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EA Reports Slight Q4 Dip in Revenue

Posted by Zonk on from the madden-ditched-for-zombies dept.

EA reported their quarterly revenues today, and despite anticipating a serious decline they managed to hit relatively close to expectations, according to Gamespot. Overall profits for the year were also up, cracking 3 billion dollars for the first time. From the article: "EA said it had 31 titles which sold more than a million copies during the fiscal year, and five franchises that sold more than five million. The Sims, Need for Speed, Madden NFL Football, FIFA, The Lord of the Rings, and Harry Potter. The Sims franchise sold more than 16 million games across all platforms during the year, with the Need for Speed franchise selling a whopping 15 million copies."

22 of 29 comments (clear)

  1. All you EA employees... by Zork+the+Almighty · · Score: 2, Funny

    Extra whipping all-around!

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    1. Re:All you EA employees... by speakup · · Score: 1

      Damn right. Stop playing all these games and get back to work! Stupid lazy programmers.

  2. Revenue != profit by CarrionBird · · Score: 1

    They still made a profit though.

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    1. Re:Revenue != profit by CarrionBird · · Score: 1

      Read the fucking article. The 3 billion was in revenue, not profit.

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    2. Re:Revenue != profit by superpulpsicle · · Score: 1

      But profit in the video game land is always over hyped.

      For example, EA sell 100 copies to compusa, bestbuy, circuit city. How well or poor did it really sell to the customers, no one knows? It may sit on the shelf until next year, but EA already calculated profits into the fiscal period from those 100 copies.

    3. Re:Revenue != profit by GoodbyeBlueSky1 · · Score: 1

      Yes, that's how all businesses work. It's sold, they got paid, it's current profit. The stores will eventually sell out and have to order more copies. For a hot game, this may mean weekly reorders. It could also mean two years. But the games ain't going back to EA, so how can you say this is over-hyped?

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    4. Re:Revenue != profit by nelsonal · · Score: 1

      Actually, retailers who sell games quickly learned that unsold merchandise can languish on shelves for a very long time. So they have very good return provisions in their contracts. Game companies are supposed to estimate how many copies will be returned, and increase their costs when they recognise the sale and recievable. However, estimates in accounting mean that management gets some control over their results, which they typically use, until the cookie jar gets too big (or small) and they finally have to own up to their snowballed mistake (which was probably what happened at WorldCom). Fraud almost always starts small and grows.

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  3. Re:EA Business practices by XenoRyet · · Score: 2, Informative
    In his defense, the post does say 3 Billion in profits.

    "Overall profits for the year were also up, cracking 3 billion dollars for the first time."

    However TFA clarifies this typo

    "Net revenue for the full year ending March 31, 2005 was $3.139 billion, up 6 percent from the previous year's $2.957 billion. EA reported a profit for the full year of $504 million, off more than $70 million from the previous year's earnings."

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  4. What? by vertinox · · Score: 1

    You mean no more hats made of money!?

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  5. Competitors with "Sims" like product? by Scott7477 · · Score: 2, Interesting

    Are there any games out there that have concepts similar to Sim City or the Sims that compete? I like the Sim products but don't think they are perfect. It seems like there could be a market opportunity there. For example, using a hexagonal grid instead of squares might make for some interesting differences in game play.

    How about hooking up a "Quake" type engine with a Sim type mapping engine so you could zoom in and enter buildings and interact with characters? Just thinking out loud...

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    1. Re:Competitors with "Sims" like product? by vertinox · · Score: 2, Interesting

      How about hooking up a "Quake" type engine with a Sim type mapping engine so you could zoom in and enter buildings and interact with characters? Just thinking out loud...

      Check out the videos from http://www.strangerhood.com/home.php which use the Sims2 game engine to generate the movies. They look very "Quakish" or at least the camera can get down in there and interact.

      And it's by the same guys who do Red vs Blue! Very funny material.

