EA's rocky holiday quarter results in $1.05 billion in revenue, $322 net loss during three-month period; EA Sports Active 2 "well below expectations."
If there's one quarter where a publisher wants to best its performance from the prior year, it's the highly lucrative holiday window. Unfortunately, such was not the case for Electronic Arts.
Today, the megapublisher issued its third-quarter earnings report for the October-December window, revealing net revenue fell 15 percent to $1.05 billion, down from $1.24 billion during the year prior. Net losses also mounted during the period, plummeting to $322 million from an already-substantial $82 million last year.
EA was quick to point out that excluding non-recurring charges such as acquisition-related expenses, changes in deferred net revenue, and restructuring charges, the publisher actually had a quite strong quarter. Excluding these non-recurring expenses, EA's non-GAAP net revenue would have been up 75 percent to $1.4 billion. Profit would also be a different story, with the publisher's massive loss turned to a $196 million gain.
As for wins during the quarter, EA touted the fact that it was the No. 1 publisher on the Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 during 2010 in Western markets. In Western markets during the third quarter, EA said that it held the No. 1 publisher slot on Apple's App Store for both the iPhone and iPad, as well as Microsoft's Windows Phone 7 platform.
EA also saw production out of two of its top holiday-quarter releases: Danger Close's Medal of Honor and Criterion's Need for Speed: Hot Pursuit. Both titles have shipped more than 5 million units to date, according to the publisher. In 2010, EA had five games which passed the 5 million mark, with the aforementioned two joined by FIFA 11, Madden NFL 11, and Battlefield: Bad Company 2. FIFA 11 has now shipped more than 11 million units to date.
Not all of the publisher's year-end games performed, however. In a post-earnings conference call, EA indicated that EA Sports Active 2 sales came in "well below expectations." Active 2 was the first installment in EA's fitness franchise that was released for Microsoft and Sony's new motion-sensing controllers. Like the original, it was also released for the Wii.
EA also continued to grow its digital business, which ticked up 39 percent to $211 million during the quarter on a non-GAAP basis. EA reaffirmed its position that 20 percent of its in-progress fiscal-year earnings--or $750 million--will be from digital sales. Console downloadable content sales saw the largest digital gains, growing 130 percent to $62 million. PC digital revenue grew 22 percent to $82 million, while mobile sales were up 16 percent to $67 million.
On the business side, EA said that it has authorized a $600 million stock buyback program that will take place over the next 18 months. Looking ahead, the publisher said that it expects net revenue to come in at $3.473 billion to $3.573 billion for the full fiscal year ending March 31, 2011.
Investors have thus far reacted positively to EA's earnings announcement today. In after-hours trading, the stock was up nearly 9.15 percent to $17.05.
Tom Magrino has covered the games industry since 2006. He's been compared to Steve Martin by Ozzy Osbourne and Daniel Craig by Tim Schafer. His voice, heard largely on GameSpot's podcast, recalls that of Kermit the Frog. It ain't easy bein' Magreen.
EA is losing out because they're getting greedy. First they're making expansion packs left and right before games are even made, and now they're adding "VIP codes" to make you pay an extra ten dollars if you even think about daring to buy a used game (because they know their games are going to be resold once someone realizes what a mistake they made buying it).
The most unsold game around here is MoH. Do they include the games that are shipped back? May be that's what impacts their ROI the most. (I shouldn't even call that thing a game).
Need For Speed: Hot Pursuit is a good game. You may not feel it initially, but it surely grows on you with time. And this is especially true for Autolog. Complaints ?? Many as there always will be though one is important - EA should somehow find a way to force people to update the game into the new patch since people who haven't done so are just not visible online. And that constitutes a large chunk !!!
@woodyfr All that matters to EA is how many has shipped because thats when they make their money. Stores buy the game from EA, and then the store sells the game. They don't see any money from the store to customer sale. So these games have made 5 million units worth of sales for EA. Considering its a financial report for potential invenstors and stockholders in the company, it's great. Anyways, HP is an amazing game. I thought it sucked at the start but all driving games are like that until you start unlocking the really good cars. Im having a blast now with my zondas and lambos. I miss ferrari being in it though.
I love their press release "Both titles have shipped more than 5 million units to date"? Who cares about SHIPPED, we want to know how many people have bought, but it seems not so much? EA still sucks, money, money, money !
who saw the title of this story as "medal of honor - hot pursuit sells . . ." and though ea had done a WW2 based need for speed?
Glad Medal Of Honour's doing well once again, the reboot was superb but needed refinement online. Hot Pursuit was alright but no better then Undercover or Most Wanted. Nowhere near as good as the Underground series or Shift; it plays too much like Burnout.
thats pretty good. but i still havent had a chance to play either 1. kinda lost my gaming mood in the last few months. that and no time to play them with other stuff i need to do, so when i do go to play i dont really enjoy it as much because of the thought of me wasteing my time on games instead of doing my other things that should come first.
@brood_aliance totally agree about the battlefield. I love me some Bad Company but I loved the huge(er) maps from pc BFs even more. Plus, why only 24 players online? If they could crank out 64 players on the 360 I'd punch the next woodland creature i see in the jaw!
