The highlights had been communicated before, but the presentation of the results was an opportunity to return: FIFA 23 had the best launch in franchise history, recording 10.3 million players a week later. There are no exact numbers on the number of copies sold, but we do know that after 4 weeks of marketing, there was a 10% increase in sales compared to FIFA 22. At the same time, the number of players in Ultimate Team mode has increased by 6%. FIFA 23’s new record makes next year’s turnaround even more interesting as EA needs to overcome the disappearance of the FIFA name in favor of EA Sports FC.
Electronic Arts estimates that its gamer network has 600 million active accounts, of which 200 million are from EA Sports games. Free-to-play and mobile catalogs help a lot, even though most of EA’s turnover still comes from console games first (€1m), then PC games (€435m), and finally mobile games (€2.99m).
Electronic Arts Achievement
| period | turnover | operating profit | net income |
|---|---|---|---|
| July 2021 – September 2021 | 1.8 billion euros | 343.1 million euros | 296.6 million euros |
| July 2021 – September 2022 | 1.9 billion euros | 430.8 million euros | 301.7 million euros |
This sleeping giant discovers (a little) a taste for adventure
These very good results come with EA’s renewed interest in some sort of diversification of its catalog. Because if additional content and microtransactions (Apex Legends, FIFA Ultimate Team…) represent the bulk of the group’s revenue more than ever, EA can no longer be accused of ignoring its games in the traditional economy invest. Let’s talk about Dead Space remakes, Star Wars Jedi: Survivor, Dragon Age: The Relentless Wolf, the next Mass Effect, and even the three action-adventure games that recently signed with Marvel.
After the unexpected success of games like It Takes Two, and while awaiting Josef Fares’ next enlightenment, the EA Originals series is also taking an unusual bet with Wild Hearts, a monster-hunting game signed to Omega Force, its themed That’s right with some of the glowing comments from CEO Andrew Wilson. The latter explained that the high price for the game (€79.99 for console and €69.99 for PC) was chosen because the project has continued to grow since the partnership with Koei Tecmo began. The developer’s work impressed the game, so the game ended up being more ambitious than expected, and Electronic Arts management felt there was room for the monster hunter genre to do something.
For the full financial year, Electronic Arts expects a turnover of at least 7.6 billion euros and a net profit of at least 880 million euros. If confidence prevails, it is not for nothing. Because at the end of the year, Need for Speed: Borderlands alone is expected to calm down, and EA will be one of the major players in the congestion announced in early 2023. On the menu, the remake of Dead Space, the return of the PGA Tour, Super Super Baseball, and Heart of the Wild is also a representative of a “big name” to be announced soon. The experts at EA may be playing the mystery game, and the mystery game is likely to be Star Wars Jedi: Survivor, which was announced last May for release in 2023.
- Also read | Wild Hearts: When Monster Hunters Hunt in Fortnite Land
