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EA Suffers a $310 million loss, a tanking share price, and lays off 600 in the second quarter

Electronic Arts announced in a press release it has suffered a net loss of $310 million for the fiscal second quarter resulting in a diluted loss per share of $0.97. The losses occurred despite net revenue of $894 million which is an increase of $254 million when compared to the previous year. In response to the negative financial news, Electronic Arts shares fell 17.1 % on Friday falling to $22.99.

John Riccitiello, Chief Executive Officer of EA talked about his view of the current video game industry stating, “Considering the slow down at retail we’ve seen in October, we are cautious in the short term.” He also said, “Longer term, we are very bullish on the game sector overall and on EA in particular. The industry is growing double-digits on the strength of three new game consoles and increases in the number of homes with broadband internet connections. EA is well positioned to benefit from these technology drivers due to the strength of our creative studios and our broad collection of game properties--from The Sims, to Spore and Madden NFL, to Warhammer Online.”

In response to its financial struggles Electronic Arts has decided to implement a “Cost Reduction Plan” by axing 6% of its work force, which amounts to about 600 jobs. The Company estimates its cost reduction plan will result in annual pre-tax cost savings of approximately $50 million.

Electronic Arts struggles have come in spite of several successes, Spore has sold 2 million copies in 3 weeks despite the negative controversy over the implementation of its SecuRom DRM. Warhammer Online: Age of Reckoning has sold 1.2 million and amassed 800,000 registered subscribers. Madden NFL 09 sold 4.5 million copies and was the number one title across all platforms in the quarter based on NPD data.

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Hopefully they keep losing money
By Bateluer on 11/3/2008 8:08:13 AM , Rating: 5
I feel for their employees and workers, but the actions of their management mean EA needs to go the way of the dodo.




RE: Hopefully they keep losing money
By V3ctorPT on 11/3/2008 8:16:04 AM , Rating: 5
I hope that this situation awakes EA... Start making good games, not selling small updates for your franchises... Your customers (if there are any) say thanks...


RE: Hopefully they keep losing money
By vapore0n on 11/3/2008 8:22:03 AM , Rating: 5
... and stop with the excessive counter measurements for piracy.
It only hurts the paying customer.


RE: Hopefully they keep losing money
By DanoruX on 11/3/2008 8:48:41 AM , Rating: 2
Too bad Spore still sold 2 million. More people need to boycott.


RE: Hopefully they keep losing money
By Bateluer on 11/3/2008 9:07:12 AM , Rating: 2
But how many pirated?


RE: Hopefully they keep losing money
By inighthawki on 11/3/2008 10:10:59 AM , Rating: 4
I bet a whole lot more than who bought it... It's sad that game could've sold so much better...


By dflynchimp on 11/3/2008 1:24:18 PM , Rating: 3
Personally I'd say that most of the people who pirated the game wouldn't have bought it regardless, DRM or not. But it's undeniable that EA lost customers to the bad pr over the whole DRM fiasco. It's silly that they continue along that path when DRM is so blatently not preventing piracy.


By SavagePotato on 11/6/2008 10:28:57 AM , Rating: 2
I deliberately passed on buying, as well as pirating spore. I would rather not support games with absurd drm. I simply do not want their securom crap on my machine.

These games are out on the torrents usually before they even make it to market anyway. Far cry2, despite it's absurd drm was cracked by razor 1911 and out even before it was in stores, nicely stripped of said annoying drm as well. You are pretty well better off with the pirate copy ironically.


RE: Hopefully they keep losing money
By Hiawa23 on 11/3/2008 11:49:23 AM , Rating: 2
I understand why many gamers bash EA, but, myself, I really have nothing bad to say about em. There are some franchises I like & some I don't but this aint good news at all if the largest & possibly the most succesful 3rd party dev is having financial problems.

Say what you want about EA, but they have some good franchises out & new IPs like Mirror's Edge, & a few others should help them in quarter 4, & for some to say that EA needs to go down is ridiculous if they go down, so does part of the gaming industry & with the economy going the way it is, I wouldn't want to wish that on any company cause the first thing they do is lay off people.


RE: Hopefully they keep losing money
By n00bxqb on 11/3/2008 9:20:47 PM , Rating: 3
You understand why gamers bash EA, but yet you defend EA, a company that solely creates, publishes, and distributes games, against gamers, aka their customers ?

