EA’s December session was a bit underwhelming as Dragon Age and football missed predictions

Electronic Arts said today that its third-quarter financial results and the fiscal year ending March 31 will be lower than expected due to lower-than-expected sales. Dragon Age: Veilguard and international football (soccer) games.

EA’s stock fell 10.71% to $127.11 in after-hours trading after the announcement.

EA’s initial guidance for fiscal year 2025 is expected to be mid-single digits in live bookings. However, the company is now making single-digit declines, with Global Soccer driving the biggest change.

On its own, Dragon Age: Veilguard only played 1.5 million players in the quarter, down nearly 50% from EA’s expectations. Ours Rachel Kaser he liked it.

World football experienced two consecutive years of growth. However, the franchise slowly declined as the initial economic boom did not carry over to the end. As a result, EA revised its Global Football concept to end the financial year under one figure among the new concepts.

As a result, EA is reporting preliminary results for its third fiscal quarter and revising its financial outlook for 2025. It now expects to book approximately $2.215 billion for the third fiscal quarter and a revised range of $7 billion to $7.150 billion for fiscal year 2025. EA was previously expecting $7.5 billion to $7.8 billion.

For its third fiscal quarter, EA now expects GAAP net income to be approximately $1.883 billion and approximately $1.11 in GAAP diluted earnings per share.

“During Q3, we continued to deliver great games and experiences across our entire portfolio; However, Dragon Age and EA Sports FC 25 did not live up to our booking expectations,” said Andrew Wilson, CEO of EA, in a statement. “This month, our teams delivered refreshing gameplay in addition to our annual Team of the Year updates in FC 25 ; Good comments from players and the first results are encouraging. We are confident in our long-term outlook and expect a return to growth in FY26, as we execute against our pipeline. “

“We continue to invest in future growth and operational discipline, and remain committed to EA’s financial strategy,” said Stuart Canfield, EA’s CFO, in a statement. “As we look to FY26, we expect to grow as we launch more of our franchises.”

Dragon Age: The Veilguard was released in October for PS5, Xbox Series X/S, and PC. And this month, the game’s director, Corine Busche, confirmed that she was leaving BioWare for an opportunity she couldn’t refuse.

Colin Sebastien, an analyst at Baird Equity Research, said in a statement that he expected EA’s growth, but not to the extent reported today.

“According to the checks, American football titles seem to be in good shape, and Dragon Age missed expectations (not too surprising due to soft sales). However, FC’s damage is related to the strength of the title’s history and its contribution to EA’s profitability,” he wrote. “In the near future, the industry’s struggles will continue, and FC’s struggles will cause more concern about the strength of the recurring franchises. Take-Two’s results will be telling.”

Net bookings for Q3 were ~$2.22 billion (-6.5% Y/Y), below Baird’s estimate of $2.49 billion (consensus slightly higher to $2.51 billion) and about $200 million short of FC/$100 million Dragon Age.

In addition, EA’s revised full-year guidance shows ~$315 million in lower Q4 revenue as the trend may not improve on a month-to-month basis. EA now expects ~MSD% Y/Y decline in football bookings vs. positive Y/Y growth in the past.

“So what is happening from here?” It’s hard to say, but we expect that EA will increase support for FC, perhaps in the form of advertising and a detailed review of the franchise’s brand plans,” Sebastien wrote. “Although this may affect margins, EA may also speed up work processes, such as using technology to improve productivity (e.g. , GenAI). In addition, we hope that EA can comment on the plans for Mass Effect, since the Dragon Age team is said to be working on the title, and the commercial success of Battlefield must now be very important if the FC system does not return. “

Although economic conditions are still difficult, Sebastien wrote that the second half of 2025 should be better.

“After several difficult years (chain problems, few blockbuster games, expensive devices, consumer switching, competition for users’ time), we are still looking forward to a better 2025, perhaps starting with the launch of Nintendo’s Switch 2, and just taking the necessary video games and devices. game content is on time (eg GTA VI may be delayed),” he wrote. “Recently, the industry’s challenges continue, communication equipment needs to reduce costs, and we expect that FC’s actions will bring new concerns to the strength of recurring franchises. “