Since the early days of gaming, Electronic Arts (EA) has established itself as one of the few “major” video game publishers. The company sits alongside Call of Duty creator Activision Blizzard (ATVI) and Grand Theft Auto maker Take-Two Interactive (TTWO) at the top of the video game heap. Those companies are at once beloved by gamers who enjoy their titles and despised by many in the so-called “hardcore” segment of players that distrust their big, brooding business models.
But EA is slowly but surely becoming, well, different. It’s still a traditional game maker that pushes out titles for consoles and portables, but it has found a way to take advantage of a new, growing business model: digital.