During EA’s Q2 2023 earnings call, the company addressed the recent deal with Marvel and how the decision to enter into another partnership with Disney was driven by the success of the company’s previous deal with Star Wars.
During the call, EA was asked if it could offer more details on the recently announced deal with Marvel that will see EA working on three Marvel games starting with EA Motive’s Iron Man game. While EA declined to elaborate much further, the company said it seeks to be a “collaborative” and creative rather than a “business” partnership.
Furthermore, the decision to sign a new deal with Disney was a result of the previous Star Wars deal where EA says “more than 40 percent of Star Wars players went on to play other EA games.”
In 2013, EA signed a ten-year agreement allowing the company to exclusively produce Star Wars games for Lucasfilms. This deal resulted in moderate hits like Star Wars Battlefront 1 and 2, and Star Wars: Squadrons, as well as the critical hit Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order. The latter is set to receive a sequel in 2023 called, Star Wars Jedi: Survivor.
According to EA, this Star Wars deal should be considered an overall success given the interest it has generated in players to play EA’s other games and the publisher seems to be hoping for a return with Marvel.
EA’s deal with Marvel isn’t quite as long as Star Wars’. EA has agreed to create at least three action-adventure games based on Marvel comics. The first game has already been announced and it is an Iron Man game from EA Motive. It will tell an original story set in the Marvel Universe.
Whether this new game will be similarly beneficial to EA remains to be seen. But otherwise, EA has spent most of the money talking about the success of the latest FIFA game which continues to grow year after year.
Matt TM Kim is IGN’s news editor. You can reach him @lawoftd.