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Fortnite isn't the only battle royale game in town. Apex Legends, owned by Electronic Arts subsidiary Respawn Entertainment, is a massive hit too. And the success of Apex Legends helped boost earnings and sales for EA in its latest quarter.

Shares of EA (EA) surged 8% Wednesday, making it the top performer in the S&P 500. The company said after the closing bell Tuesday that its digital net bookings, a key measure of success for gaming companies that includes revenue from licensing as well as in-game advertisements and transactions, rose 5%.

These solid numbers are key now that season 2 of Apex Legends is underway. EA is also hoping to replicate the success that Fortnite maker Epic Games has had with live esports tournaments. EA also announced Tuesday that it will hold an 80-team Apex Legends in Kraków, Poland this September with a prize pool of $500,000.

But EA still has several other core franchises, including FIFA, Madden NFL, Star Wars: Galaxy of Heroes and The Sims that are performing well too. That's a big reason why the stock is up nearly 20% this year, in line with rival Take-Two Interactive (TTWO) and ahead of Activision Blizzard (ATVI).

And EA CEO Andrew Wilson said on a conference call with analysts that he expects many of the company's titles to be big hits with people who watch gaming tournaments on Amazon's (AMZN) Twitch and Google-owned (GOOGL) YouTube.

Interactive entertainment today transcends the act of playing a game. New ways to engage like esports are becoming just as important. With FIFA and Madden, we have the largest esports ecosystem in sports games, and Apex Legends is going to be a major new addition to the global competitive gaming scene this year," Wilson said.

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https://www.cnn.com/business/live-news/stock-market-news-today-073119/index.html

2019-07-31 14:28:00Z
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