EA’s Quarterly Report Says They Are No. 1 PS4, Xbox One Publisher
By Martin Benn
With an array of offerings on both PS4 and Xbox One, Electronic Arts announces it was the No. 1 video game publisher in the “Western World” for both consoles in their winter quarter ending Dec. 31, 2015.
Move over Activision! Despite the mega giant publisher continuing it’s leading trend of selling more Call of Duty than anyone else can sell, Electronic Arts published its quarterly report for today which sees them as the no. 1 publisher on PS4 and Xbox One for the Winter Quarter. There is no doubt everyone knows the big stalwart they sent out in November in Star Wars Battlefront, but continued support of Madden, FIFA, and other titles helped Electronic Arts reach this position.
Here are some of the main takeaways:
- The return of Need for Speed™ drew more than twice as many monthly active players in Q3 than the previous game.
- Players logged more than 150 million hours of gameplay across Battlefield 4™ and Battlefield™ Hardline in Q3.
- In Q3, STAR WARS™: The Old Republic grew to its highest subscriber level in nearly three years.
- Madden NFL Mobile monthly active players were up nearly 50% year-over-year in Q3.
- STAR WARS™ Battlefront surpassed EA’s fiscal year guidance of 13 million units sold-in.
- Non-GAAP net revenue for EA’s FIFA, Madden NFL and Hockey Ultimate Team™ live services continue to perform well in Q3, collectively up 13% year-over-year and up 22% on a constant currency basis.
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Maybe most surprisingly considering how quickly the latter seemed to disappear from the discussion, Battlefield 4 and Battlefield Hardline still are engaging players on a very regular basis. Those servers are still very active on Battlefield 4 which is pretty amazing retention for a game that launched 2 years ago and encountered so many issues at that time. Additionally, the launch of the new content pack for Star Wars: The Old Republic seems to have reinvigorated much of their audience to return to the game.
Need For Speed made its return and while it may not have been the high rolling sales machine from series past, it seems to be holding players better than Need For Speed Rivals did previously. The Ultimate Team model in sports games remains ever the fixture on the market and we can see why. These modes are rather popular and extend the longevity of the games, while still bringing in solid revenue.
Finally, we get to the behemoth in the room, Star Wars Battlefront beat out EA’s expectations of over 13 million units in the quarter. That is really good. For reference on how well the other games did during this quarter, Star Wars Battlefront was the second best selling game of December and third best selling game of November according to the NPD. Call of Duty still certainly moves units as the reigning champ of both of those months.
Overall, things are looking good for EA. Unfortunately, there was no report from them on when we can expect them to launch Mass Effect 4. C’mon, EA! Give the people what they want.