Support NeoGAF

[Bullet Club]

EA Made Almost $1 Billion From Microtransactions Last Quarter

Business is booming for EA.

Gaming giant Electronic Arts reported earnings for its holiday quarter today, and the company performed ahead of expectations. In particular, revenue from EA's microtransaction bucket--called Live Services--reached nearly $1 billion. Another highlight was Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order, which performed above expectations.

As you can see in the chart below, EA made $993 million from live services during the quarter ended December 31. For the trailing 12 months, EA made $2.835 billion from microtransactions.

EA made a total of $1.593 billion in revenue for the quarter and $361 million in profit, so as you can see, microtransactions are very big business for EA. A major part of EA's microtransaction revenue comes from the Ultimate Team modes for EA's sports games, including FIFA, Madden, and NHL.

The publisher also said Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order performed significantly above expectations. EA was modelling sales of 6-8 million copies, but now the company is expecting sales to reach 10 million copies during the current fiscal year ending March 31.

Additionally, EA said Star Wars: Battlefront II performed above expectations as well due in part to the renewed interest in Star Wars overall thanks to The Rise of Skywalker and more.

Moving to a different title, EA said Apex Legends saw higher player engagement during Season 3 than in Season 2, and EA will be looking to build on that momentum for the upcoming Season 4. The company also teased that Respawn will bring Apex Legends to at least one new platform during the year. It's already confirmed for mobile, but a Nintendo Switch version seems unlikely.

Also during the earnings call, EA re-confirmed its plans to launch a new Battlefield game on PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X. The company is planning additional releases as well, EA CEO Andrew Wilson said. "We'll be ready to lead with some of our top titles," he said.

Source: Gamespot

 

[10000]

fuck you EA,

anyway bring me the sims 5

 

[Shaqazooloo]

Can we get some games on Switch EA? At least give us NHL...

 

[Siri]

fuck you EA,

anyway bring me the sims 5

Clearly their business model isn’t working for them, and gamers have nothing to do with this themselves since they were obviously forced to buy the dlc.

 

[Orta]

fuck you EA,

anyway bring me the sims 5

Nope. Fuck you to the morons paying for that tacked on shit.

 

[Typhares]

EA you say...

Microtransactions you say...

 

[Saber]

I wouldn't consider this a piece of important information, but thanks anyway.

Nope. Fuck you to the morons paying for that tacked on shit.

The fact that dumb people pay for scummy practices doesn't make it less scummy practices. Both parts are wrong.

 

[matheusnienow]

I'm proud of not giving them money since BF1.

 

[nkarafo]

Nope. Fuck you to the morons paying for that tacked on shit.

This.

People get what they deserve.

 

[TTOOLL]

fuck you EA,

anyway bring me the sims 5

Well, there is clearly a market of dumb mofos spending money in microtransactions. Can we really blame EA?

 

[Max_Po]

 

[M1chl]

 

[jufonuk]

This ain’t good.

 

[Kenpachii]

Isn't that just fifa tho?

Pretty sure that game runs on gambling slots.

 

[Fake]

Game Freak wants the honey pot too.

 

[The Cockatrice]

I'm pretty sure people on Gaf play and paid for Fifa cards so show yourselves you monsters!

 

[Saber]

Isn't that just fifa tho?

Pretty sure that game runs on gambling slots.

Theres this NBA game which has an add that shows basically casino gambling slots in the game.

 

[Kenpachii]

Theres this NBA game which has an add that shows basically casino gambling slots in the game.

Not even remotely shocked haha.

 

[Blood Borne]

Nice. I hope they do even more micro transactions, seeing as lots of gamers are idiots.

 

[Woo-Fu]

I wonder if that BF game will be Bad Company 3. A non-woke BC3 that doesn't drastically alter the original formula would go a long way towards rebuilding the brand.

 

[NeoIkaruGAF]

It's in the game.

 

[Elektro Demon]

Man, people are idiots. I'll never understand spending money on microtransactions. I'll also never understand buying cosmetic in game items. Why? Who cares what skin your character has?

 

[mcz117chief]

Man, people are idiots. I'll never understand spending money on microtransactions. I'll also never understand buying cosmetic in game items. Why? Who cares what skin your character has?

I care.

 

[Elektro Demon]

I care.

Well that's sad brah.

 

[mcz117chief]

Well that's sad brah.

