EA forecast disappoints as Star Wars’ game success proves bittersweet

The company said on Thursday that sales of the game had already surpassed 13 million units, the number of copies it had expected to sell by March. It also implied a slight decline compared with the year-ago quarter when it benefited from strong sales of the first-person shooter game, “Battlefield Hardline“. Baked into that is revenue of $875 million and EPS of 40 cents, below consensus for $916 million and 50 cents.

Though the bulk of “Battlefront” sales were physical copies – “It was a very big gifting title”, finance chief Blake Jorgensen said in an interview-EA posted more revenue from digital sales during the fiscal third quarter than any other in its history. While some players were underwhelmed with Battlefront’s content offering, surely the game will seem much fuller in a year’s time… with extra expense, of course.

A February update is also going to be released that will include a new survival mission on Hoth, a new MP map, and a new Turning Point mode.

Revenue in the three months ended in December rose to $1.803, yielding EPS of $1.83, excluding some costs.

Under U.S. accounting rules, videogame companies defer revenue from online-enabled games.

While fans won’t be seeing characters like Kylo Ren, Rey, Poe Dameron, or Finn in the current iteration of Star Wars Battlefront, EA does have plans to continue the lucrative franchise in the future which makes it entirely probable that players will be seeing newer content from the current trilogy in a Battlefront game eventually.

According to its report, EA made net non-GAAP earnings $1.81bn and of $1.81 per share, surpassing the market estimate of $1.78bn and non-GAAP earnings of $1.78 per share.

EA nudged up its outlook for its fiscal year, citing the overall strength of its business.