As the COVID-19 pandemic continues, many industries are suffering from the global shutdown. Even some video game companies, such as PlayStation and Xbox, are feeling pressure over speculation on whether or not they will be able to manufacture enough next-gen consoles this year, but not EA, who has adapted to modern events with its "Stay Home, Play Together" initiative.
With many people being stuck at home looking for something to do, digital sales of video games are at an all-time high. EA's digital sales in particular are continuing to climb--thanks in part to recent PC sales--as it announced in its preliminary financial results for its fourth quarter.
During this announcement, EA CEO Andrew Wilson attributed its success to "the amazing dedication and determination of our teams at Electronic Arts" who have been working from home due to the coronavirus. COO and CFO Blake Jorgensen added that EA has had a strong year and that "the breadth and depth of our live services give the flexibility we need at times like this to meet player needs." For this quarter, EA made $896 million in total net revenue, just under the $914 million they made during this quarter last year. However, this is actually higher than the company's projected goal of $830 million. Profit also dropped from $152 million to $125 million.
EA's earnings report also revealed the company had earned $4.052 billion for the fiscal year from digital "net bookings." For those who don't know, net bookings are the net amount of products and services sold by the company. This includes additional revenue from online-enabled games and mobile platform fees. At over $4 billion, digital net bookings are up 9% year-over-year and now represent 78% of EA's total net bookings.
EA saw a total net revenue of $4.319 billion for the fiscal year, higher than the previous fiscal year's $4.021 billion. That means less than $300 million came from physical game sales. In terms of net income, EA reported $806 million for the year, significantly higher than last year's $534 million. Mobile revenue had also been good for EA this fiscal year, as it set a new record at $524 million.
EA shared some more interesting metrics. FIFA 20 reportedly has more than 25 million unique players to date, with Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order pulling in more than 10 million players. Madden NFL 20 has reached the highest engagement levels in the franchise's history, and Apex Legends was the most downloaded free-to-play game on PS4 in 2019. And in every quarter of fiscal 2020, monthly average players in The Sims 4 have been higher than in the previous year.
Source: ea.com