Activision may have had the best selling game worldwide last year, but as reported in EA’s Q3 Fiscal Year 2015 results today, Electronic Arts was the #1 publisher worldwide in calendar year 2014 for PlayStation 4 and Xbox One games, driven by the success of Dragon Age Inquisition, FIFA 15, NHL 15, Madden NFL 15, EA Sports UFC, Titanfall, Battlefield 4, and FIFA 14.
Specifically focused on Inquisition, EA says, “It quickly became the most successful launch in BioWare history,” with the single player campaign having been played for over 113 million hours.
For a few other stats, EA revealed over 2.1 million sessions of Battlefield 4 were played during the quarter; the most popular fighters in EA Sports UFC are Jon Jones and Anderson Silva; and over 1.2 million hours of Plants vs Zombies: Garden Warfare were played during the PlayStation Anniversary weekend when it was given away for free to PS4 owners.
CEO Andrew Wilson talked about the Q3 (ended December 31, 2014) results:
Electronic Arts delivered amazing experiences to our players in Q3, from the award-winning Dragon Age: Inquisition to SimCity BuildIt to our live services for FIFA, Madden NFL and more. Great execution with our leading IP, new mobile hits and continued strength in our catalogue of top games and services were the foundation for an excellent performance in Q3.
CFO Blake Jorgensen added:
EA has driven another quarter of record-breaking financials. Our ongoing digital transformation, including live services like EA SPORTS Ultimate Team, coupled with ongoing cost discipline, enables us to deliver consistent cash flow and earnings growth.
Looking at numbers, net revenue for the quarter beat expectations and was $1.428 billion. Because of this, their entire fiscal year expectations were raised from $4.175 billion to $4.253 billion.
