EA Q4 losses down $52 million from previous year

Publishing giant Electronic Arts has revealed the results of its fourth quarter and fiscal year 2009, reporting a diminished quarterly revenue, dramatically reduced quarterly loss, and a yearly revenue increase of 15 per cent.

Revenue for Q4 2009, which ended March 31, was reported at USD 860 million, down 24 per cent from the USD 1.13 billion reported in the same period last year. Sales were primarily driven by Skate 2, Rock Band 2, The Lord of the Rings: Conquest, Left 4 Dead and Need for Speed Undercover.

Net loss for the quarter was USD 42 million, down significantly from a loss of USD 94 million reported during this period in the previous year, thanks to cost-cutting measures that included redundancies and the closing of five facilities.

Revenue for the entire fiscal year 2009 was reported at USD 4.2 billion, up 15 per cent from the 3.7 billion reported in the previous year.

In the fiscal year, 31 titles sold over one million copies, compared to 27 in the previous year. Spore sold two million copies, while three titles - FIFA 09, Madden NFL 09 and Need for Speed Undercover - sold over five million units each, across all platforms. Net loss on the year was a staggering though expected USD 1 billion, compared to USD 454 million the prior year.

Wii software sales accounted for 14 per cent of EA's non-GAAP revenue for FY09, up from 8 per cent the previous year. Non-GAAP revenue, unlike traditionally reported GAAP revenue, excludes money earned from online games sold in the previous year, among other factors. EA provides both GAAP and non-GAAP figures to investors.

Additionally, EA's digital services revenue - which includes direct to consumer downloads and subscription-based services - was reported at USD 429 million, up 27 per cent.

Looking to the future, EA expects to report a revenue of USD 4.3 billion at the end of FY 2010, which is in line with most analyst predictions.