Wednesday, July 31st 2024
Electronic Arts Reports Strong Q1 FY25 Results, Revenue Down, Income Up YoY
Electronic Arts (NASDAQ: EA) today announced preliminary financial results for its first quarter ended June 30, 2024. "EA delivered a strong start to FY25, beating net bookings guidance as we continue to execute across our business," said Andrew Wilson, CEO of EA. "Our focus on delivering bigger, bolder, and more connected experiences for our players has never been sharper and is illustrated by the record-breaking launch of EA SPORTS College Football 25 as we head into another historic Q2 sports season at EA."
"Strong execution, live events and continued player engagement across our experiences, delivered Q1 results above expectations," said Stuart Canfield, CFO of EA. "Looking ahead, the remarkable success of our launch week for College Football, combined with the upcoming launches for EA SPORTS Madden NFL, EA SPORTS FC and Dragon Age: The Veilguard, is building momentum for FY25 and beyond. We are well positioned to deliver our multi-year financial objectives."
Selected Operating Highlights and Metrics
EA has declared a quarterly cash dividend of $0.19 per share of the Company's common stock. The dividend is payable on September 18, 2024 to stockholders of record as of the close of business on August 28, 2024.
Business Outlook as of July 30, 2024
Fiscal Year 2025 Expectations - Ending March 31, 2025
Financial outlook metrics:
Financial outlook metrics:
Net bookings is expected to be approximately $1.950 billion to $2.050 billion.
Source:
Electronic Arts
"Strong execution, live events and continued player engagement across our experiences, delivered Q1 results above expectations," said Stuart Canfield, CFO of EA. "Looking ahead, the remarkable success of our launch week for College Football, combined with the upcoming launches for EA SPORTS Madden NFL, EA SPORTS FC and Dragon Age: The Veilguard, is building momentum for FY25 and beyond. We are well positioned to deliver our multi-year financial objectives."
- Net bookings for the quarter totaled $1.262 billion, exceeding the high end of the guidance range of $1.250 billion. This was driven by stronger performance across Madden NFL 24, FC Online and FC Mobile.
- EA SPORTS FC celebrated real-world tournaments and events during Q1, attracting tens of millions of new fans and driving engagement across the franchise during the quarter.
- EA SPORTS Madden NFL delivered sustained momentum through the quarter, with weekly average users in Ultimate Team and total net bookings up double digits year-over-year.
- During the quarter, EA revealed Dragon Age: The Veilguard gameplay, which trended #1 on YouTube Gaming and received millions of views.
- After the quarter ended, EA SPORTS College Football 25 welcomed 5 million unique players into the game through its first week, with over 500,000 more playing via the EA Play trial.
- Net revenue was $1.660 billion for the quarter.
- Net cash provided by operating activities was $120 million for the quarter and $2.076 billion for the trailing twelve months.
- EA repurchased 2.8 million shares for $375 million during the quarter under the new stock repurchase program, bringing the total for the trailing twelve months to 10.2 million shares for $1.350 billion.
EA has declared a quarterly cash dividend of $0.19 per share of the Company's common stock. The dividend is payable on September 18, 2024 to stockholders of record as of the close of business on August 28, 2024.
Fiscal Year 2025 Expectations - Ending March 31, 2025
Financial outlook metrics:
- Net revenue is expected to be approximately $7.100 billion to $7.500 billion.
- Change in deferred net revenue (online-enabled games) is expected to be approximately $200 million.
- Net income is expected to be approximately $904 million to $1.085 billion.
- Diluted earnings per share is expected to be approximately $3.34 to $4.00.
- Operating cash flow is expected to be approximately $2.050 billion to $2.250 billion.
- The Company estimates a share count of 271 million for purposes of calculating diluted earnings per share.
- Net bookings is expected to be approximately $7.300 billion to $7.700 billion.
Financial outlook metrics:
- Net revenue is expected to be approximately $1.900 billion to $2.000 billion.
- Change in deferred net revenue (online-enabled games) is expected to be approximately $50 million.
- Net income is expected to be approximately $204 million to $248 million.
- Diluted earnings per share is expected to be approximately $0.76 to $0.93.
- The Company estimates a share count of 267 million for purposes of calculating diluted earnings per share.
Net bookings is expected to be approximately $1.950 billion to $2.050 billion.
32 Comments on Electronic Arts Reports Strong Q1 FY25 Results, Revenue Down, Income Up YoY
tl:dr I am very upset about DA as a series going down the drain after Origins.
EA: [Loading 12-gauge sounds]
Wait, what? I admit I haven’t followed the game, what have they messed up? I heard some rumblings about BP changes, but I thought they reversed the course on that?
Whenever I see tables like that my eyes glaze over and I start chanting “Every day we stray ever further from Gods light”. Fucking hell, when you need an explanation chart just for ONE part of your monetization scheme you know we are dealing with a micro-transaction engine with a game maybe strapped to it, not the other way around like was originally intended.
But, I suppose, this is just the way things are now.
This was the original plan.
Okay, yeah, that’s pretty scummy. Not gonna lie, I’ve seen gacha waifu games with more appealing offers. Actually, come to think of it, one of the most shameless “ass and titties” games out there, Nikke, has unironically better monetization and developer-community relationship than the vast majority of AAA Live Services out there, from all I heard about it. I don’t know whether that’s funny or sad.
But the truth, as much as I hate it, is that EA has been very successful financially in doing what they have done and no doubt will continue to do so.
The charm might be gone have to see.
BF4 is all you need.
similar story to DICE, they insisted on making frostbite, didnt document half of it, then fell further behind instead of focusing on polishing what they had. DICE was also relatively hands off, until their games started failing. Again, failure of internal leadership.
They're matches made in hell.EA did a great job of tapping into the consoooomer nature of gamers. It's printed a mint for them.
Strong results, lol.
BioWare has been underperforming for years. One thing that kept them alive was that SWTOR, after switching to a F2P model, was surprisingly profitable and was doing good numbers. But it wasn’t really BioWare itself who ran it and now that it’s been given to Broadsword they don’t have that to hide behind anymore.
The company itself is basically just a shell with a name at this point, virtually everyone who made old Bio what it was is either gone or dead. I absolutely wouldn’t be surprised if after Veilguard inevitably flops (and I feel it will) EA will finally put a bullet in their head. Honestly, probably deserved at this point since they have basically nothing to show for more than a decade and ME5 (or whatever it’s called) can be either cancelled or transferred to another studio.
In any case last BF game i bought was BF5 and while the atmosphere in that game was the best one out of all of them. I wasnt a fan of the gun play and overall weapon balance.
::EDIT::
EA have to come out with a winner this time or all the older BF players are going to be migrating over to the new copypaste which is looking to be a blend of BF3 and 4 while still paying some homage to the original delta force blackhawk down game. This game will probably steal a huge chunk of EAs BF players who have been asking for more BF3/4 style of game for a long time.
That was the last BF game I bought as well and I can only agree.