EA info

[jakncoke]

Electronic Arts loss narrower than expected

SAN FRANCISCO, May 5 (Reuters) - Video game publisher Electronic Arts Inc (ERTS.O) reported a narrower-than-expected quarterly loss and affirmed its outlook for the current fiscal year, sending shares up 1.5 percent on Tuesday.

The company reported a net loss of $42 million, or 13 cents a share, in its fiscal fourth quarter ended March 31, versus a net loss of $94 million, or 30 cents a share, in the year-ago period.

Excluding certain items, EA posted a loss of 37 cents a share, compared to the average analyst estimate of 43 cents, according to Reuters Estimates.

EA said non-GAAP revenue fell 34 percent to $609 million, lower than Wall Street's forecast of $633.1 million.

The company said it still expects earnings excluding items in fiscal 2010 of $1 a share on adjusted revenue of $4.3 billion.

Shares of Redwood City, California-based EA rose to $21.70 in extended trading, from their close of $21.38 on the Nasdaq. (Reporting by Gabriel Madway; Editing Bernard Orr)

Fiscal 2009 Highlights

* EA had 31 titles that sold more than one million copies in the year - as compared with 27 titles in the prior year.
* FIFA 09, Madden NFL 09 and Need for Speed Undercover each sold over five million copies in the year.
* EA Partners posted its strongest year ever driven by Rock Band, Rock Band 2 and Left 4 Dead. Rock Band, in partnership with MTX/Harmonix, was EA’s highest revenue producing title during the fiscal year.
* EA strengthened its portfolio by launching new games - SPORE(TM), Warhammer(R) Online: Age of Reckoning(R), Dead Space(TM), Mirror’s Edge(TM), Boom Blox(TM), Mercenaries(TM) 2 and a slate of Hasbro(R) games.
* SPORE sold over two million copies with users generating more than 100 million creatures.
* EA generated 14% of its total non-GAAP revenue on the Wii - as compared with 8% a year ago. EA to ship EA SPORTS Active in May and Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince(TM) in June. Also in June, Tiger Woods PGA TOUR(R) 10 and EA SPORTS Grand Slam(R) Tennis - both bundled with the Wii MotionPlus(TM) accessory (Tennis bundle available in Europe only).
* EA’s non-GAAP digital services revenue, which includes online and wireless, was $429 million in fiscal 2009, up 27% year-over-year.
* Pogo(TM) achieved an all-time high of 1.8M paying subscribers for the fiscal year.
* EA recently launched the open beta of EA SPORTS(TM) FIFA Online 2 in China –the Company’s first online game in China.
* EA Mobile(TM), the world’s leading publisher of games for wireless, delivered non-GAAP revenue of $189 million for fiscal 2009 - up 24 percent year-over-year.

man NFS/Madden/Fifa yearly combo is such a beast

-Wii Q1 (April-June) Games: Boom Blox 2, EA Sports Active, EA Grand Slam Tennis, Tiger Woods 10, MySims Racing, Harry Potter

Still don't get why EA chose not to make a college football game