EA’s Quarter Financials Paint A Rosy Picture, With Apex Legends Topping $1.6 Billion All-time

Digital Arts retains chugging alongside, as its latest financial report billed its most up-to-date quarter because the “strongest second quarter within the historical past.” (Reminder that EA’s fiscal yr runs from April 1, 2021 to March 31, 2022.) Web bookings have been $7.077 billion, up 27% year-over-year, with Apex Legends setting new participant data for every of Season 9 and 10. Season 10 was additionally up 40% by way of time watched on Twitch as in comparison with the earlier season. In complete, the battle royale has made $1.6 billion since its February 2019 launch.

Battlefield 2042 drew 7.7 million gamers for its recent beta, whereas Star Wars: Galaxy of Heroes surpassed 100 million complete gamers. Naturally, alongside Apex Legends, FIFA Final Crew was hailed as contributing to the quarter’s “sturdy beat,” as COO/CFO Blake Jorgensen put it. Because of all the excellent news, EA is elevating its expectations for the remainder of the yr.

As for the notion of a free-to-play part in Battlefield, CEO and Director Andrew Wilson appeared to contradict his earlier statements, saying that “over time, free-to-play will make sense for the franchise, however it’s not the main focus proper now.”

Among the above data got here from the Q&A that took place yesterday afternoon, which principally consisted of Jorgensen and Wilson complimenting their enterprise and the assorted groups that make it up; the oldsters at Respawn Leisure acquired referred to as out a number of instances for the great work they’ve achieved with Apex Legends.

One attention-grabbing query requested about “sustaining the worth of participant investments” in collectible video games, like FIFA or Madden Final Crew, which prompted Wilson to reply that sure, EA does acknowledge the worth that NFTs signify, however the firm “want[s] to work and ensure we proceed to appropriately tune and steadiness the expertise for our gamers.”

In different phrases, whereas different websites are working with “EA desires to do NFTs” headlines, I believe Wilson’s response is about as on-the-fence as will be. After all he realizes that NFTs are a factor that some corporations are doing, and he would not rule them out completely, however till he acknowledges that it’s going to carry better worth to his firm — and so long as persons are prepared to re-purchase packs yearly, they do not — he will not dive headlong into that pool. That is simply sensible enterprise.