The new EA quarterly report rounds up the video game giant’s 2024 financial year. The focus is on financial growth compared to 2023 – and on explaining the negative trend
Anyone looking at the new quarterly report from Electronic Arts (EA) will first be referred to the entire 2024 financial year. In the so-called “selected operational and financial highlights and metrics”, there is no mention of the past fourth quarter. Instead, EA focuses on the annual net bookings of 7.43 billion US dollars, which represents an increase of around one percent compared to 2023. Net revenue grew by two percent.
The net bookings of the “global soccer franchise”, as EA SPORTS FC is often referred to by the publisher, have even increased by a percentage in the “high tens”. CEO Andrew Wilson describes fiscal year 2024 as “the biggest EA SPORTS year in our history”. According to him, this is linked to the “highly successful launch of our own brand” – EA SPORTS FC. However, if you take a look at the figures for the past quarter, you will see a decline
Last quarter is weak
The months of January, February and March were less profitable for EA in 2024 than in 2023. Net revenue fell from 1.874 billion US dollars to 1.779 billion – by almost 100 million. This is not only due to the decline in revenue from game sales (from 372 million to 333 million), but also to EA’s main monetary driving force: the live services around Ultimate Team and EA Play. The publisher recorded a drop in revenue from 1.502 billion to 1.446 billion in comparison.
The drop in net bookings in the past quarter was a whopping 14 percent compared to the first three months of 2023. The corresponding period in 2022 was also financially even stronger than this year. On consoles – traditionally the strongest EA platform – the total amount of net bookings fell to under one billion US dollars (955 million).
FUT defies the downward trend
It’s a small negative trend that EA had at least partially anticipated. CFO Stuart Canfield emphasizes that the fourth quarter of the previous year was particularly strong – also boosted by “the tailwind of the World Cup in Qatar”. He also points to different timings for game releases as a possible reason for the decline.
In contrast, Ultimate Team in EA’s soccer simulations remains monetarily stable. According to Canfield, “record growth of 20 percent” was already recorded in the fourth quarter of 2023 – back then still in FIFA 23. Recently, FC 24 has once again increased in the “low single-digit percentage range”. FUT and the continuous spending of players are and remain a goldmine for EA – even though the mode and its practices are repeatedly criticized
