Economic Slump Hits EA (January 12, 2010)

[ChrisReid]

Electronic Arts had a rougher holiday season than expected. The company announced this morning that it is updating its fiscal year outlook, and they've pared back their numbers for the business year ending in March by about 5%. EA has been in the process of cutting about 25% of its workforce over the last year, including one third of the staff at EA Mythic.

Revised fiscal year 2010 expectations are primarily the result of weakness for EA and the overall packaged goods sector in Europe in December, and a product mix shift to lower margin distribution products in the December quarter, primarily in North America.

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Original update published on January 12, 2010

 

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I'm not an economist but EA does have some great looking games coming out soon. I have no idea how they'll affect their bottom line. I know I'm not the only one highly anticipating Mass Effect 2 (already have the Collector Edition preordered). On the other hand, I don't think some of their other titles have sold nearly as well as they should. The Saboteur is pretty good. There's a few gameplay issues I could mention (definitely not game breaking) but I was actually pleasantly surprised at the overall story and impressed with the quality of the voice acting and dialogue.