It's a big day for Electronic Arts, as the company just reported earnings for the quarter ended December 31. This was an especially notable period because it covers the holiday season and the launch of the much-criticised Star Wars: Battlefront II. Some analysts predicted lower-than-expected sales due to the controversy involving the game's use of microtransactions (which were removed just before the game's public launch). So how did the game sell in the wake of those issues? We don't know yet, as EA did not share any sales numbers in its report. However, the company said almost 70 percent of players "engaged" with the game's single-player campaign.
In recent years, EA--and other video game companies--have shied away from sharing specific sales numbers in favour of other, more vague metrics. But with Battlefront II, EA didn't say anything apart from the single-player figure. This is notable because for the 2015 Battlefront reboot, EA announced during the first earnings report following the game's release that the title shipped more than 13 million units.
EA will hold an earnings call later today where it will discuss its latest operating results and answer questions from analysts. We'll report back with more details on Battlefront II's sales performance if any information is provided.
For the quarter, EA reported revenue of $1.16 billion, compared to $1.15 billion. EA posted a loss of $186 million during the quarter, which is much worse than the $1 million loss it took during the same period last year. Importantly, EA mentioned that it incurred a $176 million tax expense during the quarter related to the recently adopted Tax Cuts and Jobs Act.
There were some financial bright spots during the quarter for EA, including the fact that digital revenue, which is higher margin, is taking a bigger share. For this latest quarter, digital revenue was $780 million, compared to $380 million for packaged goods. For the same period last year, digital revenue was $685 million, compared to $464 for packaged sales.
Here are some other takeaways from the EA report:
- The "FIFA community" on console alone rose to 42 million players.
- FIFA Mobile added 26 million players in the quarter alone.
- FIFA Ultimate Team's player base jumped by 12 percent year over year.
- Battlefield 1 now has 25 million unique players since it launched.
- The Sims 4's player base grew by 35 percent compared to last year.
from GameSpot http://ift.tt/2DQ9pmk
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