Slashdot Mirror

← Back to Stories (view on slashdot.org)

EA Boasts Record Revenue, Pledges Nintendo Support

Posted by Zonk on from the economic-giants-love-the-wagglemote dept.

Gamastura reports on EA's record-breaking revenue for the 2006 Christmas season. The company reported $1.281 billion in their revenue stream, fueled by the Sims, Madden, and Need for Speed franchises. The company's financials talk was also a surprise opportunity to pledge support for Nintendo consoles. Electronic Arts aims to be 'the #2 publisher' for the Nintendo DS and the Wii. The company has 15 products already in the pipe for the two platforms, with a DS version of both Spore and The Sims slated for release this year. This move, CEO Larry Probst was quick to point out, is not at the expense of the other systems. Their acquisition of the Headgate studio has given them additional resources, and they are choosing to 'aggressively' pursue the marketplace.

6 of 39 comments (clear)

  1. Here's what they really mean... by Manchot · · Score: 5, Funny

    Translation: We bet our money on the wrong horse, and now we're going to make up for it.

    1. Re:Here's what they really mean... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Interesting

      Translation: We bet our money on the wrong horse, and now we're going to make up for it.
      Is that the translation to this?:

      This move, CEO Larry Probst was quick to point out, is not at the expense of the other systems. Their acquisition of the Headgate studio has given them additional resources, and they are choosing to 'aggressively' pursue the marketplace.
      Doesn't sound like they thought they bet on the wrong horse so much as they see an additional business opportunity that wasn't there in the Gamecube days. All this talk about "winners" and "losers" in the console "war" is not as relevant as many people might think to companies like EA.

      As far as EA is concerned, they'd like see everyone sell lots and lots of consoles and they'd like to cash in on all of those sales, not just the sales of a "winner." The company that sells the most consoles is irrelevant to them as long as all the consoles sell well. Nintendo is doing very well, but no better than the 360 according to December's numbers. There's some debate over which console actually won in that month, but EA doesn't give a rat's ass. All it cares is that it gets to make money from both of them.

      They're not betting on a different horse, they're betting on a different sport altogether. They're betting on a sport where you can get 10 to 1 odds on every player and only 3 people are playing. I don't know of any real sport like that, but with odds like that, I'm sure they feel pretty good about spreading their money around.
  2. I for one by RichPowers · · Score: 4, Funny

    Am looking forward to playing The Sims, Need for Speed, and Madden on Wii and DS because I simply couldn't get enough of them on PC , Playstation, and Xbox. Oh, and please tell me EA will release The Sims expansion #1-9 for the Wii, but not at the same time as Madden 2008 or Need for Speed: Even Faster 6, because I might not be able to afford them all...

  3. EA Boasts and Pledges by xxxJonBoyxxx · · Score: 2, Informative

    EA Boasts Record Revenue...
    So what? How's profitability?

    ...Pledges Nintendo Support
    Really, I'm shocked. A major game publisher is announcing support for a major game platform?
  4. profits were down 38%, maybe 50% without tricks by xxxJonBoyxxx · · Score: 3, Interesting
    From TFA...

    profits were down 38%
    On increased revenues? Sounds like the company's up a creek. If sales tank next quarter (because they've flooded the market seeking raw sales), I'd look for a loss.

    movements in foreign currency rates positively impacted net revenue by $33 million
    Um...yeah. Nice accounting trick. So, without that extra $33M, you're saying that EA is now only HALF as profitable as it was last year? ($259M vs. $127M - sell, sell, sell...)

  5. Re:This is a sad sentence to read. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Insightful

    The company reported $1.281 billion in their revenue stream, fueled by the Sims, Madden, and Need for Speed franchises.

    See the subject line. If it needs explanation, you'll probably never get it.
    Why do so few Slashdotters appear to be interested in these genres? I rarely hear them talk about driving games and I never hear them talk about sports games. Despite this, both show up quite frequently in the top 10 of game sales charts. The Sims, which consistently dominates PC game sales, is talked about more often, but far less than Final Fantasy games, which don't show up in top-10 charts very often.

    Someone is buying all these sports sports and driving titles. Doesn't it leave a pretty huge segment out of the discussion when Slashdotters talk about how this or that console will "win" because it plays this or that type when so many of the people playing some of the most popular games aren't represented? HDTV is very popular among sports fans relative to the general population, so doesn't it leave a gaping hole in the discussion of whether or not HDTV is necessary for game consoles when only geeks talk about it?

    We are Geeks, but most people aren't. Lots and lots of non-geeks play video games. Presumably they're also buying lot and lots of game consoles. Why do we presume to know so much more about what console will "win" than they do? All we have to do is look at the sales charts to realize that they're as likely or more likely to decide which console lands on top in the new generation.