EA Places Zynga in Its Crosshairs

EA's Sim Social has quickly racked up 53 million users.

Image: Electronic Arts

Electronic Arts can no longer afford to ignore the new kid on the block.

The console game publisher’s chief executive, John Riccitiello, says his company plans to directly challenge social games mastermind Zynga, which has quickly racked up roughly 267 million users with popular Facebook titles like FarmVille and CityVille. The latter is also eyeing an IPO of up to $1 billion later this year.

Big whoop, says Riccitiello, who expects to surpass Zynga’s user numbers (EA currently sits at 94 million) and hit $3 billion in digital revenue in the next few years—bold statements from a company that has lost its chutzpah in Silicon Valley.

“We were once a swaggering success in the Valley, and then we were suddenly an afterthought,” he said of his company, which is based in Redwood Shores, California. He added that making a comeback will begin with gaining traction in the social gaming community, where Zynga is currently top dog.

EA has made a promising entrance into the market with its $650 million acquisition of PopCap Games in July and subsequent release of Sims Social, which has lured 53 million users since launching in August. The company’s opponent also showed signs of weakness this week, reporting that profits dove 90 percent in June.

But EA still has a long way to go, and it looks like the battle will be mostly uphill. Even if Zynga suddenly finds itself slamming on the breaks and stayed put at its current user numbers, EA would have to triple its online users to overtake the top spot. That would likely mean bringing sports games and first-person-shooter franchises (EA’s bread and butter) to social networks, an effort with which few publishers have found success.

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