Wow, makes no sense at all. Did you even think about that before you typed it ? A GAMING COMPANY'S GOAL IS TO MAKE GAMERS HAPPY SO THEY BUY THEIR GAMES. If gamer's are not happy, it means EA is doing a shitty job of running their gaming business.

Just a few things EA has done, or is doing, to screw up the gaming industry as a whole, along with itself:

Snapping up small gaming studios with passion and a desire to create GOOD GAMES, then forcing their philosophies, schedules, and budget constraints on them, resulting in worse-than-expected games with worse-than-expected sales. Go figure ...

Buying exclusive licensing rights for its biggest franchises to create a pseudo-monopoly on the genre (i.e. Madden). There were several years where there weren't any significant improvements to those franchises until sales started dropping through the floor.

Screwing over the PC gaming crowd. Whether it be DRM, poorly-ported titles, minimal updates (I'm SOOO looking forward to NHL '06 v1.4 ... I mean NHL '09 :rolleyes: ), EA has slowly but steadily killing off its PC gaming revenue. Yeah, Spore sold 2 million copies, but how many copies would it have sold if:

1) They didn't implement restrictive DRM that punishes the buyer whereas the person who downloaded the pirated copy faces no consequences (plus got it early). Look how many people boycotted the game because of DRM.

2) The game didn't suck. We wanted the game that was promised to us years ago, not the watered-down crap we got. You're into space exploration in no time where it quickly becomes a mediocre (at best) kiddie RTS. A result of not letting the game developers develop a game in their vision. Weak ...

3) EA released games that were functional on release day. I don't want to buy a half-done game with half-baked, overly-restrictive DRM and have to wait 3 months for EA to get a patch out so its actually playable. A result of forcing games out on EA's schedule, even if they're not ready.

Yes, I will say what I want about EA. I would not shed a single goddamned tear if EA went out of business forever right now. The end result would be better games, better customer satisfaction, and a healthier gaming industry.


By Hiawa23 on 11/4/2008 11:23:17 AM , Rating: 2
Dude, I did not defend anyone, all I said was like mostly all devs/pubs, I like alot of their games, & some I don't. I have never been a PC gamer, never liked gaming on PCs so all I go by are the console games, & like I said I like some of their games, & not others. I am not defending EA here, like I said many gamers have every right to bash em, but I am not one of them, & in the grand scheme of my life, whether they make shoddy games or how they shaft PC gamers is really not any concern to me. I like Dead Space & the potential of Mirror's Edge, & all their racers, but I don't like Madden or the NBA series, so like I said there are some I like some I don't. It's that simple for me, & I keep games in their proper place.


RE: Hopefully they keep losing money
By Schadenfroh on 11/3/2008 8:24:31 AM , Rating: 3
EA Sports (at least on the consoles) is likely one of the most profitable branches of EA.

Roster updates and killing the multiplayer of the previous year's games can do wonders for sales with low investments (since you are basically editing text files and switching faces on characters around).

Last I checked, each year many people gladly hand over $60 for their roster updates.


RE: Hopefully they keep losing money
By omnicronx on 11/3/2008 9:49:55 AM , Rating: 2
Every year the gameplay for EA games is different, and to tell you the truth, the entire 09 series are great set of games. I always hear that argument from people who happen to suck at sports games. Sports games have a great replay value, I don't mind buying the 3 big sports games a year (madden, fifa and nhl for me), I just return my old games right before the next one is released to EB games (price drops to like 10 dollars as a month before the new games comes out, but I usually get as much as 25 dollars back. So in turn, I end up paying for around 1 1/2 games a year at most.


By inighthawki on 11/3/2008 10:14:11 AM , Rating: 2
But the thing is, that is your opinion. In MY opinion, i think sports games are very boring, and i dread playing them. So where you are one person willing to buy 3 new games a year for replay value, I'll do anything to keep from playing them altogether.

Back to the matter though, i don't necessarily want EA to go under, but rather key into the fact that they need improvements. As stated above, they really need to work out some fresh new games, and cut back on the anti-piracy measures, then they'll sell good games.


