FIFA 21 surpasses 31 million players in a highly successful fiscal quarter for Electronic Arts

The company increases its profits in anticipation of the release of Battlefield 2042 in the fall.

Electronic Arts has published this morning its financial report corresponding to the results of the first quarter of its fiscal year, from April to June 2021. A period in which the company has exceeded all expectations , says EA itself, driven by good sales of its catalog games and the continued profitability of games as a service such as FIFA 21 and the free Apex Legends .

In total, the company led by Andrew Wilson closed the quarter with net sales of 1,459 million dollars . This is a 6% decrease compared to 2020, when the company experienced the momentum of the pandemic, something that becomes clear when we delve into the figures. Full game sales in 2021 are up from 2020 (+ 11.5%) but revenues from micropayments, DLC and the like are down 10.5% now that people are not confined. Despite this, EA has improved its net profit compared to last year, for a total of 365 million dollars (+ 79%).

“We are off to a strong start to the fiscal year , with our incredible teams offering experiences that continue to bring together hundreds of millions of players,” Andrew Wilson said of the results. “Our new launches, leading games and live services all had an outstanding quarter.” On this topic, EA highlights that EA Sports games have attracted more than 140 million active players in the last 12 months. And not only that: the latest FIFA 21 already has more than 31 million players between PC and consoles, where it must be remembered that the game is available with EA Play, included in Xbox Game Pass Ultimate.

Apex Legends sets its new daily player recordLikewise, FIFA Ultimate Team has registered 48% more games this quarter than in 2020. Moving from sports to shooting, Apex Legends has averaged more than 13 million weekly players this quarter , and with it has set its new record daily player history. Respawn’s free battle royale just debuted his new character this week. “With our growing EA Sports portfolio, with more incredible experiences in Apex Legends, the groundbreaking new Battlefield 2042 and our leading services, including for mobile, we are ready to bring more great games and content to players this year,” concludes Wilson.

“Based on our strong performance this quarter, and supported by our continued confidence in our services, we raised our forecasts for the fiscal year, ” adds CFO Blake Jorgensen, who expects revenue of $ 6.85 billion this year. “Our strategic position has never been stronger than now , with growth drivers already in place for this year, for the next and beyond.” We remind you that FIFA 22 will be available in October, and that in 3DJuegos we have already seen the next installment of the saga in action. We tell you all about her in our FIFA 22 next-gen impressions . FIFA 21 surpasses 31 million players in a highly successful fiscal quarter for Electronic Arts