Will Electronic Arts Inc. (EA) Stock Power Up in the Next Generation?

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Will Disney’s gift deliver?
Electronic Arts Inc. (NASDAQ:EA) plans to unveil a number of other new next-generation games at the 2013 Electronic Entertainment Expo this June, but if there’s one license that can seal a win for this company’s next-generation future, it’s Star Wars.

What does George Lucas’ — and now The Walt Disney Company (NYSE:DIS)‘s — sci-fi saga have to do with EA? After Disney earlier this year shuttered game developer LucasArts — part of its $4 billion purchase of the Star Wars property from Lucas — the entertainment giant inked a deal with EA to develop and publish Star Wars games for the next few years. While no official titles have been released, a brand with a fan base as strong as this one is a sales bonanza in the making for EA.

This is an opportunity it can’t afford to let go. EA’s last Star Wars game, massively multiplayer online offering The Old Republic, arrived last year with a lot of hype and failed to deliver on its promise, going free-to-play earlier this year. The company reportedly has three top developer studios already at work on future Star Wars games. While investors shouldn’t expect to see these games arrive before next year, a major Star Wars game hit could generate massive sales and cement Electronic Arts Inc. (NASDAQ:EA) as the top game publisher of the new console generation.

EA’s push into mobile gaming, as well as its microtransactions digital download strategy, should help firm up the company’s financials in the future, but console gaming still dominates this industry. The new generation of consoles from Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT) and Sony Corporation (ADR) (NYSE:SNE) will make or break this stock in the next few years. If EA can take its established franchises and potential winners of tomorrow to new heights, this stock’s recent rise may be just the beginning of something big.

The article Will Electronic Arts Stock Power Up in the Next Generation? originally appeared on Fool.com.

Fool contributor Dan Carroll has no position in any stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool recommends Activision Blizzard, Nintendo, and Walt Disney and owns shares of Activision Blizzard, Microsoft, and Walt Disney.

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