According to CEO John Riccitiello, ”Electronic Arts today announced preliminary financial results for its third fiscal quarter ended December 31, 2011. We are pleased to report a strong holiday quarter driven by Battlefield 3, FIFA12 and a strong showing by our digital games and services. Star Wars: The Old Republic is developing a committed community of players with more than 1.7 million active subscribers and growing.”
According to EA’s report, The Old Republic not only currently has 1.7M active subscribers, but sold more than 2M units in a single month. Riccitiello stated in an investor conference call that the game far exceeded sales expectations. Riccitiello also stated in the call that the future of The Old Republic could go ”in many directions”, but did not elaborate.
Battlefield 3 and FIFA 12 both sold over 10M units, while Madden NFL 12 sold 5M units, all to date.
EA’s renewed foray into casual gaming and social networking were also wildly successful. After acquiring PopCap in August, the casual game company enjoyed 30% increase in revenue. Social networking game network Playfish enjoyed a major income increase with Risk: Factions and The Sims Social. EA even had a heavy presence in iOS gaming as the number one publisher in Apple’s App Store in December.
During the EA conference call, Riccitiello also credited Electronic Arts’ new digital distribution system Origin with over $100M in non-GAAP (Generally Accepted Accounting Principles) revenue since the services June 2011 launch.
Electronic Arts has targeted several games as key earners for the Q4 2011, including Kingdoms of Amalur: Reckoning, Syndicate, Mass Effect 3, SSX, Grand Slam Tennis 2, FIFA Street and Tiger Woods PGA Tour 13.
