Analyst: EA could benefit from holiday shift to Xbox 360

EA's surprise acquisition of BioWare/Pandemic sent a shock wave through the gaming industry last week. Although some industry watchers were dubious of the hefty $860 million paid out for the superstudios, it was the common consensus that EA now had a significantly better foothold in the action adventure and role-playing game genres. That is partly thanks to the acquisition of licenses such as BioWare's Mass Effect and Jade Empire as well as Pandemic's Mercenaries and Full Spectrum Warrior.

Janco Partners' Mike Hickey believes the acquisition could also put EA in a prime position to capitalize on a possible shift in consumer focus this holiday season. Addressing EA's earnings in a note to investors, Hickey said that "the recent release of killer content (Halo 3, BioShock), lower hardware price points, and limited Wii (hardware/software) supply could shift market focus from Wii casual to 360 hardcore this holiday." Such a shift, along with the rumored $399 PlayStation 3 arriving in November, he continued, "should benefit [EA]."

One thing Hickey wasn't so sure about was BioWare's under-wraps massively multiplayer online game. Hickey noted that BioWare is unproven as an MMOG maker. Also, with the flood of new MMOGs due to the rampant success of Blizzard's World of Warcraft, Hickey speculated as to whether a market will even exist for the game. "A competitive MMO release prior to their [release] or continuation of the WOW subscriber phenomena could capture a large portion of the available market, locking out their economic opportunity," he said.