After being acquired and on the verge of going private, Electronic Arts saw its sales fall 13% year over year in the July-September quarter, according to its latest earnings report.
The company announced it will also stop holding quarterly Q&A calls between analysts and EA leadership, something it has done for years, and will no longer share forward-looking financial guidance.
Variety reports the company’s decisions could be tied to the $55 billion acquisition deal that will see the Saudis and Jared Kushner’s Affinity Partners and Silver Lake Group take control of the video game developer.
The Sept. 29 acquisition hasn’t been completed yet, but is on track to be completed by next spring.
Per Variety:
Wall Street forecast earnings per share (EPS) of 35 cents on $1.87 billion in revenue for the quarter, according to analyst consensus data provided by LSEG. EA reported non-GAAP diluted EPS of 54 cents on $1.82 billion in net bookings ($1.84 billion in revenue).
That net bookings figure was down 13% from the $2.1 billion in net bookings EA posted from July-September 2024, which EA attributes to especially strong sales for “College Football 25” at that time.
Despite sales falling, EA CEO Andrew Wilson expressed optimism in a letter sent to shareholders.
“Across our broad portfolio — from ‘EA Sports’ to ‘Battlefield,’ ‘The Sims,’ and ‘skate.’ — our teams continue to create high-quality experiences that connect and inspire players around the world,” Wilson said. “The creativity, passion, and innovation of our teams are at the heart of everything we do.”
We shall see if that optimism remains if the sales numbers don’t improve.
