EA shares take a 20% hit after Dragon Age and FC 25 figures disappoint

[Shawn Knight]

In brief: Electronic Arts shares are down nearly 20 percent after the company warned that earnings for the fiscal third quarter would be lower than initially forecasted due in large part to two franchises that underperformed during the holidays.

As of writing, shares of EA are trading for $115.80. Ahead of the announcement, the stock was changing hands at $142.35.

EA said its global football franchise, which had experienced two consecutive fiscal years of double-digit net bookings growth, hit a rough patch in the fiscal third quarter. Dragon Age also underperformed during the quarter; its 1.5 million players were nearly 50 percent less than EA had anticipated.

As a result, EA revised its third quarter preliminary net bookings. The company now expects approximately $2.215 billion, down from the previous forecast of between $2.4 billion and $2.55 billion. Net revenue, meanwhile, should check in around $1.883 billion; previously, EA had forecasted net revenue in the range of $1.875 billion to $2.025 billion.

EA CEO Andrew Wilson said that despite the hiccups, they remain confident in their long-term strategy and expect a full return to growth in FY26. The executive added that this month, teams conducted a comprehensive gameplay refresh in addition to their annual team of the year update in FC 25, and that early feedback has been encouraging.

CFO Stuart Canfield concurred, adding that as they look to FY26, they expect grow with the launch of more iconic franchises.

Electronic Arts had been at the forefront of soccer games with its popular FIFA franchise, which dates back to 1993. A licensing dispute with FIFA in 2022, however, brought an end to the popular series. The company still makes soccer games, but they're now under the EA Sports FC brand. The most recent, EA Sports FC 25, launched on September 27, 2024, for most major platforms.

EA is scheduled to release its next earnings report on February 4, and will host a conference call do discuss the results at 5 pm Eastern.

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EA shares take a 20% hit after Dragon Age and FC 25 figures disappoint

 

[The Talking Tech]

Well EA is not even trying to do better...they think that rehashing old game development assets without any innovation they could still sell.

Let's hope that losing 6 Billion in stock value gets to be that wake up call gamers have been waiting for.

 

[scavengerspc]

I read the whole industry was WAY down in the time frame.
But hearing it about EA gives me a shamefully happy feeling.

 

[HardwareHunt365]

The 'EA meme' is practically writing itself. Ubisoft's already been leading the way, EA has to catch up!

 

[magoid]

To think that they once were innovators and a admirable developer.

Now, what is left is resentment from the previous clientele, and a useless husk to the bloodsuckers to dry before it goes bankrupt.

 

[Axeia]

To think that they once were innovators and a admirable developer.

Uh when was that? I just know them as that company that has the reverse Midas touch (everything it touches turns into crap).
They bought out Maxis, let Sim City die and turned the Sims into a money milking DLC fest.
They bought out Westwood studios and turned C&C into crap.
They bought out bullfrog entertainment and killed off Theme Park world and theme hospital. Sold off the rights for dungeon keeper to some Chinese company that let it rot.
They bought out Lionshead studios and let black and white die. They sold fable to Microsoft.

Terrible company imo, market is better off without them.

 

[captaincranky]

Well, you can't a home run every time. Oh wait, that's not the object in soccer, is it? Never mind.

 

[Peter Farkas]

Good

 

[GoldenGoat]

I started ignoring EA along with Ubi because I don't want to accept their terms and privacy policy, especially the part about ads.

 

[scavengerspc]

To think that they once were innovators and a admirable developer.

Uh when was that?

From the early 80s to around 2005. Under Trip Hawkins and Larry Probst.
Truly great PC games and later NES games. Then a very well liked EA was a huge player on the Genesis and SNES.

 

[toooooot]

Uh when was that? I just know them as that company that has the reverse Midas touch (everything it touches turns into crap).
They bought out Maxis, let Sim City die and turned the Sims into a money milking DLC fest.
They bought out Westwood studios and turned C&C into crap.
They bought out bullfrog entertainment and killed off Theme Park world and theme hospital. Sold off the rights for dungeon keeper to some Chinese company that let it rot.
They bought out Lionshead studios and let black and white die. They sold fable to Microsoft.

Terrible company imo, market is better off without them.

If he meant Bio, it was. It made amazing single player games.
But if he meant EA, it is still somewhat good. They milked billions from fifa alone.
I was a bit surprised reading it underperformed in the news recently.
I honestly gloat a bit after they pretty much forced female players into FUT, after failing
to attract gamers to female mode that less than 1% of the fans wanted.
In any case, fifa made them much more money than they invested in developing and league licensing.

