GameSpot may receive revenue from affiliate and advertising partnerships for sharing this content and from purchases through links.

Star Wars, Mass Effect, NBA, Battlefield: Here's Everything We Learned From EA's Earnings Call

Revenue from full-game downloads was $355 million, more than 2.5 times what it was two years ago.

17 Comments

[UPDATE] Here are some highlights from the EA earnings call:

  • On Star Wars Battlefront 2, EA CEO Andrew Wilson said he knows fans have asked for more depth. The sequel will have more games modes, a single-player campaign, and content from multiple Star Wars eras. Wilson said EA has every reason to believe it is delivering what fans want from the game.
  • EA confirms Madden 18. It will use the Frostbite engine.
  • A new NBA Live game is coming this fall.
  • New NHL, UFC games are on the way.
  • New Need for Speed game is on the way for fiscal year 2018; it will be the best-looking game in the series.
  • Titanfall 2 sales did not disappoint, though EA did sell fewer copies than expected, Wilson said. The game is expected to sell well for a long time due in part to its strong reviews.
  • Battlefield 1 sold more copies than EA expected; it is expected to be the best-selling Battlefield game ever.
  • EA and Origin Access continue to grow.
  • Battlefield 1's They Shall Not Pass expansion is coming out by the end of March.
  • EA won't talk about unit sales much in the future but will instead focus on revenue per game and engagement levels.
  • Mass Effect: Andromeda is expected to sell 3 million units by the end of March.

The original story is below.

Electronic Arts today reported earnings for the quarter ended December 31. The company did not announce sales numbers for any of its games, but mentioned that Battlefield 1 was the company's "biggest Battlefield launch ever." It had a playerbase that was more than 50 percent bigger than that of Battlefield 4 over its launch period.

Research firm Cowen & Company put out a note to investors this week in which it said it's modeling Battlefield 1 sales to be as high as 18 million. The firm also said Titanfall 2 might "struggle a bit" to reach 6 million copies.

No Caption Provided

EA also boasted that FIFA 17 was the best-selling console game in the world for 2016, again, without specifying any numbers. More than 10 million people tried FIFA 17's The Journey single-player mode, EA said, though this was also playable in the FIFA 17 demo.

Additionally, during the quarter, the average play time per person for Star Wars: Galaxy of Heroes was 155 minutes per day, representing a new record.

In terms of business performance, the company posted $1.15 billion in revenue, up slightly from $1.07 billion during the same period last year. EA recorded an overall loss of $1 million, which was much better than the $45 million loss it took last year.

Another notable number from the report is $355 million. That's how much EA made from full-game downloads during the quarter, which is more than 2.5 times what the figure was two years ago ($140 million), and up substantially from last year ($195 million).

EA will hold a call to discuss these results and answer questions, starting at 2 PM PT / 5 PM ET. We'll report back if anything noteworthy is discussed.

Got a news tip or want to contact us directly? Email news@gamespot.com

Join the conversation
There are 17 comments about this story