EA Earnings Call

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Shir'le E. Illios
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EA Earnings Call

Post by Shir'le E. Illios »

Yesterday EA had its Q3 FY10 (third quarter of fiscal year 2010) earnings call during which they inform shareholders how the company has done and where it is going. Since EA publishes both Dragon Age and Mass Effect that means there’s a few things to report for both franchises.

First is that Dragon Age: Origins reaches triple platinum sales with over 3.2 million units sold worldwide. As per their [url=http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/2 ... m:1w8cj835]press release[/url:1w8cj835]:

[quote:1w8cj835][b:1w8cj835]BioWare's Dragon Age: Origins Reaches Triple Platinum Sales[/b:1w8cj835]

[center:1w8cj835][i:1w8cj835]Legendary Studio's Newest Title Wins over 30 Industry Awards, Ships Over 3 Million Units Becoming BioWare's Sixth Consecutive Blockbuster Franchise[/i:1w8cj835][/center:1w8cj835]

EDMONTON, Canada--([url=http://www.businesswire.com/:1w8cj835]BUSINESS WIRE[/url:1w8cj835])--Leading video game developer BioWareâ„¢, a division of Electronic Arts Inc. (NASDAQ: ERTS), announced today that [i:1w8cj835]Dragon Ageâ„¢: Origins[/i:1w8cj835] has sold-in over 3.2 million* units worldwide. The "RPG of the Year" as named by [i:1w8cj835]Game Informer[/i:1w8cj835], G4, SpikeTV, AOL.com, and [i:1w8cj835]PC Gamer[/i:1w8cj835], [i:1w8cj835]Dragon Age: Origins[/i:1w8cj835] has been hailed by Seth Schiesel of [i:1w8cj835]The New York Times[/i:1w8cj835] as, "…perhaps the best electronic game made yet." [i:1w8cj835]Dragon Age: Origins[/i:1w8cj835] has won over 30 "Best of 2009" awards and has an average review score of 91**. This staggering critical and commercial success makes [i:1w8cj835]Dragon Age: Origins[/i:1w8cj835] the sixth consecutive blockbuster from BioWare, alongside [i:1w8cj835]Baldur's Gateâ„¢[/i:1w8cj835], [i:1w8cj835]Neverwinter Nightsâ„¢[/i:1w8cj835], [i:1w8cj835]Star Wars®: Knights of the Old Republicâ„¢[/i:1w8cj835], [i:1w8cj835]Jade Empireâ„¢[/i:1w8cj835] and [i:1w8cj835]Mass Effectâ„¢[/i:1w8cj835].

Since the release of [i:1w8cj835]Dragon Age: Origins[/i:1w8cj835] in fall 2009, the studio has continued to enchant gamers with additional content packs including [i:1w8cj835]Warden's Keep[/i:1w8cj835] and [i:1w8cj835]Return to Ostagar[/i:1w8cj835]. The upcoming expansion pack, [i:1w8cj835]Dragon Age: Origins – Awakening[/i:1w8cj835] is set to launch on March 16, 2010.

"This is a tremendous start for the [i:1w8cj835]Dragon Age[/i:1w8cj835] franchise and we are extremely pleased with the great reception the game has already received from critics and fans worldwide," said Dr. Ray Muzyka, co-founder, BioWare and Group General Manager of the RPG/MMO Group of EA. "Our team is dedicated to crafting high quality, engaging new adventures and stories in the world of Ferelden for our fans!"


*According to internal EA data
**On PC according to Metacritic.com[/quote:1w8cj835]
Seconly, in a release scheduly accompanying [url=http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/2 ... s:1w8cj835]their financials[/url:1w8cj835], there is a listing in Q4 FY11 (i.e. for somewhere in the first three months of 2011) for a “Dragon Age Title TBA” on PC, console and handheld (where handhelds can include modile handsets like the iPhone). The two main threads of speculation here is that this is either another expansions along the lines of Awakening, or that it is a full sequel. BioWare [i:1w8cj835]has[/i:1w8cj835] [url=http://www.joystiq.com/2010/01/29/biowa ... /:1w8cj835]mentioned a Dragon Age 2[/url:1w8cj835] before, stating that they are working on the technology and that they’re going “to make it visually super hot”. But on the other hand little over a year (say a year-and-a-half) seems rather short to make a sequel to a game that took five years to develop; people would expect at least as much depth and content in the sequel. I guess we’ll have to see.

Similarly Ea mentioned “[url=http://uk.pc.ign.com/articles/106/10677 ... l:1w8cj835]something far reaching for Mass Effect[/url:1w8cj835]” in “winter 2011”. Since BioWare has mentioned that they want a fairly short turnaround for the sequel this time around. But it does seem rather soon and might be a substantial expansion as well (or something entirely different).

Finally, they [url=http://uk.ps3.ign.com/articles/106/1067 ... l:1w8cj835]mentioned that[/url:1w8cj835] “In fiscal 2011, every one of EA's releases will have an online component, both downloadable content and online play.” This could just be saying that every game will have something similar to the online component of Dragon Age: Origins (ingame store and social site connection) and Mass Effect 2 (Cerberus Network), or it could be a promise that every game will include some kind of online play; the wording is a tad confusing. Perhaps that something far reaching for Mass Effect 2 is a multiplayer expansion?

For more news from the earnings call, VG247 has [url=http://www.vg247.com/2010/02/09/eas-q3- ... /:1w8cj835]compiled a list[/url:1w8cj835] of their news links.


[[url=http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/2 ... m:1w8cj835]link[/url:1w8cj835]] to triple platinum sales press release at Business Wire.
[[url=http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/2 ... s:1w8cj835]link[/url:1w8cj835]] to EA Q3 FY2010 Results at Business Wire.
[[url=http://uk.pc.ign.com/articles/106/10677 ... l:1w8cj835]link[/url:1w8cj835]] to Mass Effect news at IGN.
[[url=http://uk.ps3.ign.com/articles/106/1067 ... l:1w8cj835]link[/url:1w8cj835]] to online component news at IGN.
[[url=http://www.vg247.com/2010/02/09/eas-q3- ... /:1w8cj835]link[/url:1w8cj835]] to news list at VG247.


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Shir'le
F'sarn natha tithaur wun l'su'aco.

-= Shir'le E. Illios =-
Chosen of Eilistraee
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