Why? Do you walk around naked?

 

[joe_zazen]

Well that's sad brah.

you must be a no-skin looser.

Spoiler

jk, noban

 

[joe_zazen]

Man, people are idiots. I'll never understand spending money on microtransactions. I'll also never understand buying cosmetic in game items. Why? Who cares what skin your character has?

ultimate team helps you win. you can treat your mental illness with videogame sports victories while waiting for candy crush and clash royale timers.

 

[Elektro Demon]

Why? Do you walk around naked?

I don't care what I wear in real life. I don't even remember when's the last time I bought clothes. I just don't care.
I like changing skins if they're free in game, I'm down with that. Especially in single player.
But paying for skins in a multiplayer game just seems ridiculous to me.

 

[Dr.Morris79]

It's in the game.

Well, it's not, actually. But you can buy a piece for $2 to $100.

 

[Tragic Denial]

I should have bought a lot EA shares years back

 

[CyberPanda]

This will just make more developers adopt this business model. Nice.

 

[Guileless]

Why the turrists hate us.

 

[xiseerht]

If you ever wonder why these publishers are putting MTs in their games. This is why. Because we keep buying them . Complaining about them online and still buying them , does not stop them from not putting them in their games.

 

[mcz117chief]

I don't care what I wear in real life.

Well I do and most people do too, that is why there are hundreds of clothing stores in every city, why fashion exists and such. I like to look presentable, while at work, at home, outside and even, if possible, in a video game.

 

[Filthy Casual]

Crazy.

 

[drganon]

Sadly they're still less evil than Blizzard.

 

[existensmaximum]

What.. I don't.. why.. fuck it, guess I'm a boomer

 

[Yoshi]

Well I do and most people do too, that is why there are hundreds of clothing stores in every city, why fashion exists and such. I like to look presentable, while at work, at home, outside and even, if possible, in a video game.

But then you choose a nickname that isn't. Maczedoneonesevenchief, wtf!

 

[SatansReverence]

All that money and battlefield 5 is still in a pre beta like state over a year after launch.

 

[Bkdk]

Consumers have voted with wallet that they indeed to like micro transactions. Making new AAA games have becoming such a risky and unrewarding business venture for companies now, the games will have to sell 10+ millions copies in full price to be considered as worth the effort, not to mention game dev cycle have become super long while they can pump out new micro transaction products weekly.

 

[Elektro Demon]

Well I do and most people do too, that is why there are hundreds of clothing stores in every city, why fashion exists and such. I like to look presentable, while at work, at home, outside and even, if possible, in a video game.

I get looking nice in the real world. But games aren't real world, man.

 

[Fbh]

Which is why I think they won't "learn" anything from Fallen Order.

While we are celebrating that a single player, no BS Star Wars game sold great. All EA shareholders will think about is how much more money they could have made if it had microtransactions

 

[CitizenX3639]

And still doesnt mean anything to me.

 

[DonF]

All that money and battlefield 5 is still in a pre beta like state over a year after launch.

have you played it recently? It has had lots of patches. Though I feel that every 3 steps they take, they go back 1.

Sometimes the time to kill is great, then they fuck up the net code, rollback the ttk, add an op weapon, add a great map, but also some glitches.

However, I say that right now its in a way better state than last year.

 

[Gamernyc78]

And this is why ganes don't need to go up in price and hvnt in years. Thy make tons of money with these transactions.

 

[synchronicity]

Just ignore companies/titles with these practices. It's obviously not going away when the market is this huge. No matter how committed an individual gamer may be against these sort of practices, it cannot stand against the tidal wave of the market.

Still plenty of great games to play while ignoring the garbage.

 

[SatansReverence]

However, I say that right now its in a way better state than last year.

5.2 made the game virtually unplayable.

Between making gunplay entirely garbage it's also introduced countless bugs that require hard restarts and completely broken hit registration for some things.

 

[Cravis]

Gotta nuke something.

 

[sublimit]

Couldn't care less even if they made a trillion. They can put microtransactions to all their future games and i couldn't care less either. I don't even remember which was the last EA game that i bought. Whales can continue buing this shit and i will continue buying games that are free from that crap. It's as simple as that.

 

[Con_Z_ǝdʇ]

Disgusting!

But who is the bigger problem? EA or the people who by into it?

I haven't bought a single EA game in this genaration and I'm realy satisfied with myself.