US games developer Electronic Arts has seen its profit skyrocket by nearly 200 per cent year-over-year thanks to its live services endeavours.
This information was revealed via the firm's preliminary financial results for its fourth fiscal quarter ended March 31st, 2020.
Net income (profit) for the year equalled to $3.039 billion, showing a huge jump of 198.2 per cent from the $1.019 accumulated across the 2019 fiscal year.
Revenue jump
Total net revenue for the 12 months came in at $5.537 billion, showing an 11.9 per cent increase from the $4.95 billion year-over-year. Total net revenue for the quarter came to $1.387 billion, a 12 per cent increase from the $1.238 billion made over the previous three months.
Digital net bookings for the fiscal year were $4.052 billion, representing a nine per cent increase year-over-year and now representing 78 per cent of total net bookings.
One of the biggest factors of this rise was put down to Respawn's battle royale game Apex Legends, which was the most downloaded free-to-play game on the PlayStation 4 in calendar 2019. The game is expected to make its way to mobile in the future.
Buried within its presentation slides, EA also revealed plans to soft-launch two new mobile titles in its upcoming financial year. It has already soft-launched Plants vs Zombies 3, though it is unclear if this is counted as one of the new titles set for soft-launch as the game goes unmentioned elsewhere.
"Humbled"
"We're humbled to see people around the world connecting through our games during this unprecedented period," said EA CEO Andrew Wilson.
"Our focus continues to be on everything we can do for our people, our players, and our communities. Thanks to the amazing dedication and determination of our teams at Electronic Arts, we're able to deliver the games, experiences and content choices that our players are looking for during this challenging time."
"We've had a strong year. Our results this quarter prove the value of the live services path we've been on now for a decade," added EA COO and CFO Blake Jorgensen.
"The breadth and depth of our live services give the flexibility we need at times like this to meet player need. I want to thank everyone at EA for rising to the challenge. People across the company have shown extraordinary innovation, energy and ingenuity. Learnings from this period will forever change the way we work at EA."
Google and EA recently partnered to bring Star Wars, FIFA and Madden NFL to Stadia.
