FIFA Mobile's debut in China brings EA its highest grossing day for a mobile game

Electronic Arts has released its first quarterly financial report of the 2019 fiscal year, ultimately showing year-over-year decreases in multiple categories though still coming in above its forecasted numbers for this quarter.

For the quarter ending June 30, EA reported net revenue of $1.14 billion, down from the $1.45 billion reported during the same period last year. In an earnings call with investors however, the company noted that this quarter’s net revenue still falls above EA’s forecast for Q1 by a solid $57 million.

Digital net bookings now make up 69 percent, $693 million, of EA’s total net-bookings and 6 percent larger chunk of that overall pie compared to last year. Additionally, net bookings related to live services found in games like FIFA Online 4 and The Sims 4 rose by 7 percent from last year to $450 million for the quarter. 

While digital itself rose, PC and console full-game downloads declined by 14 percent, year-over-year. Additionally, mobile net bookings fell by 2 percent year-over-year, something EA COO and CFO Blake Jorgensen credited to slight declines in older mobile titles. In an earnings call, he notes that this quarter’s release of FIFA Mobile in Asia helped to offset that decay, however. Though FIFA Mobile has only recently reached China, Jorgensen says the company is “encouraged” by the game’s performance so far, explaining that the game delivered one of the highest grossing days ever for any of its mobile titles. 

Both the mobile FIFA tiles and the series as a whole gave a solid contribution to this quarter’s performance, something EA notes was boosted by the World Cup event and its corresponding in-game promotions.