Electronic Arts revealed today their Q4 FY12 and FY12 Financial Results. FIFA 12 established the best year in franchise history – with downloads and micro-transactions totaling $108 million. FIFA Ultimate Team — a pure digital companion to recent FIFA titles was the second best-selling EA offering in the UK in fiscal 12.
Battlefield 3 had a record year, establishing itself as one of EA’s premier game services and in the process successfully took share in the growing First-Person-Shooter market. Battlefield 3 players are still deeply engaged — 6.3 million MAUs in March. New content downloads available in May and June.
Q4 full-game downloads were up 76 percent year-over-year, contributing $60 million in the quarter, driven in part by Mass Effect 3 and STAR WARS: The Old Republic. STAR WARS: The Old Republic active subscribers are 1.3 million. Two new content packs — Legacy and Allies, available in Q1.
EA’s Play4Free brands are generating an average of nearly $2 million per week. Several more EA brands will be introduced in the Play4Free portal in fiscal 13.
EA shattered its goal for digital revenue growth — generating more than $1.2 billion in fiscal 12 for a 47 percent year-over-year growth, and driving operating margin to 10%. Another 40 percent increase in digital non-GAAP revenue and continued operating margin expansion is forecasted for fiscal 13.
EA’s Origin platform for games and services has registered 11 million players and generated approximately $150 million in just ten months. EA’s Nucleus database has registered 220 million consumers.
Casual game leader PopCap — acquired by EA in August — is growing on mobile and social platforms with new games like Solitaire Blitz and Lucky Gem Casino. A new version of Bejeweled is EA’s top grossing game on the Apple App Store.
EA repurchased 27.7 million shares for $529 million through March 31, 2012, and as of the call, the $600 million share repurchase program has been completed.
Last but not least, EA revealed that in fiscal 13 they will invest $80 million in development of games for Gen4 console systems. And as you may have guessed, Gen4 stands for next-generation systems.
John is the founder and Editor in Chief at DSOGaming. He is a PC gaming fan and highly supports the modding and indie communities. Before creating DSOGaming, John worked on numerous gaming websites. While he is a die-hard PC gamer, his gaming roots can be found on consoles. John loved – and still does – the 16-bit consoles, and considers SNES to be one of the best consoles. Still, the PC platform won him over consoles. That was mainly due to 3DFX and its iconic dedicated 3D accelerator graphics card, Voodoo 2. John has also written a higher degree thesis on the “The Evolution of PC graphics cards.”
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