EA With Record Revenue; Plans to Develop Live-service Games

Electronic Arts boasted record revenue in last fiscal year, with as much as $4 billion coming from live-service games (LGS). CEO Andrew Wilson talks about further development of the category.

IN A NUTSHELL:

EA with a new revenue record. The vast majority of funds came from live-service games;
Apex Legends is on the rise, FIFA and Madden NFL continue to generate good profits; EA is hopeful about Battlefield 6;
The company representatives praise the previous year and talk about further expansion of the live-service games portfolio.

Electronic Arts achieved another sales record - in the last fiscal year (between April 1, 2020 and March 31, 2021) the company's net revenues reached 5.6 billion dollars, 4 billion dollars of which were obtained from online live-service games and other sources; classic single title sales generated only $1.6 billion. EA's biggest cash cows were Apex Legends, FIFA 21 and the Madden NFL series.

During the previous fiscal year Apex Legends broke new records - for best week, month, or internal event - and the game's total revenue has already topped $1 billion, and earlier than Electronic Arts predicted. Since the release of Season 8 in January, the title has attracted an average of 12 million users per week.

EA has decided to go in the direction of developing live-service games, and similar results only reaffirm the company that it has done well. Electronic Arts CEO, Andrew Wilson, wrote in a statement:

"Our teams have done incredible work over the last year to deliver amazing experiences during a very challenging time for everyone around the world. With tremendous engagement across our portfolio, we delivered a record year for Electronic Arts. We’re now accelerating in FY22, powered by the expansion of our blockbuster franchises to more platforms and geographies."

Blake Jorgensen, EA's chief operating officer and chief financial officer, described the current live-service game situation as a stable foundation going for the fiscal year 2022. He also said that the company expects revenue growth of several percent considering, for example, the release of Battlefield 6.