Home Gaming EA’s not headed for the poorhouse anytime soon

EA’s not headed for the poorhouse anytime soon

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Eamoney

EA released its quarterly and annual earning report yesterday, and contrary to what you might believe – thanks to huge blows like the resignations of CEO John Ricitiello and the fustercluck that was the SimCity launch – the company’s still making a fair bit of cash.

According to the report, EA’s net revenue was indeed down in both the fourth quarter (from $1.37 billion to $1.21 billion) and the full financial year ($4.14 billion to $3.80 billion) – but it’s net profit for the 2013 fiscal period has actually increased – up from $76 million for 2012 to $98 million for 2013. That’s nearly a 30% increase in pure profit.

It seems most of the increased profits can be attributed to the onslaught of digital offerings and, of course, its annual sports offerings like FIFA that essentially print money.

Battlefield Premium, the almost necessary $50 bolt-on Season pass for Battlefield 3 now has over 3.5 million subscribers, earning EA  $120 million in revenue for the year. Free-to-play mobile offerings like Real Racing 3 and The Simpsons: Tapped Out were also huge earners, with the latter earning EA $10 million in the last quarter alone.

And FIFA 13, as you’d expect, sold rather well. More than 14.5 million copies of the game have been sold since the game’s launch last year; about a 30% increase over FIFA 12. Add to that the success of the FIFA’s Ultimate Team mode, which brought in digital revenue of over $200 million, and it’s easy to see why EA releases a new one every year. Ea’s just renegotiated its contract with FIFA, and will be producing licenced football games until 2022. 

Even the much maligned SimCity’s been a success, selling over 1.6 million copies since it launched. For a niche game on a single platform that had a disastrous launch, that’s really not too bad.

EA’s said nothing of Dead Space 3 in its earning’s report, which isn’t too surprising; by all accounts it’s considered a failure; requiring 3 million in sales to be profitable enough for a sequel. It’s sold around 1.2 million units across all three platforms so far.

It’s worth noting that all of the figures in these reports are on a Non-GAAP basis, meaning they don’t adhere to Generally Accepted Accounting Principles – so they could just be random numbers pulled from a hat.

“As we enter a new fiscal year, EA is well-positioned for dynamic growth on next generation consoles, PCs, and mobile platforms,” said executive chairman Larry Probst.

“With world-class games, a rapidly growing digital business, and top-notch creative talent, we are excited about EA’s strategy for FY 2014 and beyond.”

Last Updated: May 8, 2013

18 Comments

  1. Sir Rants-a-Lot Llew

    May 8, 2013 at 12:34

    It’s all the micro transactions. Money for nothing I tell you

    Reply

    • Admiral Chief Achievement

      May 8, 2013 at 12:36

      Chicks for free?

      Reply

      • Jobbie

        May 8, 2013 at 14:12

        Want my DSTV?

        Reply

  2. Sir Rants-a-Lot Llew

    May 8, 2013 at 12:34

    It’s all the micro transactions. Money for nothing I tell you

    Reply

  3. Admiral Chief Achievement

    May 8, 2013 at 12:34

    WORD OF THE DAY!!!

    FusterCluck

    Reply

    • OVG OfflineVideoGamer

      May 8, 2013 at 12:38

      DaCluck??

      Reply

      • Admiral Chief Achievement

        May 8, 2013 at 12:45

        Oh for Fluck sake

        Reply

        • Ultimo_Cleric_N7

          May 8, 2013 at 12:53

          You Fluther Mucker!

          Reply

          • Admiral Chief Achievement

            May 8, 2013 at 12:54

            *fother mucker

  4. Admiral Chief Achievement

    May 8, 2013 at 12:34

    WORD OF THE DAY!!!

    FusterCluck

    Reply

  5. LordCaptainAwesomeness

    May 8, 2013 at 12:44

    Copy and Paste Heaven…. Slap a new Title on the Box, same crappy Gameplay/Stories/Textures every year, and the Morons will buy it….

    Reply

    • Admiral Chief Achievement

      May 8, 2013 at 12:45

      I just hope that they use the EXISTING Star Wars stories and not try to come up with some fustercluck of a plot

      Reply

      • Brady miaau

        May 8, 2013 at 14:02

        Timothy Zahn?

        Reply

  6. Admiral Chief Achievement

    May 8, 2013 at 12:47

    After yesterday’s Wolverine XXX one can almost misread the title as:

    “EAs not headed for the pornhouse anytime soon”

    Reply

  7. Rince da Ref Lvl2

    May 8, 2013 at 12:55

    Oh great, so now we can look forward to more games that don’t work, but we get on our knees and suck for the sake of having to…

    Reply

    • Admiral Chief Achievement

      May 8, 2013 at 12:59

      Dunno about you, but I have NEVER and will NEVER get on my knees to suck ANYTING

      (unless its beer from a keg)

      Reply

  8. matthurstrsa

    May 8, 2013 at 13:04

    “about a 305 increase over FIFA 12”

    Not exactly a runaway success 😛

    Also, fustercluck sounds like there should be lots of chickens nearby.

    Reply

  9. Skyblue

    May 8, 2013 at 16:40

    Want to know what’s wrong with the worlds economy? $3.8 billion in revenue to realize $98 odd million in profit. I know it seems like a lot but it really isn’t much when looking at the overall revenue. We bitch about a lack of new IP’s but where are the funds for these IP’s supposed to be generated…? If my business was returning less than 3% NET profit I’d be shitting myself and wouldn’t invest in any new IP unless it was a guaranteed slam dunk.

    You also can’t blame them for annual installments of FIFA if they’re selling 15 million copies of the title, it’s crystal clear that consumer demands outweigh our petty bitching sessions about annual releases.

    That said, fuck EA for introducing me to Dead Space and then ruining it.

    Reply

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