Electronic Arts Reports Earnings And Gives Updates on its Future

Electronic Arts reported its quarterly earnings today and gave new details on future plans during its quarterly earnings call. On a webcast, EA executives spoke about the state of the company, their earnings, and the future. The earnings are for Q2 FY2023, which is the period ending September 20th, 2022. 

EA Earnings Release
EA Earnings Slides 
EA Prepared Remarks

“In Q2, EA delivered strong engagement and deeply immersive experiences across our portfolio, with new EA SPORTS titles and multi-platform live services powering the business,” said CEO Andrew Wilson. “More people than ever before are turning to games as their primary platform for social connection and creativity. With EA’s unrivaled IP, talented teams, and growing player network, we are well-positioned to lead the future of entertainment.” “Q2 was a solid quarter. We again delivered on our revenue and profit commitments, driven by our EA SPORTS portfolio and our multi-platform live services business,” said CFO Chris Suh. “With our resilient business model, disciplined execution, and healthy underlying fundamentals, we are poised to deliver long-term growth.” – Electronic Arts Earnings Press Release

KEY TAKEAWAYS

• EA misses on some key analyst estimates 
• FIFA 23 as well as microtransactions and live service were a major boost to EA’s earnings 
• EA forecasts a strong 2023 with a strong slate of releases, including Dead Space, Star Wars, and more

Financials

Electronic Arts saw an increase in annual net bookings, rising to 7.4 billion, which is EA’s revenue collected from physical and digital sales during the period. Quarterly net bookings were reported at 1.75 billion. It is an increase of 4% year over year but fell short of analyst expectations of 1.9 billion. 

Revenue from live service content increased 7% year over year and represented 74% of EA’s net bookings for the quarter. Nearly 3/4 of EA’s revenue came from microtransactions and live service content, which shows the need for additional revenue streams aside from game sales, and shows that microtransactions aren’t going anywhere anytime soon.

EA reported total net revenue of 1.9 billion, a 4.2% increase from last year. Net income came in at 299 million, up 2%.

It has been a tough year for gaming stocks as the boom experienced during the pandemic died down. Outsized returns from 2020 are no more as video game sales shrunk. This was also noted by Take-Two Interactive CEO Strauss Zelnick earlier this year. A recession could also further hinder gaming sales. According to EA CEO Andrew Willson, the company does not see any shift in consumer behavior in face of a potential recession but does see potential issues in Europe.

More than 50% of EA sales are outside of the US, and EA expects to lose up to 200 million dollars over the next year due to fluctuating exchange rates, possibly an impact of the strengthening dollar. 

EA sees net bookings for 2023 coming in between 7.9 and 8.1 billion due to its strong slate of releases for next year. They anticipate a net income between 871 and 934 million, and EPS between $3.11 to $3.34. Other expectations are above. 

KEY STATS 

• Annual Net Bookings – 7.4 Billion 
• Quarterly net bookings – 1.75 billion vs 1.9 billion expected
• EPS – $1.07 v.s $1.35 expected
• Net Revenue – 1.9 Billion (Up 4.2%)
• Net Income – 299 million (up 2%) 

Updates

EA has reported over 600 million active accounts currently play its games. These are users on the EA Player Network across all gaming platforms and across all EA titles. This is not surprising as EA is one of the largest video game publishers in the world, and owns some of the most iconic gaming IPs. 

Electronic Arts also revealed that EA SPORTS had its most successful release with FIFA 23, with more than 10.3 million players during the week of launch. According to EA, FIFA 23 unit sales are up 10% and ultimate team players are up 6% respectively compared to FIFA 22. According to Andrew Willson, EA Sports titles have 200 million active players. 

EA will also release exclusive content for the World Cup and expects sales and engagement to increase as the competition begins later this month. More info may come out later this month. 

Future Plans

Andrew Willson notes that the company has a strong slate of releases for 2023. These titles include: 

-Star Wars Jedi: Survivor 

-Dead Space Remake 

–Need For Speed Unbound

-EA Sports PGA Tour 

EA has stated it has 600 million players, but Andrew Wilson wants the company to have 1 billion, potentially up to 2 billion players in its network globally. They want to make the right investments to be able to meet these goals.

Electronic Arts sees mobile as the core of its strategy. According to EA’s Laura Miele, mobile can be a multiplier to its existing franchises, such as Apex Mobile and FIFA mobile. The company sees mobile as a way to bring its big franchises to consumers around the world. 

Mobile is currently the biggest platform for gaming, nearly 3 billion people use mobile devices for gaming, and tapping into that market will be essential for EA. However, EA has only captured a fraction of the market. EA’s mobile revenue for the quarter came in at $320 million, compared to their total net revenue of 1.9 billion. 

The company did not speak much on unannounced titles or specifics of future games but did give insight into how it wants to make games going into the future.

EA’s earnings are strong in a time of uncertainty and show the strength of the gaming industry in comparison to the rest of the technology, media, and internet industries. Gaming is the largest and highest-grossing form of media, and that will remain to be unchanged.