Sports titles help drive record EA sales

The continued strong performance of sports titles has helped Electronic Arts reach new sales records for the second quarter of 2007.

The publisher has revealed that net revenue for Q2 reached US $784 million (EUR 614 million), up 16 per cent from US $675 million (EUR 529 million) in the previous year.

Sports sequels Madden NFL 07, NCAA Football 07, FIFA 07 and NBA Live 07 were the primary sales drivers for the period, said the company.

Gross profit for the quarter was US $445 million (EUR 348 million), up 14 per cent year-on-year, while net income was down to US $22 million (EUR 17 million) compared to US $51 million (EUR 40 million) the previous year, due to a share-based payment plan which resulted in US $33 million in charges for Q2.

"This was a strong quarter for EA," commented Warren Jenson, chief financial and administrative officer for Electronic Arts.

"While our industry remains in the midst of a transition the landscape looks strong enough that we are able to increase our guidance range for the year," he said.

EA now expects third quarter net revenue to be between US $1.2 billion and US $1.3 billion, while net revenue for the fourth quarter ending March 2007 is expected to reach between US $2.950 billion and US $3.125 billion.