Electronic Arts said that nearly 18 million players engaged in competitive gaming — aka esports — in FIFA 18 and Madden NFL 18, up more than 75 percent from a year ago.
Those results show that esports is gathering momentum in EA’s universe, as it is in the rest of the industry. (EA refers to esports as competitive gaming to include non-celebrity amateur competitions as well as traditional esports).
Global esports revenues will grow 38 percent to $906 million in 2018 and further grow to $1.65 billion by 2021, according to a report on esports by market researcher Newzoo.
EA made the announcement as part of its fourth fiscal quarter earnings report on Tuesday. EA also said that the total audience for EA Sports franchises to date has grown to nearly 90 million players on current generation game consoles.