Mark Androvich
22:15 (BST)
31/01/2008
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EA posts $33 million Q3 net loss, but record revenues
Battlefield: Bad Company and Mercenaries 2: World in Flames delayed
Electronic Arts has posted a net loss of USD 33 million for the third quarter, compared with net income of USD 160 million during the same period of the prior year.
Even so, revenue rose 17 per cent to USD 1.5 billion compared with USD 1.28 billion last year. The company's net income of USD 290 million, or USD 0.90 per share, was in line with analyst expectations.
"This was a record revenue quarter for EA and the single biggest revenue quarter for any third party publisher in our industry," said CEO John Riccitiello.
Sales were driven by Need for Speed: Pro Street, FIFA 08, The Simpsons Game, Madden NFL 08, The Sims 2 Castaway, and NBA LIVE 08. The company reported that it had sold 1.5 million units of RockBand through the end of December.
EA also reported delays for Battlefield: Bad Company and Mercenaries 2: World in Flames. Their release dates have slipped from March, but the company expects to ship both titles in fiscal 2009.
EA has revised its Q4 guidance, expecting revenue in the range of USD 925 million - 1.05 billion, and earnings per share in the range of a loss of USD 0.03 to a gain of USD 0.02.
For the fiscal year, EA raised its guidance regarding revenue in the range of USD 3.462 - 3.587 billion, compared to earlier guidance of USD 3.35 billion - 3.65 billion.
Update: In a conference call to investors, CEO John Riccitiello indicated that RockBand would not be shipping in Europe until Q1 2009, which begins in April. He also refused to give a firm release date for Spore, saying only that it would be released "before the holidays" this year.
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