Electronic Arts earned $1.3 billion in July-September. Sales drivers — games about sports and Apex Legends
Yesterday, October 29, Electronic Arts (EA) published financial statements for the last three months. We have made a brief extract from the published documents.
Finance
The company’s revenue for the second fiscal quarter of 2020 (it fell in the third calendar quarter of 2019) amounted to $1.348 billion. This is 5% more than in the same period a year earlier.
The highest—grossing segment is digital sales. It generated $922 million. However, in terms of dynamics, the services showed themselves best. For the year, revenue from them jumped by 39% to $579 million.
If we talk about the distribution of income across platforms, then the console market remains the main market for EA. It accounts for $923 million or 68% of the gaming giant’s total revenue.
However, now the PC platform is beginning to play an increasingly significant role. Over the past year, the company’s desktop revenue has grown by 62%. Not least thanks to Apex Legends.
The most problematic segment for EA today is mobile. Sales of the company’s mobile games have been falling over the past year. According to the results of the last quarter, they accounted for only $177 million. This is 20% less than a year earlier.
EA’s net revenue by platform (the last column is the second fiscal quarter of 2020)Management comments
Judging by the presentation to investors, EA’s management remained very satisfied with the past financial quarter. As stated by the CEO of the company Andrew Wilson (Andrew Wilson): “It was a great second quarter for the company.”
Sport
New EA sports titles played a special role in the results: Madden NFL 20, FIFA 20 and NHL 20.
Specifically, their revenue is not disclosed, but the company boasts of annual growth in both the audience of their series and a significant increase in the number of users of the Ultimate Team mode in each of the titles.
- Madden NFL — an increase in the number of unique players in the series by 12%, an increase in the Ultimate base by 20%;
- FIFA — the audience growth of the series by 15%, the growth of the Ultimate base by 22%;
- NHL — just talked about the growth of the Ultimate base, no specifics are given.
Recall that Ultimate Team is the main mode in each of the titles. In it, the player forms his own team of players from the available cards. The latter are bought for points, which can be either earned in the game or bought for real money. The revenue from this mode goes to the “services” line.
Concluding the “sports” theme, Andrew notes the success of FIFA Mobile, whose downloads have reached 250 million.
Apex Legends
EA’s Apex Legends revenues are also considered “service” and they are called one of the main growth drivers. But there is no specific information on them. The company only notes that by the end of the fiscal year, it expects to receive $300-400 million from the title.
Two important statements are also made in connection with Apex Legends.
Firstly, it is said that Apex Legends is the main long—term title for the entire company, which EA will develop, including on mobile.
Secondly, it is claimed that the mark of 70 million players has been reached. This is 20 million more than the game had in March this year.
The Sims 4
The project is a stable source of EA earnings. He continues to grow the audience, despite his advanced age. Released in 2014, the game in the second quarter received a 40% increase in MAU in annual terms (mainly due to the free distribution of the basic version in May).
By the way, it was in July-September that the total revenue of all The Sims series games exceeded the $5 billion mark.
The near future
For the third fiscal quarter, EA plans to earn even more — $ 1.51 billion. This is 15% more than in the second quarter of this year and 21% more in annual terms.
The company believes that the bulk of revenue will be provided by Apex Legends and Ultimate Team, and the driver of growth will be the launch of Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order and Need For Speed Heat.
EA predicts that sales of Fallen Order will amount to 6-8 million by the end of the fiscal year. As for Heat, 3-4 million copies are expected from it.
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