EA buys Playdemic for $1.4 billion in power play for sports dominance

After buying Glu Mobile and Codemasters for a combined $3.3 billion, EA makes another billion-dollar power acquisition.

EA is going all-in on mobile. The company recently bought Glu Mobile for $2.1 billion in an effort to solidify its smartphone gaming business, and Glu is expected to be the literal glue that holds this business together as developers focus on a myriad of projects.

"We are forming a powerful growth engine that will expand our current games and deliver more amazing new experiences across sports, lifestyle, mid-core, and casual for players everywhere," EA said in a press release.

Now EA has made another billion-dollar mobile buyout. This time it's Playdemic, the developers behind the popular Golf Crash series. Warner Bros. Games has sold Playdemic to EA for $1.4 billion in cash.

EA is clearly hitting two birds with one stone with the Playdemic purchase--mobile gaming and sports--and the Golf Crash series will likely be nestled under the EA Sports label. This buyout will help EA diversify its cashflows on a platform-basis and deepen its focus on live service earnings.

For the immediate future, EA expects to make a record-breaking $7.3 billion in revenues this fiscal year driven by EA Sports games and Battlefield.

The company is enacting a new three-part plan that is now the basis of its business:

1. Premium/paid experiences (FIFA, Battlefield, Jedi Fallen Order, Dragon Age, etc)
2. Live services (Apex Legends, Ultimate Team)
3. Expansion to new platforms, business models, geographies (mobile games, cross-connected ecosystems, Apex in China)