Today, Electronic Arts had its annual, post-earnings financial call. There was a ton of information that the company released, and…
Today, Electronic Arts had its annual, post-earnings financial call. There was a ton of information that the company released, and we’re heat to tell you about some of the “juicy” stuff. We already mentioned that there will be no new Star Wars games released by the publisher until after March 2014.
Star Wars: The Old Republic
Since Star Wars: The Old Republic added a free-to-play option last November, monthly average revenue for the game has doubled.
EA Labels president Frank Gibeau said that the massively multiplayer online role-playing game has added 1.7 million new players since the business model switch.
As for paid subscriptions? Gibeau said The Old Republic now has “just under” 500,000 subscribers. This is down from the 1.3 million subscribers from last year.
Crysis 3 / Dead Space 3
AAA shooters Crysis 3 and Dead Space 3 did not meet Electronic Arts’ sales expectations (shocker!), despite topping the sales charts in February.
EA CFO Blake Jorgensen said sales of these titles “came in well below our forecast.”
Dead Space 3 sold 605,000 units and was the top-selling game in the US during its launch month (February), according to NPD data.
Crysis 3 was also released in February and was the month’s third best-selling game in the US, moving 205,000 copies.
These are some truly ugly numbers, and the fate of both franchises are in the balance.
Layoffs
Over the last few weeks we have reported on multiple layoffs happening at Electronic Arts.
The numbers are in. At the end of 2012, EA employed around 9,370 people across the world.
During these layoffs, approximately ten percent of their staff were let go. This means the company’s total headcount now stands at around 8,400 worldwide.
EA CFO Blake Jorgensen said the company expects to recognize $16 million in severance expenses as a result of the “cost reduction move.”
FIFA 13 / SimCity
EA announced during the call that FIFA 13 has sold over 14.5 million units. This number is up 30 percent over FIFA 12.
In addition, SimCity sales have come in at around 1.6 million copies worldwide, 50 percent of which came through digital sales. You can read our review for SimCity here.
Battlefield 3 Premium
In some news I am sure the Pixel Enemy community will love, EA announced that Battlefield 3 Premium has generated the company over $120 million in revenue from more than 3.5 million subscribers.
So that’s everything we learned from EA’s post-earnings call today. What do you think about some of these numbers? Are you surprised at how poorly Crysis 3 sold? (I’m not). Let us know your thoughts below.