Electronic Arts Reports

REDWOOD CITY, CA – January 30, 2020 – Electronic Arts Inc. (NASDAQ: EA) today announced preliminary financial results for its third fiscal quarter ended December 31, 2019.

News and ongoing updates regarding EA and its games are available on EA’s blog at www.ea.com/news.

“It was an excellent third quarter, with our new games and live services delighting more players around the world,” said CEO Andrew Wilson. “Our amazing creative teams at Electronic Arts continue to deliver some of the most high-quality, innovative and engaging experiences and content to a growing global audience.”

“Over the last twelve months, we have delivered record live services revenue, live services net bookings and operating cash flow,” said COO and CFO Blake Jorgensen. “Our broad-based business model reduces our dependence on individual titles and enables us to deliver financial results for our shareholders by providing a constant stream of high-quality entertainment for our players. We expect live services to continue to drive growth in fiscal 2021 and for growth to accelerate in fiscal 2022, led by a new Battlefield.”

Selected Operating Highlights and Metrics

• Digital net bookings* for the trailing twelve months was $4.128 billion, up 15% year-over-year and now represents 77% of total net bookings.
• During the quarter, EA launched Plants vs. Zombies: Battle for Neighborville™, Need for Speed™ Heat and Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order™.
• FIFA Ultimate Team™ matches were up nearly 40% year-over-year from launch through Q3.
• During the quarter, The Sims™ 4 surpassed 20 million unique players worldwide life-to-date.

* Net bookings is defined as the net amount of products and services sold digitally or sold-in physically in the period. Net bookings is calculated by adding total net revenue to the change in deferred net revenue for online-enabled games and mobile platform fees.

Selected Financial Highlights and Metrics

All financial measures are presented on a GAAP basis.

• Net cash from operating activities was $1.104 billion for the quarter and a record $1.898 billion for the trailing twelve months.
• EA repurchased 3.1 million shares for $305 million during the quarter, bringing the total for the last twelve months to 12.8 million shares for $1.217 billion.

Quarterly Financial Highlights

The following GAAP-based financial data and tax rate of 18% was used internally by company management to adjust its GAAP results in order to assess EA’s operating results:

For more information about the nature of the GAAP-based financial data, please refer to EA’s Form 10-Q for the fiscal quarter ended September 30, 2019.

TTM Financial Highlights

The following GAAP-based financial data and tax rate of 18% was used internally by company management to adjust its GAAP results in order to assess EA’s operating results:

For more information about the nature of the GAAP-based financial data, please refer to EA’s Form 10-Q for the fiscal quarter ended September 30, 2019.

Operating Metric

The following is a calculation of our total net bookings for the periods presented:

Business Outlook as of January 30, 2020

The following forward-looking statements reflect expectations as of January 30, 2020. Electronic Arts assumes no obligation to update these statements. Results may be materially different and are affected by many factors detailed in this release and in EA’s annual and quarterly SEC filings.

Fiscal Year 2020 Expectations – Ending March 31, 2020

Financial metrics:

• Net revenue is expected to be approximately $5.475 billion.
  • Change in deferred net revenue (online-enabled games) is expected to be approximately $(165) million.
  • Mobile platform fees are expected to be approximately $(160) million.
• Net income is expected to be approximately $2.929 billion.
• Diluted earnings per share is expected to be approximately $9.90.
• Operating cash flow is expected to be approximately $1.725 billion.
• The Company estimates a share count of 296 million for purposes of calculating fiscal year 2020 diluted earnings per share.

Operational metric:

• Net bookings is expected to be approximately $5.150 billion.
  

In addition, the following outlook for GAAP-based financial data and a long-term tax rate of 18% are used internally by EA to adjust our GAAP expectations to assess EA’s operating results and plan for future periods:

Fourth Quarter Fiscal Year 2020 Expectations – Ending March 31, 2020

Financial metrics:

• Net revenue is expected to be approximately $1.325 billion.
  • Change in deferred net revenue (online-enabled games) is expected to be approximately $(131) million.
  • Mobile platform fees are expected to be approximately $(42) million.
• Net income is expected to be approximately $308 million.
• Diluted earnings per share is expected to be approximately $1.05.
• The Company estimates a share count of 293 million for purposes of calculating fourth quarter fiscal year 2020 diluted earnings per share.

Operational metric:

• Net bookings is expected to be approximately $1.152 billion.

In addition, the following outlook for GAAP-based financial data and a long-term tax rate of 18% are used internally by EA to adjust our GAAP expectations to assess EA’s operating results and plan for future periods:

For more information about the nature of the GAAP-based financial data, please refer to EA’s Form 10-Q for the fiscal quarter ended September 30, 2019.

