EA says DICE-developed shooter has biggest day-one ship in company history; Q2 revs jump 13% to $715 million.
EA and DICE have been expecting big things from their contemporary war fighter Battlefield 3, and thus far, the game appears to be delivering. As part of its July-September earnings report today, the publisher said that Battlefield 3 has shipped 10 million units, with retailers already requesting reorders for the critically well-regarded shooter. This is the biggest opening-day shipment the publisher has ever done, EA said.
Battlefield 3's strong performance did not factor into today's second-quarter results, which reflected higher revenue but a steep loss at EA. Revenue for the period rose 13.3 percent year-over-year to $715 million. However, reversing two consecutive quarters of profit, EA posted a net loss of $340 million, which expenses being led by research & development and marketing.
Some of the best-performing titles during the period came from the EA Sports label. The biggest player was FIFA 12, which has shipped nearly 8 million units and sold 5 million units. EA said that its FIFA game is having its best year ever, with record sales in North America and Europe. By comparison, FIFA 11 has lifetime-to-date shipped more than 16 million units.
Madden NFL 12 also logged a solid performance, shipping 3 million units during the period. EA also said that Battlefield Bad Company 2 has now shipped nearly 11 million units lifetime to date.
EA also touted these games' digital performance. In a post-earnings conference call, COO Peter Moore said that the publisher is now expecting more than $1 billion in digital sales, an accomplishment that only a handful of companies in the world can claim. These sales have also been fueled by The Sims Social on Facebook, which boasts nearly 40 million monthly active users.
The publisher also addressed its new digital distribution platform, Origin. The platform has been downloaded by more than 6 million consumers. Additionally, EA has now opened up the platform to third parties, with Warner Bros. Interactive, Capcom, and THQ all now offering games through the service.
As part of EA's post-earnings conference call, EA Labels president Frank Gibeau also addressed reported outages and technical snafus that the Origin platform has experienced following Battlefield 3's launch.
"We have had unprecedented peaks, and it has caused parts of our network to experience outages," he said. However, Gibeau also said that EA "has a handle" on the issue and does not expect further service interruptions as the game launches in Europe later this week.
Gibeau also noted that Origin's servers are completely separate from those of Star Wars: The Old Republic's, and the company does not expect to experience the same instability upon that game's launch. He also said that SW:TOR preorders are "very, very strong," noting that advance sales are the highest the Sims publisher has ever had for a PC game.
Due to its second-quarter performance and strong start from Battlefield 3, EA raised its fiscal 2012 revenue guidance. EA now expects to pull in $4.05 billion-$4.2 for its 12-month fiscal year ending March 31. This projection is up significantly from previous expectations of $3.83 billion to $4.03 billion.
Tom Magrino has covered the games industry since 2006. He's been compared to Steve Martin by Ozzy Osbourne and Daniel Craig by Tim Schafer. His voice, heard largely on GameSpot's podcast, recalls that of Kermit the Frog. It ain't easy bein' Magreen.
guys...im reading this and i think...MW2 was satisfying really and im really looking forward to buy BF3 really soon but many here were disappointed by the game...Im gonna be sad if the game doesnt rise up to my expectations At least if i buy the MW3 i know its gonna be great like always but i just want to try a game where things get destroyed for once
EA ships 10 million disks/copies that are not worthing it squat without Nvidia driver support tech guys. They should name them "failure-out-from-the-box"..lol They thought they are slick and will get the main pot dancing before MW3. They fell into their own trap.
Well @DanielL5583 the Metacritic score for MW2 for example in 94 based on 100+ reviews, it would seem to me that Gamespot rated that lower than the majority of the critics. You have a case for Black Ops recieving a 9.0 though, which I also disagreed with. But take these reviews as opinions, which they are, just as you have yours about BF3 being better and CoD is crap. If you want to get mad over it that's your problem.
Normally I say COD is better than Battlefield year on year however this year after playing both MD3 and BF3 I have to say it Battlefield 3 has kicked COD's ass! Well done E.A. keep it up! Perhaps they should do a joint game with Activision where they incorporate the customisation mechanics of the COD and use the Frostbite engine on the environments that's what I'd like to see!
I'm more interested in knowing how many of those 10 million shipped are going to be sold, then returned...
Idk what all these people are talking bout, EA has posted that theres something wrong with the servers and they don't work all the way right, but all that happens is you get kicked off once or twice than your in, and once I got into a match I played dozens of matches without ever getting off. It's minor scale annoying not broken like some are trying to make it seem like, as if you can't get into a match at all, not true
@Chamilitary1987 What do you think COD has done since MW1? In fact they are to blame for the state of SP with games that have really well loved MP. Regardless there is no reason for everyone to have this MW3 versus BF3 thing going on. BF3 is excellent and MW3 should be good too. Two great games is a bonus for sure.
Maybe some of you that are having problems should check your router settings. There might be ports you need to open or loosen up your firewall. I used to have issues connecting as well.
@trivolution: I think that is propably the lifetime sales of the last COD, not one day.... :)
@4514N_DUD3 Did you try the multiplayer. Sure the campaign was not something special, but damn the online multiplayer absolutely rules. Props to DICE and EA for shipping 10 million copies. Can't believe the score for BF3 is only 8.5 out of 10. That is just a bunch of low scores from people who don't like the game.
