EllyRox

In what pretty much amounts to a financial report, EA has thrown out some figures for the last financial year. EA has said that they will invest $80 million in development for “Games for Gen4 console systems” in 2013.

EAs total revenue was a jaw-dropping $4.14 billion for the fiscal year, over last year which was $3.59 billion. Profits were up at $76 billion this year as opposed to last year’s loss of $276 million the previous year.

Of the growth, Riccitiello said they “are proud to report a strong quarter and a fiscal year highlighted with $1.2 billion of digital revenue,” and that “In the coming year, we break away from the pack, with a very different profile than the traditional game companies and capabilities that none of our new digital competitors can match.”

Riccitiello is still willing to pick up more companies if they need to, but they won’t be buying brands”, hinting that EA is looking for successful stories compared to of the moment properties, which may have been directed at Zynga’s move to grab OMGPOP.

EA has also confirmed the launch of Crysis 3 in early 2013, and the new need for speed will be out toward the end of 2012. New Dead Space was mentioned, but no dates were released.

Bad news, Star Wars: Old Republic dropped in subscribers to the tune of 400,000. The Legacy and Allies DLC will be available in early 2012, the big boss at EA Frank Gibeau noted that some of their initial casual customers have lost interest, and while CEO John Riccitiello. doesn’t put the game in EAs top 5 franchises he does feel it’s well within the top 10.

Good news, everyone! Battlefield 3 players are still on board, and Riccitiello says they’ll be rewarded with “exciting new development” for the brand. Mass Effect 3 sales have already brought in $200 million in retail since March. Digital revenues are up by 47% over last year.

Though the last year was strong, EA is expecting a loss early this year, with some non-digital staff layoffs, but specifics weren’t mentioned. As a result of the expectation, EAs stock has dropped 10% in after-hours trading. EA, how about hiring someone full time to deal with all the damn glitches in Sims 3? The floating babies are really starting to creep me out.

(Originally Posted to PixelPerfectMag)