Conference Call and Supporting Documents

Electronic Arts will host a conference call on Thursday, January 30, 2020 at 2:00 pm PT (5:00 pm ET) to review its results for the fiscal third quarter ended December 31, 2019 and its outlook for the future.  During the course of the call, Electronic Arts may disclose material developments affecting its business and/or financial performance.  Listeners may access the conference call live through the following dial-in number (866) 393-4306 (domestic) or (734) 385-2616 (international), using the Conference ID 4098898 or via webcast at EA’s IR Website at http://ir.ea.com.

EA has posted a slide presentation, a financial model of EA’s historical results and guidance, and an Investor Accounting FAQ on EA’s IR Website. After the conference call, EA will also post the prepared remarks and a transcript from the conference call on EA’s IR Website.

A dial-in replay of the conference call will be available until February 13, 2020 at (855) 859-2056 (domestic) or (404) 537-3406 (international) using pin code 4098898. An audio webcast replay of the conference call will be available for one year on EA’s IR Website.

Forward-Looking Statements

Some statements set forth in this release, including the information relating to EA’s fiscal 2020 expectations under the heading “Business Outlook as of January 30, 2020,” and other information regarding EA's fiscal 2020, fiscal 2021 and fiscal 2022 expectations contain forward-looking statements that are subject to change.  Statements including words such as “anticipate,” “believe,” “expect,” “intend,” “estimate,” “plan,” “predict,” “seek,” “goal,” “will,” “may,” “likely,” “should,” “could” (and the negative of any of these terms), “future” and similar expressions also identify forward-looking statements. These forward-looking statements are not guarantees of future performance and reflect management’s current expectations. Our actual results could differ materially from those discussed in the forward-looking statements. 

Some of the factors which could cause the Company’s results to differ materially from its expectations include the following: sales of the Company’s products and services; the Company’s ability to develop and support digital products and services, including managing online security and privacy; outages of our products, services and technological infrastructure; the Company’s ability to manage expenses; the competition in the interactive entertainment industry; governmental regulations; the effectiveness of the Company’s sales and marketing programs; timely development and release of the Company’s products and services; the Company’s ability to realize the anticipated benefits of acquisitions; the consumer demand for, and the availability of an adequate supply of console hardware units; the Company’s ability to predict consumer preferences among competing platforms; the Company’s ability to develop and implement new technology; foreign currency exchange rate fluctuations; general economic conditions; changes in our tax rates or tax laws; and other factors described in Part II, Item 1A of Electronic Arts’ latest Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q under the heading “Risk Factors”, as well as in other documents we have filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission, including our Annual Report on Form 10-K for the fiscal year ended March 31, 2019. 

These forward-looking statements are current as of January 30, 2020. Electronic Arts assumes no obligation to revise or update any forward-looking statement for any reason, except as required by law. In addition, the preliminary financial results set forth in this release are estimates based on information currently available to Electronic Arts. 

While Electronic Arts believes these estimates are meaningful, they could differ from the actual amounts that Electronic Arts ultimately reports in its Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q for the fiscal quarter ended December 31, 2019.  Electronic Arts assumes no obligation and does not intend to update these estimates prior to filing its Form 10-Q for the fiscal quarter ended December 31, 2019.

About Electronic Arts

Electronic Arts (NASDAQ: EA) is a global leader in digital interactive entertainment. The Company develops and delivers games, content and online services for Internet-connected consoles, mobile devices and personal computers.

In fiscal year 2019, EA posted GAAP net revenue of $4.95 billion. Headquartered in Redwood City, California, EA is recognized for a portfolio of critically acclaimed, high-quality brands such as EA SPORTS™ FIFA, Battlefield™, Apex Legends™, The Sims™, Madden NFL, Need for Speed™, Titanfall™ and Plants vs. Zombies™. More information about EA is available at www.ea.com/news.

EA SPORTS, Battlefield, The Sims, Need for Speed, Apex Legends, Ultimate Team, Plants vs. Zombies and Plants vs. Zombies: Battle for Neighborville are trademarks of Electronic Arts Inc. STAR WARS © & TM 2019 Lucasfilm Ltd.  All rights reserved. John Madden, NFL and FIFA are the property of their respective owners and used with permission.

For additional information, please contact:

Chris Evenden
Vice President, Investor Relations
650-628-0255
cevenden@ea.com

John Reseburg
Vice President, Corporate Communications
650-628-3601
jreseburg@ea.com