"Live services are the foundation of our business," says Andrew Wilson, as EA reports 33% profit growth in Q2
Electronic Arts has released a financial report for the second quarter ended September 30. The company’s revenue and profit continue to grow, largely driven by the ongoing success of its live service games.
Financial highlights
- In Q2 FY24, Electronic Arts reached $1.91 billion in net revenue, up 0.5% year-over-year. Live services accounted for 67.5% of the total, or $1.29 billion.
- Net income was $399 million, up 33.4% compared to the same period last year.
- Net bookings grew 4% year-over-year to $1.82 billion. Console games accounted for 63.2% of the total, followed by PC (21.3%) and mobile (15.3%).
- For the full fiscal year ending March 31, 2024, EA expects its net revenue to reach $7.3-7.7 billion, and net income to be around $1.11-1.27 billion.
Electronic Arts continues to bet big on live service games
On the trailing 12-month basis, live services (titles like EA Sports FC, Apex Legends, and The Sims 4) accounted for 73% of EA’s total net bookings of $7.7 billion.
So it is no surprise CEO Andrew Wilson said in an earnings call that “live services are the foundation of our business.” He added that “over the next few years, our teams will innovate and expand our biggest IP as we build platforms and ecosystems to connect massive online communities that will expand them across the world.”
Below are financial results of some of the company’s live services:
- Quarterly bookings for the EA SPORTS Madden NFL franchise increased by 6% year-over-year, but the exact amount remains undisclosed.
- EA Sports FC 24 reached over 14.5 million players in its first two weeks, with the performance of the entire franchise beating the company’s expectations.
- FC Mobile has established “new fracnhise records,” generating over 2 million downloads in its first day and over 11 million installs in the first 10 days.
- Without sharing specific numbers, EA noted that The Sims 4 saw a double-digit growth in new players and weekly average users in the second quarter.
- The company is also satisfied with the launch of Season 6 for Battlefield 2042, which drove record engagement on Steam. On October 21, the game broke its peak CCU record, reaching 107,376 concurrent players.
According to EA CFO Stuart Canfield, the fact that these titles account for over 70% of the company’s net bookings demonstrates the “resilency of our evergreen live services business model.”
Wilson believes that building ecosystems around Electronic Arts’ biggest IPs should lay a “broad broad foundation for future launches and strong growth for the business.”