RE: Hopefully they keep losing money
By MrBlastman on 11/3/2008 10:13:26 AM , Rating: 2
The Fellowship is shrinking. I fear the Black Gate's grip on EA's fans is growing smaller every day. They desperately need help. They desperately need a change of course...

... They desperately need... an Avatar.

It is with these tired hands I lament, as the Avatar is no more. It is sad to greave that which has past, for they have bereaven us of our great hero. The land has grown silent for such a long time. The halls of the Fellowship have flourished for many an age.

An age long bygone, for it was the time of heroes, the time of might, the time of conquest... The time of great titles in abundance and the programmers paws worked to the bone.

But the halls grow empty day by day. The Fellowship faces a new challenge, one that is darker than the great Shadowlords themselves. That of not a great savant, but perhaps an idiot of kings. The phrase... DRM and Rehash fill the land.

Perhaps what they need is the very champion slain by their own hands. The Avatar of old, must heed and help the very fellowship which he fought. Can EA pull it off? Can the Avatar save them?

Not if Lord British himself can help it... For his anguish, loathe and disdain for the halls of EA has echoed throughout eternity.

The Avatar - it is funny - can not even save them now.


RE: Hopefully they keep losing money
By Pirks on 11/3/2008 12:46:24 PM , Rating: 2
You mean EA Sports World Avatar?


By MrBlastman on 11/3/2008 1:14:31 PM , Rating: 2
You really don't get any of what I said, do you?

It had nothing to do with this "EA Sports World Avatar..."


By MarkLuvsCS on 11/4/2008 1:43:12 AM , Rating: 3
I understand what you mean. If you wish to live again in the world of the avatar and his virtues, check out www.uosecondage.com. A free server that is the way it was.

EA took over Origin Studios back in like 1998-2000. Shortly thereafter decided they would push out an out developed POS broken game that was supposed to be the finale: Ultima 9: Ascension. They pushed for a christmas release even though the game was so bug ridden it played horrorendous on good computers of that time, and with some bugs the game was unbeatable (disappearing Lord British who you need to talk to in order to finish it). They kept support for a few months before removing any money that was left keeping that development a float. I purchased Ultima IX Dragon Edition because i loved the series, and wanted the absolute best they could offer for it.

And of course there was their input into the first and great MMO that started it all: Ultima Online. The development of Ultima Online 2 was started shortly after the original Ultima Online became such a big hit. EA decided to axe the project (even though they had working alpha) and build onto the original Ultima Online with pretty little expansions. Anything to scrounge an extra $30-40 from its customers. They came out with a SLIGHTLY modified client which had newer textures and animations and tried to make the game look "3D". Although it was rather crappy UO: Third Dawn got them some money because of course if you didn't have the expansion you couldn't get to see the new stuff.

So whenever i see EA Games on things i'm VERY weary. I've never been one to enjoy the mindless dronelike games that EA Sports have to offer, but EA is all about small changes that they can nickel and dime their customers for.

Long live the memory of best, and first MMO that changed the gaming world, Ultima Online.

I do hope Richard Garriot, aka Lord British, will strike another brilliant melody we will all come to love.


I can't help but....
By InvertMe on 11/3/2008 8:48:32 AM , Rating: 5
..think that a company as large as EA and that sells as many games as EA could only have financial trouble due to horrible management and miss-spending.

I realize some people don't agree with EA's policies on DRM and changes made to some titles but the ones that actually won't buy a game just because EA released it as a result (I think) is a very small number.

Unfortunately I can see EA using this a loss as more "proof" that too many people are indeed stealing their IP and that stricter forms of anti-piracy are needed.

I am interested to see what EAs press release on the subject says. I wonder what spin they put on it.




RE: I can't help but....
By Regs on 11/3/2008 10:42:43 AM , Rating: 2
You had one of the most sensible post out of the bunch. Piracy is a problem, but it's not EA's complete problem. If they wanted to use counter-measures for piracy, why on earth go to secureRom? Make the measures in-house when they will likely be more effective. Sure you'll be spending money, but at least your customer service will know how to deal with it when a customer gets locked out from playing the game.

They've also have not been pressuring the game developers enough. Some say too much pressure and the game is rushed, or not enough and the game comes out lacking quality. And why are all games released end of 3rd and beginning of 4th quarter only (Sept, Oct., Nov, Dec)? You're pitting up your games with the rest of the competition during the holiday season and let me tell you how many of those teenagers and college students have so much time and money in the beginning of fall!!


