The CEO of Electronic Arts, Andrew Wilson, announced a brilliant start to the company's fiscal year. The new game, Star Wars Jedi: Survivor, has already attracted several million players, and some media outlets are already considering it a potential contender for "Game of the Year."
EA also reported high figures for the previous year. The company's total revenue was $7.4 billion, up 6% from the previous year. Around 74% of the profit came from game services ($5.5 billion). EA's net income increased by 1.6% to $802 million.
FIFA 23
EA announced that the new installment of the FIFA soccer game, FIFA 23, has shown strong sales in the first six months since its release, surpassing the results of the previous FIFA 22. This was reported at the earnings conference, with the launch of FIFA 23 being called the most successful in the history of the game series. Chris Su, the company's chief financial officer, noted that good results for the fourth quarter were driven by record service sales and increased player engagement, particularly in EA Sports FIFA.
EA was not surprised by the success of FIFA 23, as they announced in February of this year that the game would become the best-selling in franchise history. EA's CEO Andrew Wilson reported that franchise net sales grew 4% for the year, and the North American market grew 50%.
Even during the launch of FIFA 23, new sales records were set. In October 2022, EA reported that more than 10.3 million people played the game on all platforms during the first week after its release.
The success of FIFA 23 is preparing EA for the release of its next major soccer game, which will be the first game released by the company without using the FIFA brand.
Star Wars Jedi: Survivor
As reported in the quarterly earnings report, the recently released game Star Wars Jedi: Survivor has exceeded the company's expectations and shown higher sales figures than its predecessor, Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order.
Andrew Wilson, stated that "millions" of players are already playing Star Wars Jedi: Survivor and called the game's sales "very strong" compared to forecasts.
While sales figures for Star Wars Jedi: Survivor were not disclosed, Wilson was pleased with the game's results. Despite being released just 11 days before the earnings report, the company appears satisfied with its sales. Despite a number of technical issues, the game had a strong start, reaching a peak of 67,000 concurrent players on Steam.
"I think we're progressing in the direction that we were with Jedi: Fallen Order, and it was a very strong launch for us," said Wilson. "It's still very early, I think we're only 11 days in, we're in a different market dynamic, but I would tell you that sales are very much ahead of our expectations and Jedi: Fallen Order."
Apex Legends
In its report, EA announced that sales of content in Apex Legends grew in the first quarter of 2023 thanks to a successful 16th season. The number of weekly active players in this season increased by 20% compared to the previous one. On average, 20 million users played the game each month in the past fiscal year, which ended on March 31.
EA noted that the 16th season exceeded their expectations and the game continues to grow. Andrew Wilson also stated that Apex Legends may feature crossovers with other franchises, but it is currently unknown if such plans exist.
Announcements of new projects
The new financial report from Electronic Arts revealed some interesting details about upcoming releases. The report confirms the planned release dates for several games and also indicates two unannounced games.
Among the games mentioned in the report were Immortals of Aveum, Madden 24, and EA Sports FC, which according to the publisher's plans, should be released in the second quarter of 2024. The new installment of the NHL hockey simulator, NHL 24, is scheduled for release in the third quarter of next year. F1 23 and Super Mega Baseball 4 are also planned for 2024, but exact dates have not yet been announced. Don't expect the release of Dragon Age: Dreadwolf before 2024. Wilson didn't even mention anything about the new installment of Mass Effect.
In addition, EA is preparing two as-yet-unannounced games. The first of these is expected to be the racing game EA Sports Rally, which was previously released under the DiRT brand and was developed by Codemasters. The second project may be UFC 5. Both games are planned for release by the end of next year.
