advertisement

EA Q1 revs jump, losses tighten

By Tom Magrino, GameSpotPosted Jul 29, 2008 3:44 pm PT

[UPDATE] Deferred online revenue pushes publisher to nearly double its year-over-year quarterly earnings; Bad Company sells 1.6M; Tiberium delayed, PC sports gaming revived.

Getting its house in order has proven to be a costly business proposition for Electronic Arts. Thanks in part to a restructuring effort that the publisher initiated in 2008 to prioritize quality, the publisher has consistently posted soaring revenues at the expense of flagging profits.

Today, that trend continued. Reporting on its first-quarter performance for fiscal-year 2009, EA said that it brought in $804 million in net revenue, more than double its $395 million take during the same quarter last year. However, that number's impact was blunted by the fact it includes $231 million in deferred revenue from a change in accounting practices for unnamed online-enabled games. For the quarter, net losses stood at $95 million, down from $132 million a year ago.

EA tried to spin the lessened losses as evidence that its quality-over-quantity approach was bearing fruit. "We are now seeing the early returns of the change agenda we started last year," said CEO John Riccitiello in a statement. "Innovation and quality are rising, our games are more accessible and fun, and we have more new titles than at any time in our history. From Spore on the PC to Dead Space on the PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 to MySims on the Wii and Nintendo DS to Scrabble on the iPhone and Facebook, this is the best title portfolio in the company's history."

A number of key titles drove growth for the publisher. Namely, EA said that the DICE-developed Battlefield: Bad Company--released for the Xbox 360 and PS3 on June 23--has sold 1.6 million copies. Other top performers included UEFA EURO 2008 with 1 million units, and Rock Band, which despite being released in November, shifted 800,000 more units during the quarter. EA also noted that Wii-exclusive Boom Blox has now sold 450,000 copies, and is "meeting our expectations."

Trumpeting other wins during the quarter, the publisher noted that the Spore Creature Creator, released for the PC in June, had been picked up by 2.5 million users. In turn, those users had uploaded more than 2 million unique creatures to the Sporepedia in just six weeks, the publisher said. With Activision Vivendi expected to announce its first official financial report later this month, EA also made claim to the top-publisher throne in North America, claiming 17 percent of the market share.

Reiterating guidance issued as part of its year-end report in May, EA said that it still expects earnings to hit $4.9 billion to $5.15 billion for its full fiscal year ending March 31, 2009.

[UPDATE] Following the publisher's earnings announcement today, EA held a conference call to address the quarter's outcome with analysts. While relatively light on new information, the publisher did reveal one delay that will impact its full-year fiscal performance. Namely, the publisher said that the EALA-developed first-person shooter Tiberium will now ship during its 2010 fiscal year, which begins April 1, 2009. Previously, the Command & Conquer-inspired shooter was expected to arrive for the Xbox 360, PS3, and PC this fall.

On the sports front, the publisher also offered an update on the future of PC sports gaming. "As many of you probably noticed, this year we cut back on our PC sports games, but only for a year," said EA Sports chief Peter Moore. "We were retooling these titles to take advantage of the online connectivity in a bigger and more meaningful way. Stay tuned for more on this." In April, Moore said that the sports label would be scaling back its offerings on the PC due to "very serious business challenges."

79 Comments

  • geniustiong

    Posted Sep 2, 2008 3:45 am PT

    lol@ea fanboys

    now they're ****ed up already which of course sums up to UBER losses. No wonder Take 2 dosen't want to be a part of what we call Electronic f***.

  • xyboink

    Posted Aug 10, 2008 6:52 am PT

    i have found it is stupid that EA is working with a consequence. Look to the SIMS-increase. It should be better if EA invent new games for same platform ==> that is what sony does. But EA not... (be creative...)

  • evil_monkey248

    Posted Aug 4, 2008 4:44 pm PT

    @LindBergh2007

    Even though EA has had a terrible past, by releasing sequels every **** year, and sucking at making/publishing games. NOW, there doing alright, They have NOT RUINED any games yet (Ones that I will pay for) Mass Effect, Crysis, Battlefield BC, and C&C3. There all good, and there upcoming games look promising: Spore, Sims 3, Rage, and so forth. Everybody should just stop bashing EA.

  • pajamas

    Posted Aug 3, 2008 1:29 am PT

    Although EA is the biggest gaming publisher, it doesn't make an impact in gaming other than sales. While they improve on certain genres (Battlefield for FPS, Rock Band for Music/Rhythm), they have not broke new grounds with any recent titles (perhaps Sims is the last innovation they have)

    I hope they can try with some more new ideas beside banking on Will Wright (Spore will be a great hit no matter what.) Activision reversed its fortunes by banking on quirky projects (Guitar Hero) and pure reimagination (COD4)

  • SkullXero

    Posted Aug 1, 2008 8:26 am PT

    Lol at bochap.

    Any thing to take a shot at EA huh. Take 2 does not care who buys them out. They just want more money and feel Ea's offer is not enough. However noone is outbidding EA, and soon enough t2 stock will fall some more and then the Offer will lower as well.

    Take 2 is a company that has turned a profit in 1 of its last 12 quarters.