RE: I can't help but....
By DarkElfa on 11/3/2008 10:43:11 AM , Rating: 3
Fist off, I'll start by saying that piracy is not in any way responsible for this problem. Ea, it its bid to take over the world of gaming has purchased almost every studio it can get its grubby little hands on, crapped on its buyers with draconian DRM practices and released sub par, poorly tested, buggy ass games with as little regard for what the consumer wants as Steve Jobs. Piracy is a Red Herring, just a little something they'd all like nipped in the bud.

They could learn a thing or two from Valve...

..except for making their time tables of course, Valve will be late to their own funeral.


RE: I can't help but....
By Regs on 11/3/2008 10:50:25 AM , Rating: 1
Oh no, theft is never a problem. Never should laws be inforced or law-breaking should be discouraged.

You want to talk about draconian?


RE: I can't help but....
By eyebeeemmpawn on 11/3/2008 12:17:33 PM , Rating: 2
if you have to break laws to enforce laws then what exactly are you doing? Draconian? Can we please get a consumer's bill of rights? Maybe one that isn't written by a bunch of RIAA/MPAA/BSA lobbyists?


RE: I can't help but....
By Regs on 11/3/2008 2:24:42 PM , Rating: 2
Over zealous consumer right laws have notoriously cause more damage than good for the consumer. It diminishes competition where a industry is all ready suffering. New developers are afraid of entering the PC market because of piracy, but more so because the investment capital to make such a company is all ready very expensive (graphic engines, cross-plat forming, online database engineering). Yet some how the majority here, think it's not a problem in the industry? EA is conglomerate because there is no competition. Yet some how, there are these fundamentalist pop-culturist who are advocating piracy is not a problem, which is to EA's benefit either way you look at it.

I do agree that DRM is restrictive, but most of the complaints ive been reading are either devoid of all intelligent or reasonable thought, cherry-picked, or biased. People started "boycotting" EA because they took over Westwood Studios, am I suppose to take these people seriously?

I think it's time to grow up.


RE: I can't help but....
By InvertMe on 11/3/2008 11:41:24 AM , Rating: 3
I wouldn't say piracy isn't a problem for EA (or any software vendor). If no one stole their games I am sure EAs bottom line would be a lot better right now. (assuming even 20% of the thieves chose to buy the software instead)

Back in my youth I did internal loss prevention for a large conglomerate retailer and I can say for a fact that theft deeply cuts into the profits of the company and had to be planned for accordingly.

I don't want to get into a debate on the ethics of piracy though so I will stop here.


The reason why is obvious
By AlexWade on 11/3/2008 8:49:37 AM , Rating: 5
We as EA are perfect, we make great games that everyone wants. We have not alienated gamers by buying smaller studios and by using Orwellian DRM on their most popular games. We are not pissing anyone off by assuming they are criminals and assuming they are guilty until proven innocent. We do not make mistakes and rush products to market before they are ready. Therefore, the reason why we as EA are losing money is piracy. We don't need actual proof. Since we are perfect, the fault must lie with pirates. Sure, the down economy hurts a little, but just a little. Pirates are the reason we are suffering, therefore, more DRM is the answer. DRM cannot be defeated. DRM has no side-effects.

Well, that is the way EA thinks. You can also replace EA with RIAA or MPAA with most of that and it would still apply too. I know piracy is a problem, but it is not THE reason they are suffering. The reason EA is suffering is because they are (1) treating their customers like dirt, (2) putting out sorry titles, and (3) because people don't have the money to spend on games as much. I was going to buy Spore, until I saw it had it was loaded with DRM and required activation. Games should never require activation. Not even Microsoft's activation scheme was that oppressive. In fact, I've never had any problems getting Windows activated even after I re-installed the same OS license many times on my computer. Adobe's product also require activation, but each product is about $300 each and even that activation is not a pain.

In short, I hope EA sinks faster than the Titanic. But before you die, please make Maxis independent again.




RE: The reason why is obvious
By piroroadkill on 11/3/2008 9:26:42 AM , Rating: 2
spot on


RE: The reason why is obvious
By ebakke on 11/3/2008 9:30:42 AM , Rating: 2
quote:
But before you die, please make Maxis independent again.
SimCity FTW!


