A player running with the ball while another chases in EA Sports College Football 25

EA Enjoys Record Q2 Thanks to Live Service Games

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Published: October 30, 2024 9:02 AM

EA has enjoyed its most successful second quarter in history, largely thanks to the performance of the company's sports games portfolio.

According to the company's latest financial results presentation, the $2.1 billion in net bookings EA raked in this year sets a record for Q2, with live service games like EA Sports College Football 25 and EA Sports FC 25 driving 74% of those bookings.

The studio notes that its American football offerings are "on track to exceed $1 billion in net bookings" for this fiscal year, demonstrating just how savvy a decision it was for EA to get back into the college football gaming space.

A player diving to catch the ball in EA Sports College Football 25
EA is having a pretty good year so far, and it has its sports offerings to thank for that.

It's not just sports games, though; The Sims 4 is also part of what's made the year so successful for EA so far.

The free-to-play life sim has apparently drawn in more than 15 million players over the past year, although EA doesn't go into detail about how many of those players stuck around or bought anything within the game with real-world cash.

Still, those numbers will likely give EA a good reason to be proud of its decision not to pursue The Sims 5 and to focus on development on The Sims 4 instead.

It's also no surprise that it's mostly live service offerings that are driving EA's success so far this fiscal year. Since the beginning of April, EA has released precisely one non-live service game, Tales of Kenzera: Zau, and that clearly hasn't had the impact the publisher had hoped it would.

The player running across a bridge with bird-like enemies swooping overhead in Tales of Kenzera: Zau, an EA game
EA has released one non-live service game so far this fiscal year, and it doesn't seem to have done much to contribute to revenue.

It's also worth noting that the reporting period for this fiscal presentation ends on September 30th, which means that whatever sales Dragon Age: The Veilguard manages to achieve will be counted in the figures for the third quarter.

EA's record quarter comes after the company laid off around 5% of its workforce back in February (which technically falls under last fiscal year), cancelling a Star Wars first-person shooter in development at Respawn in the process.

Those layoffs didn't stop CEO Andrew Wilson from making more than $25 million last year, but given today's results, I guess we now know why EA's board is so keen on Wilson.

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Joe has been writing for TechRaptor for several years, and in those years has learned a lot about the gaming industry and its foibles. He’s originally an… More about Joseph