• Hey, guest user. Hope you're enjoying NeoGAF! Have you considered registering for an account? Come join us and add your take to the daily discourse.

EA Reports Strong Q1 Results

Thursday July 22, 4:01 pm ET
Net Revenue up 22 Percent
Net Income up 32 Percent
NCAA Football Sales Well Ahead of Last Year / Madden NFL Pre-Orders at Record Levels

REDWOOD CITY, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--July 22, 2004--Electronic Arts (Nasdaq:ERTS - News) today announced financial results for the fiscal first quarter ended June 30, 2004.


Net revenue for the first quarter was $432 million, up 22 percent as compared with $353 million for the fiscal quarter ended June 30, 2003. Sales were driven by Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban(TM), EA SPORTS(TM) Fight Night 2004 and UEFA Euro 2004, each reaching platinum status (over one million units sold) in the quarter. Need for Speed(TM) Underground and MVP Baseball(TM) 2004 had continued strong sales. Life-to-date sales of Need for Speed Underground have now exceeded 7 million units.


Net income for the quarter was $24 million, a 32 percent increase compared to the same period a year ago. Diluted earnings per share were $0.08 as compared with $0.06 for the prior year.

Non-GAAP net income for the quarter, excluding certain items, was $25 million. Non-GAAP diluted earnings per share were $0.08. (Please see Non-GAAP Financial Measures and reconciliation information included in this release.)

Trailing twelve month operating cash flow was $638 million as compared to $673 million for the same period a year ago. The decline was primarily a result of the timing of sales during the quarter.

"We are off to a great start in our new fiscal year," said Larry Probst, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer. "We received five Game Critics Awards for Best of E3 -- a record for any company and three of our first quarter releases went platinum. NCAA Football's week one sales are tracking over 50 percent ahead of last year, and Madden NFL's pre-orders are at record levels. We continue to extend our lead by creating great entertainment while building for the next generation of technology."

"EA delivered on both the top and bottom lines while making significant investments in next generation technology," said Warren Jenson, Chief Financial and Administrative Officer. "Even with a 43 percent increase in research and development expense, we were able to increase our net income by over 30 percent in the quarter."

Highlights for the Quarter (comparisons are to the quarter ended June 30, 2003)

* EA won five Game Critics Awards: Best of E3 2004: Best Fighting Game -- Def Jam® Fight for NY(TM); Best Racing Game -- Burnout® 3: Takedown(TM); Best Simulation Game -- The Sims(TM) 2; Best Sports Game -- Madden NFL 2005; Best Strategy Game -- The Lord of the Rings(TM): The Battle for Middle-earth(TM).
* EA reached an agreement with Microsoft whereby EA SPORTS and EA GAMES(TM) Nation will support Xbox Live(TM).
* Net revenue: North America -- up 6 percent to $211 million; Europe -- up 49 percent to $190 million; Asia Pacific -- up 22 percent to $18 million; Japan -- up 6 percent to $13 million. Reported net revenue increased by approximately $13 million or 4 percent due to changes in foreign currency rates.
* Gross margin was 59.1 percent -- up 1.5 points from 57.6 percent.
* Operating income was $25 million -- compared to $22 million. Operating margin was 6 percent -- flat year-over-year.
* EA was the number one publisher in the U.S. on current generation consoles. Based on dollar sales in the U.S., EA had three of the top-ten-selling titles.
* EA was the number one publisher in the U.S. on the PC. Based on dollar sales in the U.S. for April and May, EA had four of the top-twenty-selling titles.
 
By platform, the PlayStation 2 was tops in terms of revenue earned in the quarter, bringing in $162.0 million (up 37.0 percent from one year ago), followed by the PC with $67.0 million (down 17.0 percent), the Xbox with $57.0 million (up 81.0 percent), the GameCube with $26.0 million (up 25.0 percent) and the Game Boy Advance with $18.0 million (up 663.0 percent).

Co-publishing and distribution brought in another $67.0 million (down six percent year-over-year), subscription services earned $13.0 million (down nine percent) and advertising, licensing, programming and other totaled $22.0 million in the quarter (up 50.0 percent).
 

cja

Member
EA admitted "Sega has had a good couple of days" with ESPN Football sales on their conference call. NCAA sales up 55% on last year, Madden pre-orders [retail not consumer] up 100% on last year.

EA big cheeses were rather testy when asked about Catwoman ratings, heh. Not much else on the, short, call of interest.

I was intrigued by EA admitting this year will see the highest R&D spend gearing up for next-gen consoles. Wondering, with them only having Xenon dev kits, if Xbox 2 will be their "base system" or the "lowest common denominator" in the same way PS2 was this time around. If Xbox 2 were the base system wouldn't consumers be happy with the Xbox 2 over PS3? PS2 has gotten the reputation of the safe system for EA games. You know EA titles are made with the technical "limitations" of PS2 in mind along with the joypad configuration. You know the system likely to have the most consistent frame-rate and best suited for control is Sony's current system. If Xbox 2 is the base system next-gen I can see this benefiting MS.
 

DMczaf

Member
EA admitted "Sega has had a good couple of days" with ESPN Football sales on their conference call. NCAA sales up 55% on last year, Madden pre-orders [retail not consumer] up 100% on last year.

100%? Damn!
 

DarienA

The black man everyone at Activision can agree on
NFSU has sold 7 mil? Geez... what's the breakdown across platforms?
 

AirBrian

Member
cja said:
I was intrigued by EA admitting this year will see the highest R&D spend gearing up for next-gen consoles. Wondering, with them only having Xenon dev kits, if Xbox 2 will be their "base system" or the "lowest common denominator" in the same way PS2 was this time around. If Xbox 2 were the base system wouldn't consumers be happy with the Xbox 2 over PS3? PS2 has gotten the reputation of the safe system for EA games. You know EA titles are made with the technical "limitations" of PS2 in mind along with the joypad configuration. You know the system likely to have the most consistent frame-rate and best suited for control is Sony's current system. If Xbox 2 is the base system next-gen I can see this benefiting MS.
Very interesting indeed.

I also wonder if they are including DS and PSP R&D costs.
 

cja

Member
AirBrian said:
Very interesting indeed.

I also wonder if they are including DS and PSP R&D costs.
Yep, certainly PSP. They're spending quite a bit of time and resources on what they call "project fusion". It seems to be a toolset that will allow EA studios to quickly port next-gen (PS3, Xbox 2, N5) titles down to current-gen and future handhelds such as PS2 and PSP.

Another snippet from the call: EA have 3100 people in development with a total staff of 4800. They didn't give a figure on R&D spend for next-gen just said it was currently in the "tens of millions".
 
Top Bottom