Electronic Arts is in a bit of a rough spot after what it’s calling a disappointing third fiscal quarter. Stocks fell roughly 18%, which could lead to the publisher’s largest single-day decline since 1999.
The news came after a late-night conference call from EA CEO Andrew Wilson. Wilson stated that the major publisher faced “significant challenges” in its third fiscal quarter. Unfortunately, most of this stems from the disappointing sales performance of November 2018’s Battlefield V. With 7.3 million units sold, its numbers were 1 million under what EA was expecting. EA attributes this underperformance to its decision to hold off Battlefield V’s battle royale mode until Spring 2019, instead choosing to emphasize its single-player content. With that, it remains to be seen if the debut of the “Firestorm” mode will result in a boost of Battlefield V sales.
Unfortunately, the last few months haven’t been EA’s brightest. It recently canceled the Star Wars game in development at EA Vancouver. That game was actually a new version of the Star Wars game headed by Amy Hennig at the now-shuttered Visceral Games.
However, while EA expects its difficulties to continue into the fourth quarter, it is remaining hopeful. It will soon be launching Anthem, the company’s first new IP after 2014’s Titanfall. And speaking of Titanfall, EA stealth-launched Apex Legends, a new battle royale game set in the same universe. It’s already off to a strong start, raking up 2.5 million concurrent players in its first day. 2019 will also see the release of Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order, the first non-Battlefront Star Wars game to see a console release. It certainly seems like EA has it in it to bounce back, so we shall see what the future holds.
[Source: MarketWatch]
