Star Wars Battlefront 2 Features Three Times As Much Content As The First Game
EA's latest financials don't remark on the performance of Mass Effect: Andromeda.
Update: During EA's post-earnings conference call, CEO Andrew Wilson announced a delay for BioWare's new IP and also outlined some of what to look for through fiscal year 19 (April 2018 - March 2019) and further into the future.
"Through FY19 and beyond, our portfolio will continue to grow," Wilson said. "There will be more new experiences for our Battlefield fans, our Star Wars action-adventure IP from Visceral will make its debut, and farther out, we'll have a new Star Wars title from our partners at Respawn. We continue to invest deeply in new IP, including the new game from BioWare and another project from our Motive studio."
It's unclear at this point if the reference to Battlefield experiences indicates new games or merely continued support for Battlefield 1. There's no word on what Motive's game will be, though Portal and Left 4 Dead designer Kim Swift recently joined the studio.
Additionally, EA shared that the upcoming Star Wars Battlefront 2 features three times as much content as its predecessor did at launch. Wilson reiterated that EA took feedback to the previous game seriously, hence the addition of more content and a single-player campaign (being built by Motive). CFO Blake Jorgensen also noted that EA hopes to ship more copies than the 14 million that the first Battlefront did in its debut year. EA believes the game will appeal to Battlefield fans in addition to Battlefront and general Star Wars fans.
The original story follows.
Electronic Arts today released its earnings report for the quarter that ended on March 31, which also marked the close of its financial year.
According to the company, it was the No. 1 publisher on PS4 and Xbox One in the West from April 2016 through March 2017. It also boasted that Battlefield 1 saw 19 million players between its launch in October and the end of March. This is "a 50% increase over Battlefield 4 in the comparable period."
Other highlights included FIFA 17 seeing more than 21 million players, though keep in mind this and the Battlefield 1 figure aren't indicative of actual sales numbers. FIFA Ultimate Team players were up 13% year-over-year, while The Sims 4 saw an increase in monthly active users of 33%. Amazingly, EA says the average time spent playing Star Wars: Galaxy of Heroes in Q4 was a whopping 162 minutes per day, which is a new record for the game.
There was no talk of Mass Effect: Andromeda's sales performance, which didn't release until the tail end of the quarter and financial year.
Following an announcement earlier today about the new iteration of Need for Speed, the company's upcoming release slate pegs the game as coming in Q3--the period spanning October through December. EA Sports UFC 3, meanwhile, arrives in Q4 (January - March 2018).
Following an industry-wide trend, digital sales were on the rise. Net revenue from packaged goods were down for the third consecutive year, while digital was up once again. Digital net sales reached $3.034 billion for the full year, which equates to 61% of total net sales. That's an increase of 20% over the prior year. Digital net sales increased most dramatically in terms of full game downloads (up 43% year-over-year) and live services, which comprise DLC, subscriptions, and other categories (up 31%).
EA will host a conference call with investors and analysts later this afternoon to discuss these results. We'll report back with anything interesting it has to share.
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