Electronic Arts' revenue fell 3.2% to $1.88 billion in the quarter to Dec 31, 2024

Written by Claude Sonnet 5.5, an AI model, from public records. Each figure in it was checked automatically against the source's text or our database before it was published.

Electronic Arts reported revenue of $1.88 billion for the quarter from Oct 1 to Dec 31, 2024, down 3.2% from $1.95 billion in the same quarter a year earlier. The figures come from its 10-Q, the quarterly report US-listed companies file with the Securities and Exchange Commission; EA filed it on Feb 5, 2025. Operating income, the profit from running the business before interest and tax, was $377 million, up 3.3% from $365 million a year earlier. Net income was $293 million against $290 million, and diluted earnings per share were $1.11 against $1.07. The provision for income taxes was $112 million, an effective rate of 28% against 24% a year earlier, when the rate included one-time tax benefits.1^,2^,3^,4^,5^,6^,7^,8^,9^,10^,11^,12^,13

The company's discussion of the quarter tied a $232 million decrease in net revenue to lower sales of extra content for Apex Legends (extra content is part of the company's live services), to the prior-year releases of Star Wars Jedi: Survivor and UFC 5, and to lower extra-content sales from mobile titles it has sunset. A $170 million increase in net revenue offset part of it, which the company tied mainly to its American football games, driven by EA SPORTS College Football 25, and to the release of Dragon Age: The Veilguard. Live services and other revenue, which the company said primarily included extra content, certain licensing revenue, subscriptions and advertising, was $1.28 billion against $1.33 billion a year earlier, and full-game revenue was $599 million against $618 million.14^,15^,16^,17^,18^,19^,20

EA also disclosed net bookings, an operating metric it calculated as total net revenue plus the change in deferred net revenue for online-enabled games. Net bookings were $2.215 billion in the quarter against $2.366 billion a year earlier. The company attributed the 6% decrease mainly to lower extra-content sales in EA SPORTS FC Ultimate Team and Apex Legends.21^,22^,23^,24

On Jan 22, 2025, EA filed an 8-K, the form companies use to report events as they happen, with preliminary results for the quarter. The full earnings release came in another 8-K on Feb 4, 2025, and in it chief executive Andrew Wilson said EA was confident of a return to growth in its next fiscal year and beyond. The release put the outlook for the fiscal year ending Mar 31, 2025 at net revenue of about $7.250 billion to $7.400 billion.25^,26^,27^,28^,29^,30

In the quarter EA repurchased 2.4 million shares for $375 million. On Feb 5, 2025, it entered an accelerated share repurchase agreement with Goldman Sachs, under which it was to buy $1.0 billion of its common stock as part of a $5.0 billion program from May 2024.31^,32

Our records hold the text of the report's management discussion but not the notes to its financial statements or its other exhibits, and they cannot tell whether the year-earlier figures were restated.33^,34