It's a weird world we live in when some people consider 8.5 a "low score". That sounds like a great score to me; if I were into FPS games I'd probably pick up this one up, most likely even pre-ordered it.
just in case anyone wondering low score = COD bastards reviews.. I wonder what was the score if u could only vote if your really own the game ... probably 9.5 atleast
@dodgerock04 I cleared my weekend specifically so I could sit down, veg out, and play some BF3. I got the game on Friday, and so far, I've been able to play a total of 3 1/2 hours! That's it! Now, I enjoy the game when I'm actually playing it, but I can never get on! As I type this, I'm trying to find a game, and when I do, it gives me a load screen, and then says I've lost connection to the servers. I'm sorry, but this is complete bulls**t! I prefer Hardcore matches, but I have my setting to find pretty much any game available. Nada. Oh well, maybe tomorrow. I'm giving up and going to the Bracknell Bees hockey game now.
10 million for short campaign? this is a proof of amazing marketing and people who support half product
@CptRexKramer well i have to agree about the campaign but i completely disagree on what you said about the multiplayer. I have been playing a lot and always find servers with good latency, so i don't understand. You should check your filters!
You know, I was sooooooooo looking forward to this game. I don't think I have ever been more disappointed in a game than this one. The bottom line is the campaign sucks (As much as I've played it.) and the multi-player is, well, who knows? (Pulse starting to rise) YOU CAN NEVER GET INTO A GAME!!! WTF is wrong with you, EA!? This should not be an issue! WTF is with gaming companies and their garbage servers!? I don't care how many people are playing, your in the gaming business! And mulit-player is part of that business! When I purchase a product that is designed to be played on-line, I expect to be able to play the game on-line! Their server issues are TOTALLY unaccceptable! I realize they will probably have these issues sorted out, but, at this point, I don't GAF! I can't believe I'm saying this, but I'm actually looking forward to MW3, and I was not even planning on getting that game! (Pulse lowering) Sorry about the rant, but it's just sad.
congrats EA! what is better is i have heard tons of my friends who were former COD fans say they are NOT buying modern warfare 3. i know i am not!
I'm waiting for an effective medicine called "MW3" to get COD kids the f**** out of BF3...we don't need you COD kids in our BF game since you just ruin it...
im kinda actually dissapointed with BF3. should have played the beta b4 buying the game. say what u guys like but i dont really like it that much. i have my reasons.
@RaphaeI If you think that is huge guess how much Black Ops SOLD not shipped. In the US and UK it sold 5.6 million in one day! Modern Warfare 3 will sell heaps more than BF 3.
"However, reversing two consecutive quarters of profit, EA posted a net loss of $340 million, which expenses being led by research & development and marketing." The last clause of this sentence is really clunky. In fact, I can't really tell if this is just sloppy English or if there's a typo, i.e. missing word. I get the meaning, but in relative clauses you should have a real verb, not just a participle. GameSpot: Again, please feel free to contact me with info about how I can work for you as a web content editor. This is the third issue I've reported.
LOL MW3 fanboys got nothing to do beside give thumbs down to those who are appreciating this awesome game....yup i am gonna get some too :-D
I can't wait any longer for my BF3 shipment :( I pirated it and played the campaign so I can start multilayer right after the delivery :D
lol MW3 fanboys wandering in the net while BF3s' are playing the game, it's pretty obvious from the comment ratings :)
10 Million in 4 days? That's HUUUGEE. What an EPIC release, I played the beta and like it a lot , imma upgrade my graphics cards then purchase this game. It's multiplayer is way to good.
@taddia 10 internetz for you, mister, for being so gentle and not-trollish about this situation just because you dont like military shooters ;3
@mad_krips Or rather, shall I show you that Modern Warfare 2 and Black Ops, perhaps the two stagnating piles of crap in the Call of Duty series, are getting a 9 out of 10, instead of this game, and yet GameSpot have the balls to say this game has a disappointing campaign. Either GameSpot are expecting the campaign to be crap in Call of Duty, or they just disapprove of variety.
any shops in iran sold out BF3 has being punished for example goverment close their shops and send them to jail just because selling BF3 we have very stupid country guys soory for my english
10 milions. Well i don't like battlefield, i just don't like the genre. But hey, u deserve it: CONGRATULATIONS!!
At first I judged this game by the Beta. I am simply blown away. Congratulations DICE. Well deserved.
pfffff, I don't care which sale more, but why so exciting over bf3? to me it just a newer type of black hawk down mp game !!! Seriously, ever heard of it, baby boys?? I remembered we play that game with 64 ppl/game supported so long time ago with YES, chopper and Humvee, and they tried to make 128ppl/game I think it's team sabre but I wasn't followed atm, for the time 2003 it was an awesome mp fps.
@shimo1989 If you're talking about Medal of Honor and Battlefield:Bad Company they aren't going to cut it.
Don't forget that the PC version doesn't count in the shipped category. The PC version already sold like 3 million copies!
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