The latest data from Ampere Games – Analytics shows Electronic Arts (EA) held the largest share of monthly active users (MAUs) across Xbox and PlayStation consoles globally in the opening months of 2023, leading both Epic Games and Activision Blizzard which make up the top three publishers. EA’s ability to maintain its leading position on an ongoing basis across Sony and Microsoft consoles is down to a collection of factors, not least its consistent output across its license-based franchises and the live service approach used across many of its games.

Epic Games’ Fortnite remained the top performing game in Feb ‘23 ranked by MAUs and overall the company secured second spot across its portfolio, but has been closely competing with Activision Blizzard over the last few months following the release of Call of Duty: Modern Warfare II, Warzone 2.0 and Overwatch 2. 

While Microsoft trails Sony in selling console hardware, its active users share is boosted by hugely popular title Minecraft which is available across both Xbox and PlayStation devices. Significantly, in pure volume terms, around 35% of Xbox and PlayStation users playing Microsoft games are on PlayStation. If the Activision Blizzard acquisition goes ahead, Microsoft is in a position to challenge EA’s lead in terms of MAU share across Xbox and PlayStation consoles combined, potentially having a share over two times that of Sony. 

EA’s FIFA is consistently the most engaging title on console

EA’s football sim sports title, FIFA, is both broadly appealing and hugely sticky due to both its session-based gameplay and its Ultimate Team mode, allowing gamers to purchase player packs and build and improve their own teams over weeks and months. The average player across Xbox and PlayStation consoles engaged with the latest game in the franchise – FIFA 23 – 35% of the days in February, or ~10 days over the month, outperforming massively multiplayer online game Final Fantasy XIV Online from Square Enix and Genshin Impact from Chinese company miHoYo. This high engagement helps EA to deliver its consistent daily and monthly reach across console.

EA’s large catalogue and EA Play subscription service

FIFA is easily EA’s biggest franchise, but the company’s total monthly active user share is so impressive because it has an extensive catalogue of console titles – Ampere tracked almost 170 active titles in Feb ’23 - which scales to a large network of gamers and also due to its EA Play subscription strategy. EA Play is a direct-to-consumer multi-game subscription service, which offers access to the publisher’s catalogue titles. While this paid-for subscription service is available across both Xbox and PlayStation consoles, it is also bundled in with Microsoft’s Xbox Game Pass Ultimate helping boost visibility of games within the EA network.