The gaming giant Electronic Arts has revealed its numbers for Q1 of the fiscal year 2020. Live service games like FIFA 19, The Sims 4, or Apex Legends bring in a lot of money for EA. But there is no word on Anthem, the publisher’s troubled child.
This is the period in question: Q1 of the fiscal year 2020 runs from April to June 2019. EA talked about this quarter now and released a report.
EA’s stock price rises after strong numbers
What do the numbers look like? In the quarter, EA made 1.2 billion dollars in revenue – that is more than a year ago at the same time.
The revenue comes largely from “digital revenue” – only 160 million of the 1.2 billion $ comes from the sale of discs and other sources.
The revenues are therefore above the expectations of the stock market – hence EA’s stock price rose after the announcement of the news, as Venturebeat reports.
Live service is the big money maker
How does EA make all this money? The main revenue source for EA is “live service.” This is the money games earn when players already own them, continue to play and spend money.
These revenues include microtransactions or subscription fees. These revenues continue to grow at a high level. EA’s live service revenue streams include:
- Microtransactions in titles like FIFA 19 – especially FUT here. With card packs, EA essentially sells loot boxes or as they call it “quite ethical surprise mechanics”
- Microtransactions in Apex Legends – here players buy cosmetics
- or the sale of expansions in The Sims 4
FIFA 19 with 3 million active players during event
These games are particularly highlighted: CEO Andrew Wilson highlighted the shooter Apex Legends, “The Sims,” and EA Sports in general:
- For FIFA Ultimate Team of FIFA 19, more than 3 million players were active daily during the “Team of the Season” event
- The expansion packs for The Sims 4 sold excellently in the last quarter.
- “Star Wars: Galaxy of Heroes” seems to be a hit.
- And the subscription models like EA Access also apparently work
No word on the troubled child
What stands out: Players of the shooter Anthem notice that their game is not mentioned at all in EA’s financial report (via reddit).
The shooter is considered EA’s troubled child. It is unlikely that microtransactions will flow in. In the past, EA has repeatedly stated that they will intensify efforts to make Anthem a success.
At the moment, the players of Anthem are still waiting for new content.
