Electronic Arts, the publisher of Titanfall and Plants vs. Zombies, reported earnings today that blew away Wall Street expectations.
The Redwood City, Calif.-based company reported a profit of 73 cents a share, beating estimates of 53 cents. Non-GAAP revenue for the quarter totaled $1.22 billion, also exceeding analyst best guesses, which were forecasting revenue of $1.16 billion.
In a release, CEO Andrew Wilson said, “It was an excellent second quarter, with strong new titles, deep player engagement in our live services and ongoing digital growth driving continued momentum.”
Despite the beat, EA is trading down $1.12, or nearly 3 percent, to $36.36 a share in after hours.
The game maker said positive results were due to a multi-platform approach, across PC, console and mobile. It said players logged more than 1.9 billion hours of gameplay on the console and PC; monthly active users for EA’s mobile titles averaged over 155 million, with EA’s sports games averaged more than 40 million monthly active users on mobile, up 250 percent year-over-year.
Another service that is growing faster than expected, is EA Access, a new digital service it launched last quarter for Xbox One players. It allows unlimited play across a selection of EA titles for a monthly or annual fee. Wilson said it has “grown well beyond our early expectations, and we anticipate continued momentum in the months ahead.”
Other games that did notably well during the period were FIFA, Madden NFL and Hockey Ultimate Team, which saw net revenue grow 96 percent year over year.
Looking forward, EA is increasing full-year guidance based on its existing catalog of games and future releases like Battlefield Hardline, coming March 17, 2015 in North America. EA says is now expecting non-GAAP revenue of $4.174, an increase of $75 million. It’s now expecting non-GAAP earnings per share to come in at $2.05, up 20 cents a share.
