Electronic Arts today released its financial results for the first quarter of fiscal year 2025. Despite a drop in key metrics, the company said the results exceeded its expectations and is looking forward to a promising second quarter following the successful launch of EA Sports College Football 25, among others.
The numbers
For the three months ended June 30, 2024:
- Revenue:$1.66 billion, down 13% year-on-year
- Net income$280 million, down 30% year-over-year
- Net reserves:1.26 billion dollars, 20% less than the same period of the previous year
The interesting aspects
EA's net bookings were down 20% compared to the same period last year, primarily due to a drop in full game sales (down 58% year-over-year). Live services remained flat in comparison, falling just 7% compared to Q1 FY24.
EA had few releases during the quarter: only EA Sports F1 24 and Tales of Kenzera: Zau from Surgent Studios, which reportedly did not perform well, leading to cuts at the studio. By comparison, the first quarter of fiscal 2024 saw the release of Star Wars: Jedi Survivor and PGA Tour, among others, plus EA still benefited at the time from a boost in its football titles thanks to the World Cup that had been held in December 2023.
However, CFO Stuard Canfield said first-quarter results beat the company's expectations and added that EA should maintain its momentum for the rest of the year following the successful launch of EA Sports College Football 25 last week, and titles such as Madden NFL, EA Sports FC and Dragon Age: The Veilguard.
EA Sports College Football 25 garnered five million unique players in its first week, with a further 500,000 playing through the EA Play trial. CEO Andrew Wilson said its launch represented a “monumental moment” for EA.
Meanwhile, EA Sports UFC Mobile posted record net bookings, the firm said, as the Battlefield franchise hit a milestone of 25 million players.
Additionally, the company noted that live services accounted for 75% of net bookings over the past 12 months.
CEO Andrew Wilson commented: “EA is off to a strong start to fiscal 2025, exceeding net bookings guidance as we continue to build across our business. Our focus on delivering bigger, bolder, more connected experiences for our players has never been clearer and is illustrated by the record-breaking launch of EA Sports College Football 25 as we head into another historic second quarter of EA sports season.”
Looking ahead, EA expects net revenue for the full financial year to be in the range of $7.1 billion to $7.5 billion, net income in the range of $904 billion to $1.1 billion and net bookings in the range of $7.3 billion to $7.7 billion.