EA Loses $205m in the December 2011 Quarter
by Jacob Mazel, posted on 01 February 2012 / 2,447 Views
EA's financial results for the three months to December 2011 have just arrived. On revenues of $1.061b on a GAAP basis, the company lost $205m in the December 2011 quarter. For the 12 months to December 2011, EA revenue came to $3.865b (up nearly $400m from 2010), with a loss of $173m on a GAAP basis (down from a $397m loss). On a non-GAAP basis, which calculates totals with fewer expenses, EA profited $334m on revenue of $1.651b for the quarter. Yearly profit on the non-GAAP basis came to $311m on $4.204b in revenue.
Compared to last year, revenue in Q4 grew by only $8m, but losses decreased from $322m in Q4 2010 to $205m in Q4 2011.
Non-GAAP revenue for the quarter was forecast at $1.55b - $1.65b, so EA just beat its forecast, as did the non-GAAP profit results which came in about 5% above the high end of expectations. In light of the new data, EA expects revenue for the March 2012 quarter to reach $1.425b - $1.475b on a GAAP basis, with a profit of $1.45-$1.59 per share. That is actually a huge profit forecast on a GAAP basis - roughly $500m ($485m-$520m roughly) - but it is because on a GAAP basis EA has delayed the results of some of its Battlefield money to the next quarter (hence the major revenue difference between GAAP / non-GAAP income above - $590m different). On a non-GAAP basis, EA expects profit to reach only $34m-$68m for the March 2012 quarter since Battlefield has already been included in the data.
EA noted the following highlights for its quarter:
- Madden has sold through nearly 5m units. Battlefield and Fifa topped 10m in sell through. Star Wars: The Old Republic sold through 2m units and has 1.7m subscribers.
- EA was the top publisher in Europe with 20% share in 2011, up from 17% in 2010. US share grew to 17% in North America during 2011 from 16% in 2010.
- Origin revenue topped $100m in revenue since launch.
- EA digital revenue grew to $377m in Q4 2011 from $211m in Q4 2010.
- Digital revenue reached over $1b in 2011, more than a quarter of total revenue in 2011.
EA also provided a detailed look at its revenue contribution by location and platform. In Q4 2011, revenue was split in favor of Europe - $505m, followed closely by North America - $500m, and then Asia in a distant third - $56m. North American revenue declined $30m from Q4 2010, while European revenue fell only $2m. Asian revenue grew $8m from Q4 to Q4.
- EA revenue grew to $331m from $285m on X360 in Q4 2010 to Q4 2011, from $282m to $314m for PS3, from $155m to $214m on PC, and from $59m to $70m on Mobile platforms.
- EA revenue on Wii fell to $49m from $130m, PS2 revenue fell from $20m to $7m, PSP fell from $22m to $14m, DS fell from $49m to $15m, and 'Other' fell from $51m to $47m.
Notably, EA still isn't even listing 3DS revenue - which suggests it is either included with DS and DS declined even faster than suggested, or the 3DS revenue figure is still under $1m for EA.
Look for tons of more earnings reports this week - Sony, Capcom, Konami, THQ, Take Two, Sega-Sammy, and Square-Enix should all be out by the end of the week.
Contact VGChartz at jmazel@vgchartz.com
