EA Reports Fourth Quarter Loss and Lower Annual Net Income

For the fourth quarter, EA reported a net loss of $16 million compared to net income of $8 million in the same quarter the previous year. For the full financial year, Electronic Arts reported net income of $236 million compared to net income of $504 million in the prior financial year.

For the latest quarter, the sales of several games (such as Black, Fight Night Round 3 and The Godfather: The Game) were offset by tax adjustments, higher costs and restructuring costs. Chairman and CEO Larry Probst noted that increased costs are related to more than just a transition to a new generation of consoles, but also to EA's expansion online and into mobile platforms. To emphasize this, EA listed the acquisition of Jamdat mobile as one of the year's highlights. That was also one of its biggest expenses

EA confirmed a few interesting tidbits concerning its business in the announcement. The company reported that it has already taken in $140 million of revenue from Xbox 360 games. 53% of its net revenue came from North America, while 41% of net revenue came from Europe. By platform, 33% of net revenue was from the PlayStation 2 while the Xbox and Xbox 360 each represented 10% of net revenue. The PC constituted 16% of net revenue and the PSP provided 9%.