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Electronic Arts reveals its Q3 FY18 financial results, Battlefield 1 surpasses 25 million unique players


Electronic Arts today announced preliminary financial results for its third fiscal quarter ended December 31st, 2017. According to the results, Battlefield 1 now has more than 25 million unique players life to date, and nearly 70% of players engaged in the single-player campaign in Star Wars: Battlefront 2.

Chief Executive Officer Andrew Wilson said:

“Players enjoyed hundreds of millions of hours in our games across console, mobile and PC during the holiday quarter, and we’re thrilled to see our titles driving excitement for more fans around the world. We’re expanding the reach of our top franchises across more geographies, our competitions are growing in participation and viewership, and we’re continuing to grow our network with more amazing games and content coming this quarter and beyond.”

Chief Financial Officer Blake Jorgensen added:

“Our diversity in portfolio, platforms, geographies, and business models is the foundation of a robust business that enables us to deliver dependable cash flow. Through the fourth quarter and fiscal 2019, we’ll be launching games across five different genres, on three different platforms, and to players around the world. We expect growth in full-game downloads, subscriptions, extra content, and in our mobile business.”

Here are the selected operating highlights and metrics:

  • Digital net bookings for the trailing twelve months was a record $3.375 billion, up 18% year-over-year, and represents 67% of total net bookings for the same period.
  • The FIFA community grew to nearly 42 million players, on console alone, during the calendar year.
  • FIFA Mobile added 26 million players to its total player base in the quarter.
  • FIFA Ultimate Team player base grew 12% year-over-year, from launch to the end of the quarter.
  • In Star Wars Battlefront II, nearly 70% of players engaged in the single-player campaign.
  • Battlefield 1 now has more than 25 million unique players life to date.
  • The Sims 4 player base grew more than 35% year-over-year and delivered the highest-performing expansion pack to date during the quarter.
  • The Madden Challenge entertainment special on The CW Network was the #1 esports television broadcast in the U.S. for 2017.

It’s also worth noting that the PC platform is not as profitable for EA as Xbox One or PS4. Below you can find some financial results per platform.