EA's fiscal Q109 conference call at-a-glance
Today was the day for industry behemoth Electronic Arts to divulge the results of its (very large) bean counting to investors and the press. In a conference call this afternoon, EA CEO John Riccitiello got down to business, discussing a marked increase in sales over the same period last year, but also fessing up to a stinging $95 million loss. The especially strong performance of Battlefield: Bad Company was singled out as a key contributor to the sales spike, with UEFA Euro 2008 and Rock Band also leading EA's lineup in terms of units moved at retail. A major push into digital distribution, particularly in Asia, was something EA brass also seemed quite pleased with.
Riccitiello made a point of singling out Nintendo platforms as a focus for the company going forward. He talked about Boom Blox being a success both critically and commercially, and revealed that EA has 40 titles in development between Wii and DS. He stated that the company's approach with the titles is a combination of "quality over quantity" and ensuring that they are designed to take full advantage of each platform's unique feature set. The EA boss used the upcoming Wii title Skate It as an example.
Riccitiello made a point of singling out Nintendo platforms as a focus for the company going forward. He talked about Boom Blox being a success both critically and commercially, and revealed that EA has 40 titles in development between Wii and DS. He stated that the company's approach with the titles is a combination of "quality over quantity" and ensuring that they are designed to take full advantage of each platform's unique feature set. The EA boss used the upcoming Wii title Skate It as an example.
EA's acquisition of BioWare and Pandemic was briefly touched on, with mention of an MMO (likely BioWare's online KOTOR title) coming out of the deal "for the future." Another future title called out in the prepared statement was the Command & Conquer FPS, Tiberium, which Riccitiello confirmed has become a fiscal year 2010 release.
EA Sports head Peter Moore revealed that pre-order numbers for NCAA Football 09 and Madden NFL 09 are lower than they were for last year's football titles, but expects both games to perform better than average for their respective franchises. Moore stressed the importance of innovation and wholly-owned properties in the sports space, singling out the Dynamic DNA feature of NBA Live 09 as an example of the former, and Facebreaker to represent the latter. He also confirmed that EA Sports is working on another, yet-unannounced original sports IP. EA Sports will return to the field with PC sports titles next year, Moore said, stating that the new lineup will boast features derived from the platform's strengths in online connectivity.
During the Q&A session that followed the EA execs' scripted statements, Riccitiello talked about Battlefield Heroes, the company's free-to-play installment in the popular franchise, being reworked to include stronger social networking features. Oh, and that takeover of Take-Two the company has been plotting? Riccitiello and crew weren't talking about that.
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
Darth Abe @ Jul 29th 2008 10:28PM
Good to see battlefield was a success, cause it was the first battlefield to really get it right on the consoles, and I want more.
Desi_D @ Jul 29th 2008 11:02PM
No word of this? Way to spin it 'stiq (PS3 don't sell games).
From Shacknews:
"PS3, PC Sales Lead EA Revenue in Q1 2009
Earnings from Electronic Arts' PC and PlayStation 3 publishing and development businesses contributed to net revenue of $804 million in the company's fiscal year 2009 first quarter, the publisher revealed today.
http://www.shacknews.com/onearticle.x/53923
Darth Abe @ Jul 30th 2008 1:38AM
To be fair, it was a good quarter for the PS3 and a bad quarter for the 360 (for EA anyway). With wii sort of fluctuating up and down and not making a ton of money.
Anyway, attach rates are attach rates and it's not like you can counter them with other, less direct sources of information.
Nate @ Jul 30th 2008 3:53PM
Yes, it was a good quarter for one and a bad quarter for the other... but the PS3 sold 75% more than the 360 in raw dollars..... and there's no EA exclusives for the PS3. That means, even though the 360's install base is significantly larger, the PS3 STILL sold more of EA's games during that time.
Don't say it's not signficant. Attach rates are determined by very inaccurate and generalized means polling shipped numbers and numbers reported selling by some portion of resellers. Financial releases from a company like this have to be very very accurate and specific, or they get slammed by the SEC.
This shows unequivocally that PS3 users spent way more per console on EA games during Q1, hell, spent way more TOTAL than 360 users. 75% more is a hell of a lot.
JoeTheBlow @ Jul 30th 2008 5:43AM
I love Joystiq, but its anti-PS3 bias is really disappointing sometimes.
Why no mention of the PS3 now leading EA's profits, and increasing profits YOY by a whopping 969%!
http://kotaku.com/5030788/ps3-now-eas-single-biggest-bread+winner
dreadnought1 @ Jul 30th 2008 10:02AM
joystiq is to XBOX 360 as FOX NEWS is to the Republican Party.
Wonderflex @ Jul 30th 2008 10:47AM
you mean joystiq:xbox 360 as foxnews:republican party.
Sometimes I've felt this to be really true, but then there are other times when they give the PS3 a lot of love...and Fox News isn't ever going to love a non-replublican.
COKTOE @ Jul 30th 2008 10:46AM
I'm not calling "bias",but I agree with the previous commenters that it's extremly lame Joystiq overlooked the fact that PS3 saw a massive %969 spike in sales for EA.LAME.