Electronic Arts Breaks Into Fortune 500

Despite a visibly challenging year, Electronic Arts has broken into the top companies as listed by Fortune Magazine's 500 list, with a rank of 494. The company is currently valued at $6.2 billion. After several quarters of missed estimates and high-profile restructuring -- including the closure of Pandemic Studios -- during a difficult transition to the digital space, analysts have generally agreed that the company's efforts to realign will bear fruit this year. This year, analysts say, EA's fiscal year guidance may even be a little conservative. "We see evidence that the company is not doing the samethings over and over again: lower headcount, fewer facilities, fewer games, and a growing digital business," opined Wedbush's Michael Pachter recently. "This time, we think that EA is on the right path." Alongside recently-narrowing losses, the publisher said that during the nine months from April through December 2009, it was the overall number one publisher in North America in Europe. It also claims to be the top publisher specifically on the PC, PlayStation 3, and PSP, and the number two publisher on Xbox 360 and Wii.