Electronic Arts has announced its financial results for the fiscal third quarter ending December 31st, showing impressive performance driven largely by its EA Sports FC division, which exceeded expectations with a 7% growth in net bookings.
In Q3, net bookings reached $2.366 billion, marking a 1% increase year-over-year (or a 2% increase in constant currency). Live services and other net bookings for Q3 hit a new high of $1.712 billion, showing a 3% rise year-over-year (or a 5% increase in constant currency).
The quarter’s net revenue amounted to $1.945 billion. Net cash provided by operating activities for the quarter totaled $1.264 billion, reflecting a 13% increase year-over-year. Over the trailing twelve months, net cash provided by operating activities reached a record $2.352 billion. Additionally, EA repurchased 2.5 million shares for $325 million during the quarter, bringing the total for the trailing twelve months to 10.4 million shares for $1.300 billion.
EA’s top games achieved remarkable milestones during this period. For example, EA Sports FC garnered a total of 1.7 billion cross-play matches and The Sims 4 logged 1.8 billion hours of gameplay, marking a 30% increase from the previous year. In addition, Apex Legends Esports (ALGS) amassed 47.9 million hours of viewership. EA Sports Madden NFL also achieved a 5% year-over-year growth in net bookings.
Andrew Wilson, CEO of EA, commented, “Our incredible teams delivered a strong Q3, entertaining hundreds of millions of people across our portfolio, driving deep engagement and record live services. We remain focused on growing our biggest franchises and delivering new, innovative games and experiences for our global communities.”
For the shareholders, EA has announced a quarterly cash dividend of $0.19 per share for the Company’s common stock, to be distributed on March 20, 2024, to shareholders of record as of the close of business on February 28, 2024.