  • bochap76

    Posted Aug 1, 2008 5:29 am PT

    Wow, they doubled total revenue , even after 37 million dollar drop in net profits compared to 1st quarter last year? Makes you wonder, what they hell they were doing with all their money in the first place. No wonder Take 2 doesn't want to belong to a company with such poor accounting practices.

  • LindBergh2007

    Posted Jul 31, 2008 10:21 pm PT

    2009? 2009! What I'm expecting by 2009 is that EA will file for bankrupcy.

  • tawagivercetti

    Posted Jul 31, 2008 2:25 am PT

    Maybe EA should look at what others are doing

  • dvros

    Posted Jul 31, 2008 2:23 am PT

    NOOO!! Why did you push back Command & Conquer Tiberium!??! T_T
    And If I am remembering correctly it will be running by using the ultra stable Unreal graphics engine.

  • godzillavskong

    Posted Jul 30, 2008 7:28 pm PT

    I really enjoy Battlefield Bad Company. I'll look for more EA games with the DICE developers logo on it from here on out.

  • xdeiri

    Posted Jul 30, 2008 6:03 pm PT

    so that.s why star wars kotor mmo rpg ?

  • racerx737

    Posted Jul 30, 2008 3:56 pm PT

    im not a big fan of EA itself simply because it often comes across as such a bully in the industry being as big as it is. Plus they put out a lot of games that arent nearly as good as they should be. Hopefully with their new business philosophy this will change. I'm definitely picking up Spore when it comes out, been waiting long enough for it.

  • lucien86

    Posted Jul 30, 2008 2:32 pm PT

    Given there are half the number of PS3's as Xbox 360's or Wii's that number seems quite incredible, almost unbelievable. Maybe they sold one really expensive PS3 game for a hundred million, or maybe they just got the decimal point in the wrong place ?

  • technowiz999

    Posted Jul 30, 2008 2:09 pm PT

    NOOOO I wanted TIBERIUM!!!!!

  • MFDABADKID

    Posted Jul 30, 2008 1:28 pm PT

    tupapi006 look at these numbers through this link & it will say PS3 IS THE BIGGEST SOURCE OF INCOME FOR EA find me one link that disagree's prove me wrong.

    http://www.eurogamer.net/article.php?article_id=202826

  • blowtrees

    Posted Jul 30, 2008 1:24 pm PT

    So no PC EASports games this year? EA makes shiatty sports games on PC in direct conflict of their new mission, ie quality products, since it's always been about profit, and not enough people buy these titles for PC. So for the future of EASports titles on the PC, I think that they want to see how their new EASHL goes. If it is an astounding success, not only will they have a reason to make a PC game which is equal to the newest and best, but possibly with cross connectivity between PC and 360 leagues. They'll certainly do it with every sport as leagues will be implemented for Madden, NBA, and MLB titles in the next 2-3 years. Quality EASports PC games would be a very nice byproduct of the whole ordeal. Assuming the league pans out of course. If the EASHL blows, the concept may be delayed until they get it working right.

  • tupapi006

    Posted Jul 30, 2008 11:46 am PT

    LOL ofcourse that page says ps3 is the biggest source of income
    http://www.ps3fanboy.com LOL

  • TagDaze

    Posted Jul 30, 2008 11:39 am PT

    With another great lineup for the coming seasons, EA will surely rake in some more profits. Fact is; they have the room to invest, to sort out their departments, not to mention work on their public image.

    With the Spore Creature Creator being so popular, EA must be sure they've got another winner on their hands. Pushing back Tiberium might not be such a bad idea for that reason. Spore will take the spotlight for a while as the awesome and all new franchise.

    And of course these are only games they are developing, let alone the massive amounts of published game under their brand. Well done, guys.

  • dmish82

    Posted Jul 30, 2008 11:03 am PT

    One thing this article fails to mention is that the PS3 is EA's biggest source of income (see below). Just keep on reporting only what you want Gamespot and keep leaving bits and pieces of articles out. http://www.ps3fanboy.com/2008/07/30/ps3-raking-in-the-big-bucks-for-ea/

    PS3: 139mln (13mln, 969%)
    360: 81mln (47mln, 72%)
    PS2: 79mln (61mln, 30%)
    Wii: 57mln (29mln, 97%)

  • STRIFE9288

    Posted Jul 30, 2008 10:46 am PT

    this goes to boobush , actually EA didn't make the orange box they just sold it under their name. they published it not developed that's why it was a great game or games w.e you wanna call it

UEFA EURO 2008: Austria-Switzerland Quick Links

Summary | Reviews | News | Previews & Features | Images | Videos | Answers | Forum | Check Prices

Check Prices: $14 – 49.99

GameStop $49.99 SHOP ›
Amazon.com $46.99 SHOP ›
Glyde $14 SHOP ›
advertisement
advertisement
Click Here
UEFA EURO 2008 Boxshot Enlarge the boxshot
UEFA EURO 2008: Austria-Switzerland

Game Stats

Full Game Details »Close
Also on

Games you may like…

Users who looked at content for this game also looked at these games.

See More Similar Games
advertisement