RE: The reason why is obvious
By mmntech on 11/3/2008 9:41:07 AM , Rating: 3
That's the corporate culture in EA to a tee. If they loose money, they just blame piracy. It makes them look like the victim and hides the gross mismanagement that goes on behind the scenes. One of my greatest laughs was when EA basically admitted that not every torrent download equals a lost sale, and that piracy doesn't affect sales dramatically.
http://news.cnet.com/8301-13846_3-10054438-62.html...
This basically proves that they've been lying and that the increasingly intrusive DRM schemes are not really necessary.

The problem is that if EA dies, it will drag some of the reputable studios they hastily took over with them. I think we can all agree that if Bioware, Maxis, or DICE went down, it would be a big loss to the gaming community. What they need to do is start selling off these assets they can't afford and then start giving pink slips to their bumbling managers.


RE: The reason why is obvious
By Iger on 11/4/2008 10:56:17 AM , Rating: 2
I for one was very grateful to EA for buying Mass Effect off MS and releasing it for PC.


Oh joy!
By Anosh on 11/3/2008 8:35:16 AM , Rating: 1
I'm actually happy to hear this.

I feel for the small fraction of talented people employed by the monster but when I say the following, I really mean it:

quote:
With EA, everything that goes in through one hole comes out the other. In other words, everything EA touches truly turns in to shit.


My neighbor just bought Red Alert 3 since I refused to buy an EA game and as I expected they have completely f*cked everything up. I cannot begin to explain how much I hate EA for ruining C&C, if it weren't for dune and C&C I wouldn't even come close to computers.

Lets hope EA either breaks into pieces with different people at management or is forced to sell of IP to others who can produce quality software.




RE: Oh joy!
By chronodekar on 11/3/2008 10:23:06 AM , Rating: 2
OOOkkkaayyy.

quote:
My neighbor just bought Red Alert 3 since I refused to buy an EA game and as I expected they have completely f*cked everything up.


THIS is news to me. Red Alert 3 has DRM too ?!?

-sigh- I was looking forward to buying the game, especially after seeing all the trailers from gametrailers.com .

Now, I don't think I will. Looks like the 8600GT I bought some months ago just is going to waste. I think I'll save up money for a PS3 now.

Perhaps I'll try out some CUDA programming. Might be interesting.

Any chance that for an expansion pack EA might remove the DRM?


RE: Oh joy!
By MrBlastman on 11/3/2008 10:38:24 AM , Rating: 2
What is the point of playing Red Alert 3 when you have no strategic zoom a la SupCom?

RA 2 was fun, but it was nothing compared to the original Red Alert. EA has messed up the franchise ever since they bought out Westwood completely.


RE: Oh joy!
By bkslopper on 11/4/2008 5:53:43 AM , Rating: 2
All EA games come with Securom now. They started with Spore.


voting with the wallet...
By SniperWulf on 11/3/2008 11:53:46 AM , Rating: 2
While I can't speak for everyone, I have decided to stop purchasing EA games until they loosen up the securom restrictions on their titles. And seeing as how just about all of their recent releases require some kind of activation and install limits..... well, you guys get the picture




RE: voting with the wallet...
By bkslopper on 11/4/2008 5:57:21 AM , Rating: 2
I avoid their PC games now because of the DRM. I'll still buy the console versions, if they're any good.


RE: voting with the wallet...
By Pirks on 11/4/2008 12:01:29 PM , Rating: 2
Yeah, like a console DRM is any better than PC DRM. What a moron :)


EA does what they do best
By Hardin on 11/3/2008 8:48:18 AM , Rating: 3
....fire people. Origin, Westwood, and so many others.




RE: EA does what they do best
By othercents on 11/3/2008 10:24:52 AM , Rating: 2
Yeah this is the same old EA. They rake in the money for a few years when the gaming industry is doing well and when there is a downturn they get rid of key highly paid employees and cause great gaming franchises to die off.

EA has poor financial planning for the future.