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      "I am the king of the Romans, and am superior to rules of grammar!"
      -Sigismund, Holy Roman Emperor (1368-1437)
    2. Re:Competitors with "Sims" like product? by BTWR · · Score: 1
      there was an AWFUL game about 10 years ago called "Streets of Sim City" where you could drive around in a blown-up version of your flat Sim City 2000 cities.

      Great idea, piss-poor execution.

    3. Re:Competitors with "Sims" like product? by kafka47 · · Score: 3, Funny
      How about hooking up a "Quake" type engine with a Sim type mapping engine so you could zoom in and enter buildings and interact with characters?

      You mean, like get in there and start SHOOTING your Sims? Thats an awesome idea. :-)

      /Kafka

    4. Re:Competitors with "Sims" like product? by cgenman · · Score: 1

      There are a lot of "sim" style games out there. Check out the Tycoon serieses, for one. Heck, some people credit Railrood Tycoon with starting the sim genre, though others point to Populous. There was also the excellent Theme Park game, followed by the mostly forgettable Theme * serieses. Oh, and the very odd Afterlife. A lot of historical RTS games and "god" games are similar to to sim games. Pharoah comes to mind, as does Black and White, Creatures, Settlers, etc.

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    5. Re:Competitors with "Sims" like product? by DigitalHammer · · Score: 1

      I have this game. While it was built on the Simcopter engine, the stability was absolute shit. I couldn't play that game for more than 30 minutes without having it hang or crash. Plus, the highways weren't raised from the ground unlike their counterparts in Simcity 2000. Waste of money, but I hope Maxis tries again with better results.

  6. EA knows numbers... by dpdawson · · Score: 3, Funny
    ...and five franchises that sold more than five million.

    The Sims, Need for Speed, Madden NFL Football, FIFA, The Lord of the Rings, and Harry Potter.

    Might want to recount that 3 billion, too.

  7. Electronic Automatons by xgamer04 · · Score: 1

    Resistance is futile, your lowered marketshare and reduced profit will alienate investors, other publishers and console makers. Prepare to surrender or die.

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    When you look at the state of the world, how can you not become a radical, liberal anarchist?
  8. cough. by stonecypher · · Score: 2, Funny

    and five franchises that sold more than five million. The Sims, Need for Speed, Madden NFL Football, FIFA, The Lord of the Rings, and Harry Potter.

    That's some good countin'.

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    StoneCypher is Full of BS
  9. Uhm... by Short+Circuit · · Score: 1

    I'm no financial expert, but if they were anticipating a significant drop in revenue, and came close to expectations, doesn't that mean the drop occurred?

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  10. Dip more! by Headcase88 · · Score: 1

    Yes, that is right, dip, EA's earnings! Dip all the way the way to hell! Learn you to trick me into renting two games that are essentially the same as their prequels!

    (NBA Street Vol 3, Timesplitters Future Perfect)

    I feel better now.

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    "When the atomic bomb goes off there's devastation...but when the atomic bong goes off there's celebraaaaation!"
  11. EA is going to lose more money... by romiir · · Score: 1

    Anyone who has looked at the http://www.westwood.com/ site lately can easily see its forwarded to eagames.com's domain and has pages which are 90% broken, latter rankings dont work, clan management is broke, the Official Renegade site isn't even finished! Its been in this condition for a while now. EA is leaving all their servers for all the older C&C Games in a 'as-is' state. And Renegade falls into this category while the game still has serious bugs to be patched. If they think they are going to sell more titles on their new-trashed westwood they are crazy. EA is starting to join the pool of lazy companys that stops supporting your game 90 days after you buy it. Which I regret to see, as they were one of the good companys to get games from up there in rankings with Blizzard, Volition, and Valve.

  12. Re:EA Business practices by PreviouslySeen · · Score: 1

    http://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/712515/0001 19312505093909/dex991.htm

    Once they file the 10K there will be a better idea of the cash flow and the MDA (management discussion and analysis).

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