EA’s Mike Blank on Keeping a “Player First” Mindset within a Subscription Business

Subscription Stories: True Tales from the Trenches

Electronic Arts’ Mike Blank joins Robbie to talk about his journey bringing subscription to the world of gaming. They discuss the challenges of subscriptions in the gaming industry, how to encourage consumers to discover new content within the subscription, and how EA offers multiple consumer models to support their “player first” promise.

Highlights from this episode:

• 2:15 - EA’s journey to subscription and why subscription models are particularly challenging in the gaming industry
• 8:00 - How EA used their “player first” mindset to create a subscription that would not cannibalize their business
• 11:29 - The importance of giving subscribers a taste of the product that leaves them wanting more
• 12:50 - EA Play’s ideal customer
• 16:47 - The metrics EA used to measure success, and the key data point for tracking returning customers
• 18:58 - Why helping a customer discover more content is so critical in a subscription business
• 21:53 - How EA shares subscription data across the company without distracting from other “player first” projects.
• 24:45 - How to tackle pricing in the gaming world and how EA chose its pricing model
• 30:16 - How to create a subscription that is beneficial from both a business and a “player-first” standpoint
• 33:29 - Mike’s advice for someone tasked with bringing subscription to a transactional or episodic business
• 35:51 - Mike’s advice for creating something evergreen within a “hits” or season based industry
• 37:21 - Robbie’s Speed Round

Mike's Bio:

Mike Blank is EA’s SVP of Player Network. In this role, he oversees how the company enables players to connect together, discover games and evolve to new distribution models. Mike is responsible for building teams, providing vision, and helping to invent the next generation of EA including the consumer platform and subscription-based products. Before his 18+ years with EA, Mike worked in law. He received a BA from McGill University and a JD from The University of British Columbia.

Links:

• Mike’s LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/blankmichael/
• EA Play, EA’s subscription service: https://www.ea.com/ea-play/news/welcome-to-ea-play
• Robbie’s Book THE FOREVER TRANSACTION: https://robbiekellmanbaxter.com/the-forever-transaction/
• Robbie's website: https://robbiekellmanbaxter.com/podcast