EA Q2 FY24 bookings boosted by Sports FC 24 launch

EA Sports franchises exceeded the company's expectations, Apex Legends down year-on-year

News by Sophie McEvoy Staff Writer

Published on Nov. 2, 2023

Electronic Arts released its earnings report for Q2 FY24, which is the three months ended September 30, 2023, with the firm seeing slight revenue and bookings growth attributed to Madden NFL, FIFA 23 and the successful launch of EA Sports FC 24.

The numbers

Revenue: $1.91 billion (up 0.5% year-over-year)
Net income: $399 million (up 33% year-over-year)
Total net bookings: $1.82 billion (up 4% year-over-year)
Live services bookings: $1.13 billion (up 1% year-over-year)

The highlights

Three EA Sports titles outperformed their expectations during the third quarter.

Madden NFL 24 delivered net bookings growth of 6% year-over-year, while the EA Sports FC franchise helped boost revenue and total net bookings with FIFA 23 and the launch of FC 24. You can read all about FC 24's performance here.

Meanwhile, bookings for Apex Legends were down year-on-year, though EA said this was actually above its expectations, with Season 18 driving "greater-than-anticipated player acquisition and monetisation."

Overall, live services and other net bookings were up 1% year-over-year to $1.13 billion. Over the past 12 months, live services made up 73% of EA's business.

"EA Sports strength, driven by new releases and ongoing live services, delivered Q2 results ahead of expectations," said EA CFO Stuart Canfield.

He added: "We remain focused on delivering for our growing player communities and building upon the momentum across our portfolio, while priortising investments that execute against our largest opportunities to drive long term growth."

Looking ahead, EA expects net revenues between $1.8 billion and $2 billion for the final quarter of its fiscal year.

For the full year, the company's outlook for revenue and net bookings remain unchanged compared to the previous quarter, with the latter expected to be between $7.3 billion and $7.7 billion, "roughly flat to up 5% year-over-year," Canfield said.

In the earnings call, CEO Andrew Wilson also said the publisher is seeing 'softness' in Europe when it comes to video games spend.