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EA Ships 14 Million Copies Of Battlefront In Strong Close To Fiscal Year
EA is celebrating a strong close to its 2016 fiscal year, with record non-GAAP revenue. Part of that was another big jump, this time 26 percent, in Ultimate Team revenue.
The publisher pointed out two items related to Star Wars Battlefront. The first is that it surpassed expectations, shipping 14 million to retail against a target of 13 million. Second, the company credits the game with expanding its footprint among players. More than 15 percent of Battlefront players were new to the “EA ecosystem,” which we believe means did not previously have an Origin account.
EA closed the year with $4.396 billion in revenue, 55 percent of which was attributable to digital full-game and add-on purchases. The publisher expects that to climb to $4.750 billion in the current fiscal year. Net income jumped by 32 percent to $1.018 billion.
EA announced today that the next Need for Speed game won’t be coming in 2017 (likely in the fall), after the close of the current fiscal year. However, Battlefield 1 arrives in October and Mass Effect Andromeda is delayed, but likely to still in the first calendar quarter of 2017, which is still within EA’s current fiscal year.
We’ll have more from the earnings call later today.
Our Take
With Mirror’s Edge, Battlefield 1, a full sports lineup (and the accompanying Ultimate Team revenue), mobile, and (probably) Mass Effect. This fiscal year is shaping up nicely for EA. With an eSports effort led by Peter Moore underway, I do have to wonder how EA will make the most of that outside its sports titles. None of the other properties immediately lend themselves to an eSports profile.
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