 

[zavrix]

I'm just waiting for them to screw the next BF up

 

[yRaz]

From the early 80s to around 2005. Under Trip Hawkins and Larry Probst.
Truly great PC games and later NES games. Then a very well liked EA was a huge player on the Genesis and SNES.

I was going to say 2004, but it was really between 2004-2006 that the changes started happening. EA was a leader in the late 90's and early 2000's for some of the best games money could buy. They still made "good" games into the early 2010's, but that's when they really started to lose the good will of gamers. In the early 2010's I started to notice a "I'll buy it but I'm not happy about it" mentality to appear. Then about 2015 they just started going full on evil megacorp.

 

[maxxcool7421]

So weird .. it is like people cannot afford rent or medical care and stop buying video games

 

[RudyBob]

Soccer sucks

 

[NumberNine]

EA lost me as a customer way back when they launched Origin and that garbage reboot of SimCity maybe a decade ago and then Battlefield 4 requiring Origin to launch the web browser to launch the game, which also launches punkbuster. Too much trash, too much bloat, not enough games. Too many good games elsewhere, too many good developers elsewhere to waste time on EA (or Dice). Rockstar is a maybe.

These days, if I'm browsing Steam and see that any additional third-party account-bound launcher is required (Origin/EA App, Ubi Launcher, Battle.net, Epic Launcher, etc.), that's a red flag. No sale. Life is too short.

 

[GodisanAtheist]

Go woke go broke right guys?!

Up vote button is down there ↓

 

[deathspeed]

Add more AI, privacy-invading immersion-breaking targeted ads, pointless blockchain, NFCs, and pay-to-win loot boxes - that's what us players really what! /s

 

[kiwigraeme]

Go woke go broke right guys?!

Up vote button is down there ↓

TBF - I expected to see the usual cliche comment. But nearly everyone is listing real tangible concerns, launcher, loot/micro o more specific lost of soul - Which is true of nearly every company drifting from their roots. EA used to be a darling in the C64 times M.U.L.E, Mission Impossible etc

There's no right answer, give up what you created for money , or keep it for control, passion and contentment .
However in developing countries from my travels - It is nearly always better for locals to control the land and tourism than selling out their birthright from their community and grandkids . Land prices go up, and your grandkids if they stay may just be cleaners to be pushed around - after you have squandered the windfall

 

[hahahanoobs]

EA has been a letdown for me since Battlefield 1.

 

[Eldrach]

They also killed of Titanfall - and botched Mass Effect after Mass Effect 2.

They’re ruining every company they ever bought

 

[mdenigma]

EA has been a letdown for me since Battlefield 1.

True, but they lost me after repeating the same errors on BF2. Though ... the average PC Gamer does not value "quality" and are out-smarted by subscription-services and dlc-content. The gaming industry is beyond repair and the fun games we had, will never come back.

 

[Starscream07]

Well EA is not even trying to do better...they think that rehashing old game development assets without any innovation they could still sell.

Let's hope that losing 6 Billion in stock value gets to be that wake up call gamers have been waiting for.

Ok so I never payed attention before but how is EA at a historic high now compared to 15 years ago when it was their golden age? Guess its all the micron transactions. I cannot remember a single good EA game since BF1? FIFA has been their cash cow but its gotten so stale that I dont even play that **** anymore.

 

[Starscream07]

EA has been a letdown for me since Battlefield 1.

I can remember a time when EA was literally at the apex of gaming. No E3 was complete without it. And everything they touched was a banger. Times have changed.

 

[yukka]

I don’t think EA are seeing a drop in income from their soccer games because of the rebrand. The Ultimate Team mode is just awful having spent last year playing it for the first time after casually playing vs games as my favourite team for the previous 15 years. A mode where every weekend (weekend league) you try to win as many games out of 10 you can on servers that struggle to cope, against players who aren’t in it to have fun. They are in it to win and get the better players from the rewards. And they score the same goal over and over and over again. If there’s a long range shot with a perfect timing that means it’s a goal every time, these players are just doing that every game as often as they can. It’s not a fun game and FC25 is very much like FC24. One year (September to February) was enough to see how utterly fomo the ultimate team mode becomes and that’s without factoring in the constant special perk creep on the players throughout the year to try to keep people playing and spend money on packs. To be beaten by 1 trick ponies or terrible server performance.