sims 4 monthly average players grew on a year-over-year basis. Notably, on a life-to-date basis, approximately 30 million expansion packs are downloaded.

Moreover, Live services for The Sims 4 continued to perform strongly even in the fourth year and are expected to grow 20% in fiscal 2019.

EA expects The Sims 4 expansion packs for PC and console version to be one of the key drivers of live services net bookings in fiscal 2019.

Electronic Arts Inc. Price and Consensus

Popular Franchise to Steer Away Competition

EA’s popularity is primarily driven by its well-known franchises like FIFA, Madden NFL, NBA Live, NHL and UFC, along with Battlefield, Titanfall and Star Wars.

Ahead of the holiday season, the company released the much anticipated Battlefield V on Nov 20. However, despite delay in the launch of the same, pent-up demand for the latest Battlefield release can be a game changer for EA in the holiday season.

The latest version of Battlefield is expected to face significant competition from Activision’s (NASDAQ:ATVI) Call of Duty: Black Ops 4 and Take Two Interactive’s (NASDAQ:TTWO) Red Dead Redemption 2.

Zacks Rank & A Key Pick

EA currently holds a Zacks Rank #3 (Hold).

A better-ranked stock in the broader consumer-discretionary sector is Charter Communications, Inc. (NASDAQ:CHTR) , which currently sports a Zacks Rank #1 (Strong Buy).

You can see the complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank stocks here.

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