EA ONLINE’S CLUB POGO SUBSCRIPTION GAME SITE HITS ONE MILLION PAYING SUBSCRIBERS IN JUST OVER TWO YEARS
Avid Women Gamers Comprise 75% of the 1 Million Subscribers That Make EA Online’s Club Pogo a Vibrant, Global Online Community
REDWOOD CITY, Calif. (November 2, 2005) – Electronic Arts Inc. (NASDAQ: ERTS) today announced that Club Pogo™, the company’s subscription service for players who love online games, has reached its millionth paying subscriber in just over two years. These active mainstream gamers have logged more than 357 million hours since the site became available in July 2003. Their time has been spent connecting with other players in a strong friendly global community while playing everything from card, board, and arcade games to puzzle and word games. The majority of the site’s subscribers (75%) are women with an average age of 35+, which differs from the young, mostly male hard-core player that is commonly associated with gaming.
Club Pogo players have earned millions of virtual tokens in the last 2 years, which can be exchanged for tickets and entered into drawings for the chance to win cash prizes. (NO PURCHASE NECESSARY to enter or win. Complete rules can be found at http://pogoprizerules.com.) These tokens are the site’s form of currency, but most players use them to prove gaming status on the site. To put this number in context, it takes a player almost 8 months, playing 40 hours a week, to earn 1 million tokens. These tokens can also be used to buy Club Pogo “Minis,” which are Pogo avatars that have changeable body, facial, and clothing features, creating unique online characters that can be viewed by fellow players and help to personalize the online experience.
"To have reached a million subscribers in just over two years is truly a testament to our Club Pogo users who have actively built the community by recommending the site to friends. In fact, on average each player recommends this service to at least three friends or family members," said Lesley Mansford, VP of EA Online. “Reaching this millionth subscriber milestone is extremely exciting and reinforces EA’s commitment to continue providing engaging games and a social environment that fosters friends and family keeping in touch online.”
Club Pogo members have propelled the site to become one of the stickiest sites on the Web (according to ComScore). On average, Club Pogo players play 60-minute game sessions and spend over 50 hours per month on the site. Many Club Pogo members coordinate special game times to meet friends and family online, which helps to keep families and friends in touch while cutting down on expensive phone bills.
Club Pogo, which grew out of the enormous popularity of Pogo.com (drawing 3.6 million unique visitors a day according to ComScore), is a premium online games service that features more than 70+ card, board, arcade, puzzle and word games, including Poppit!™, Word Whomp™, Mah Jong Garden, Texas Hold ‘em Poker and Tri Peaks Solitaire.
The site offers a variety of premium services, including exclusive games with enhanced graphics, sound and player features; a variety of ways to win big prizes, including Double Jackpot Spinner, which doubles all jackpots up to $4999; Instant Win Prizes and Club Pogo Prize Drawings. It also features gameplay with no ad interruptions, access to private chat, and special game challenges that award players special badges to display in their player profiles. Club Pogo subscribers pay $4.99 per month or $29.99 for an entire year.
Club Pogo is part of the Pogo™ family of products, which includes Pogo.com™, Club Pogo, Pogo™ Mobile and Pogo To Go™ (online and retail). Pogo Mobile lets Pogo fans play three of the most popular games – Poppit!, Tri-Peaks Solitaire, and Turbo 21™, on mobile phones and earn tokens, which can be deposited seamlessly into their online account remotely. Four new titles will be available on Pogo Mobile in the next few months. Pogo To Go games are downloadable versions of some of the most popular Pogo.com and Club Pogo games. Players simply download the games to their computer and can play at anytime; even without an online connection. Pogo to Go games are also available as boxed versions and are sold at such retail outlets as Wal-Mart and Target.
ABOUT ELECTRONIC ARTS
Electronic Arts Inc. (EA), headquartered in Redwood City, California, is the world's leading interactive entertainment software company. Founded in 1982, the company develops, publishes, and distributes interactive software worldwide for videogame systems, personal computers and the Internet. Electronic Arts markets its products under four brand names: EA SPORTS™, EA™, EA SPORTS BIG™ and POGO™. In fiscal 2005, EA posted revenues of $3.1 billion and had 31 titles that sold more than one million copies. EA's homepage and online game site is www.ea.com. More information about EA's products and full text of press releases can be found on the Internet at http://info.ea.com.
Electronic Arts, EA, EA SPORTS, EA SPORTS BIG, POGO, POGO.com ,Club Pogo, POGO To Go, Poppit!, Word Whomp and Turbo 21 are trademarks or registered trademarks of Electronic Arts Inc. in the U.S. and/or other countries.
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