Electronic Arts (EA) stock slipped on Wednesday alongside the video game publisher’s early launch of Skate, the fourth entry in the long-running Skate series. The problem was player reception to the game, which has been poor. The game already has over 5,200 reviews on Steam and a “Mixed” rating. Complaints from players include, loot boxes and microtransactions, no story mode, a lack of competitions, no professional skater cameos, lackluster visuals, among other things.
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To go along with this, the concurrent player count on Steam isn’t overly impressive, with a peak of 81,340 over the past 15 hours. That’s worth noting as there’s no monetary barrier to play the game. Skate is free-to-play and supported by microtransactions. While this model has worked well for Epic Games’ Fortnite and NetEase’s (NTES) Marvel Rivals, it has failed many less popular games.
Skate launched in Early Access, meaning that Electronic Arts acknowledges the game still isn’t finished. However, testers have been playing the game for nearly two years now. Many have complained online about issues that are still present in the current release of the game. This could be a sign that EA isn’t concerned with player feedback, which could lead to a short life for the live-service game.
Electronic Arts Stock Movement Today
Electronic Arts stock was down 0.22% on Wednesday, but was still up 17.82% year-to-date. The shares have also rallied 22.52% over the past 12 months. While EA stock stumbled early in the year due to the poor performance of Dragon Age: The Veilguard, increased sales from its Madden NFL and EA Sports College Football series helped it win back investor confidence.
Is Electronic Arts Stock a Buy, Sell, or Hold?
Turning to Wall Street, the analysts’ consensus rating for Electronic Arts is Moderate Buy, based on eight Buy and eight Hold ratings over the past three months. With that comes an average EA stock price target of $178.80, representing a potential 4.09% upside for the shares.