Other


$60 for new games.
By JonnyDough on 11/4/2008 1:30:50 AM , Rating: 1
One reason people aren't buying as many games is because the economy is doing badly, and yet new games still cost $60. I remember when brand new games were half that, and it wasn't that long ago. Then along came the new waves of Consoles (XBox) and as PC gaming went out the window, the cost of licensing and middle men went up. You pay Microsoft, Walmart, and who ever else for rights to make a game and sell it, and suddenly you're at $60 a pop. We need to get back to small corner video game stores - get the prices down and people will buy more games. It isn't just about originality, it's also about PRICE. Video gaming should not cost you more than a grand. Ever. The console alone is upwards of $400 with a few goodies. Comps cost a bit more.




RE: $60 for new games.
By bkslopper on 11/4/2008 6:06:16 AM , Rating: 2
$60 is nothing new for games. Nintendo did it in the early 90's with SNES, and they thrived. $60 today isn't worth nearly as much as it was then. (Even PS1 games cost $60 in its first year.) Another factor is game cost. Try beating an old 8 or 16-bit game. The credits include maybe a dozen people or so. Now I can't find a game that doesn't have 200 people listed in the credits. Yeah, the media is cheaper, but by that metric, downloaded games should sell for pennies.


RE: $60 for new games.
By JonnyDough on 11/5/2008 7:31:11 PM , Rating: 2
Today though they are also selling MORE copies - at least, if they're a hit. You can hardly compare the mass market of today to the Nintendo era. Furthermore, $60 for a game is quite a lot, and I listed the reasons why...licensing and middlemen. The production of the game itself, considering the number of copies sold is actually quite a ratio. There are programs today that make game design a lot easier, and faster computers to do it on. Furthermore, there are a lot more programmers and developers out there then there once was. So if the price has remained at $60 for a new game since the Nintendo era (which is a load of crap because I owned a Nintendo and I also remember a few years back when it was $50 for a new game, try $30-40), then that tells me that there is a bit of a problem in the industry. Namely, there are no more mom and pop video game stores. Even EB Games and GameStop merged.

There were two things growing up that my friends and I spent our allowances on. One was sports cards, the other was video games.


By Beenthere on 11/3/2008 1:51:57 PM , Rating: 2
I guess the gaming industry is not immune to the economic plight of the U.S. and other countries. Who knew?




Copyright infringment != piracy
By Siki on 11/3/2008 2:47:45 PM , Rating: 2
I'm surprised they aren't blaming copyright infringement for their decline. And by the way, it's copyright infringement not piracy. Piracy implies theft and copyright infringement is not theft.




:-P
By JonnyDough on 11/6/2008 10:49:29 AM , Rating: 2
After playing Dead Space and trying out Mirror's Edge
By Pirks on 11/3/08, Rating: -1
By dflynchimp on 11/3/2008 1:30:22 PM , Rating: 2
Lol, obviously you came prepared to be downrated for your post. Perhaps I should put your words in a more politically correct way.

Those who are bothered by DRM, don't buy the game. It's your right as the paying customer to make that decision. If you bought the game it was a concious choice and you can't say that DRM was "forced" upon you. I dislike DRM on principle because I think it's the wrong direction to be taking this anti-piracy system, but to be frank, I have to admit that I bought both Far Cry 2 and Mass effect, despite the DRM. the DRM itself doesn't actually impede my enjoyments of the actual game, and I don't think 60 seconds over a simple activation is worth whining about. I've wasted more time looking at naughty pictures and doing naughty things with myself.


By Pirks on 11/3/2008 3:16:32 PM , Rating: 1
What DRM? I dunno what you're talking about. I just went to EA Store, paid fifty bucks, downloaded the game to my gamebook and now happily enjoying it a couple of hours every day. EA got my money, I got absolutely wonderful game, the best since Doom 3, everyone's happy and the only ones who lost are bunch of dumbheads whining about Duke Nukem and Doom 3 here. Who cares :)


By kyleb2112 on 11/3/2008 1:42:49 PM , Rating: 2
I liked Dead Space better the first time when it was called Doom 3.


By Expunge on 11/3/2008 2:37:22 PM , Rating: 2
I liked Doom 3 better the first time when it was called Duke Nukem 3D. Hail to the Chief, Baby!


"If they're going to pirate somebody, we want it to be us rather than somebody else." -- Microsoft Business Group President Jeff Raikes











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