EA was always decent, if was because people bought all those games (especially NFS and Sports games) that they kept making them. EA has slowed down on these games because less people bought them. Activision is only going to keep making more CoDs if people want them. Regardless, I'm really looking forward to what they have for Battlefield 3. I really hope they return to the BF1942/2/2142 roots instead of the console-like Bad Company series. Don't get me wrong Bad Company is great, the original BF series was so much better. I'm also looking forward to Crysis, which is another EA published game. The console versions of these games should make a TON of money and rake in the cash EA rightfully deserves. I really hope they don't shaft PC gaming to much in the process.
I think a lot of people didn't give Hot Pursuit a chance because it has the "Need for Speed" brand on it, and whilst it's true that the franchise has went downhill for several years now, this is hands down one of the best Need for Speed games i've ever played. It's far from perfect, just like any other game. But people who didn't give this game a chance really missed out on a great game. And that's a fact, not just an opinion. Too bad about the PC versions of both HP and MOH though. They were/are lacking native AA support as well as other stuff and therefore feel unfinished but they are great games nonetheless. If people weren't whining all the time about what could have been improved and/or what should have been in a particular game, they could see the potential of these games and actually enjoy it. It's sad, but it's true: the more people get, the more they complain.
@megaspiderweb09 i didnt realize that medal of honor was a new IP...i thought there was like 5 others on my GC and PC...but i guess im wrong. and didnt i play a need for speed hot pursuit before as well.... EA is one of the big devs that is ruining gaming by shipping the same game year after year instead of just making high quality ones every few years.
Has anyone noticed EA is the only multiplatform publisher thats supported the creation of new IPs this gen
So they shipped 5mil, how many where actually sold???MoH wasn't a vary good game, but it warrants a sequel. MoH oozes potential.
Half of these guys giving MoH grief probably haven't even played it because they'd rather stick by their ever-so-repetitive COD. In my opinion MoH hasn't received the recognition it deserves, it's a brilliant game to play online, it's a shame more folks haven't bought it. I used to hate EA due to them always trying to squeeze more money out of its gamers, however they'll get my backing on this one. More people should buy these games, they're decent.
IMO I didn't think MOH was too bad, ok the AI is crap at times but online I found it quite enjoyable. I like the way online is the same as BBFC2 so you can get straight in and play. If only COD Black ops wasn't so crap online ( ps3) I think these two games are worth having.
EA dosn't need to compete with Activision about FPS. They already have Crysis, MOH and BF. COD fever will die in no time since it's practically the same games every year while EA has 3 separate franchises to sell.
well, good thing that good games sells, regardless of what you think of ea. i hope mass effect 3 have cod like sales, since mass effect 2 should have gotten it.
5 million copies of Hot Pursuit = good. 5 million copies of Medal of Honor = what were people thinking?
I would like to see a NFS game similar to Most Wanted or maybe Carbon, those were good titles imo.
Both are good titles. Glad to see people are buying these games so they can develop others.
5 million For MOH not bad at least it made profit, infact this are good numbers its just that COD numbers make 5 million look bad but it not PS am yet to get ma copy
eh wheres a proper need for speed hot pursuit this time none of this burnout and treat wii like trash gimmicks
EA is coming back with a vengence to be the top publisher again... no joke lol... But great from EA though
Sports Active 2 did poorly because it was (a) overpriced and (b) wasn't very good. The Kinect version was $99 at launch and it's ALREADY $39. Should've come out at $39 with all the glitches it has - and it STILL hasn't been patched yet. Epic fail by EA.
Hot Pursuit was awesome and now they have Dead Space 2, plus Bulletstorm, and Crysis 2 on the way EA will make it up
Those sales indicate it's time to kill the EA Sports Active franchise. While we're at it, let's get rid of every fitness game! Need for Speed Hot Pursuit deserved those sales. Fantastic game!
Good for EA. MoH was a great game, they need to bring it to Black Ops standards though. EA has really stood by the core gamer this gen. Here's hoping they'll continue to do so.
Hot Pursuit was cool. but i got 100% in about 2-3 weeks without even putting any effort into it. The game was too short and didn't offer enough variety. BUT a great step into bringing the franchise back to actually being fun!!!
They really need to improve MoH, they got lucky with the first reboot but the brand's name won't bring sales forever.
I liked both Medal of Honor more than I thought and Need for Speed: Hot Pursuit was great and I had fun with.
if it is medal of honor 2 then they have to fix the multiplayer. If they don't, then the sales won't even reach the original.
I honestly haven't enjoyed a game as much as I did Medal of Honor in a very long time. I don't really find COD games as much fun as I used to. Medal of honor is a very simple game to grasp and is so much fun. In my top 5 games of 2010 for sure.
NFS:HP was a good game. MOH on the other hand was merely "ok". In fact, I probably would not have purchased except for the name. I doubt I will be so fast to do so if they do a MOH 2.
I first read the head line as "Medal Of Honor: Hot pursuit", and thought "what?... that sounds awesome!".
hmmm... Normally I'd say no to Beiber but his voice is changing so it will be fun to beat him up. Add Gaga to the list while you're at it I'd love to put a bludgeon through her satellite dish glasses and tree stump dresses.
Publisher posts $14.9 million loss for holiday quarter; WWE SmackDown vs. Raw 2011 ships 2.7 million units; uDraw ships 1.2 million; WWE Online also canned; UFC Trainer delayed; stock sinks.
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