You might think Electronic Arts is made of money, but it’s got a lot less after the end of 2010.
The big videogame conglomerate published a lot of great games last year, from sci-fi favorite Mass Effect 2 to stalwart franchise offerings like Need for Speed: Hot Pursuit and Medal of Honor. EA Sports’ annual rehashes like FIFA 11 and Madden NFL 11 also sold like hotcakes. All of those games sold fairly well, over 5 million copies each, but somehow Electronic Arts still wasn’t able to turn a profit. In fact, according to earnings reports announced today, EA lost $322 million from October to December 2010.
Let that sink in. Despite selling tons of copies of popular games, EA lost more money in three months than the mind can comfortably fathom. Three hundred and twenty two million dollars.
The only good news from this report is that digital distribution for the company grew in revenue to $211 million from $152 million in ’09. That tiny growth is small consolation seeing as total sales dropped from $1.243 billion last year to $1.053 billion in 2010.
I just, I can’t even find the words. How can this happen to a company that big and that still produces games that make so many people happy?
Source: GamesIndustry.biz
