Electronic Arts retreats from 2009 forecast as sales in North America and Europe disappoint
Computer game-maker Electronic Arts said it expects sales and profits for its 2009 fiscal year ending next March to be below its previous guidance given on Oct. 30, when the company said it expected sales to come in “between $4.9 and $5.15 billion”, or 33 to 41 percent higher than the year before. Profit was forecast to range between a loss of 21 cents to a gain of 7 cents per diluted shares.
The downturn was primarily the result of “lower than expected sales across North America and Europe. The company said it would not be providing updated financial guidance for fiscal 2009 before it reports results in February for its current quarter.
“While we saw significant improvement in the overall quality of our key products this year, we are disappointed that our holiday slate is not meeting our sales expectations,” said John Riccitiello, Chief Executive Officer. “Given this performance and the uncertain economic environment, we are taking steps to reduce our cost structure and improve the profitability of our business.”
Details of specific cost cutting measure were not provided. The news, released after regular trading closed in New York, sent shares of Electronic Arts, — which closed Tuesday at $19.35mdown $2.52, or 11.5 percent — down another 7 percent to $17.90 in after-hours trading.
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EA is in big trouble if John Riccitiello thinks their key products have improved in overall quality.
I used to love E.A. but they’ve let cheaters like MSX Security ruin a big profitable part of their business.
Instead of increasing their security, EA’s online revenue has diminished thanks to script kiddies armed with exploit software. Just look at the low number of online game servers with EA products. No one is playing their games anymore.
Well-designed and entertaining games are the perfect way to escape from this economy.
Wake up EA, it’s your lack of support that has turned away your most loyal supporters. You wouldn’t listen to thousands of players in your own support forums. Now they are speaking to you with their wallets!