Battlefield 5 did not meet EA's sales expectations

EA stock is facing its worst drop in more than a decade, with CEO Andrew Wilson warning that the "significant challenges" it faced during the third fiscal quarter would carry on through the fourth. This is in part due to Battlefield 5's performance, which sold a million fewer copies than EA had anticipated. 

By Tuesday, the company's stock had declined by around 18 percent. As MarketWatch notes, it's the most significant decline of the millennium for EA, and brings it close to its largest ever decline, which was on December 17, 1999. It dropped by 25.5 percent. At the time of writing, it's started to rise slightly, fluctuating between 15 to 17 percent. 

In a conference call, Wilson also mentioned Battlefield 5's delay, and that its launch around the holidays meant that it was often discounted to ensure it could compete with the other games vying for the attention of holiday shoppers. 

“As a result of these decisions, we struggled to gain momentum and did not meet expectations for the quarter,” Wilson said. “We made some calculated decisions that did not work as planned in Q3 and we did not execute well in other areas of our business. Against the backdrop of a very competitive quarter, the combination of those factors led to our underperformance.”

EA did post an increase in both revenue and profit, though. The net income for the third financial quarter was $262 million, with revenue amounting to $1.29 billion. During the same three month period last year, revenue was $1.16 billion. Net bookings, however, fell. These take into account commitments like annual subscriptions, and EA reported a drop from $1.97 billion to $1.61 billion. 

February is undoubtedly going to be an important month for EA. Anthem is due out on February 22—after a tumultuous demo—and Respawn's free to play Apex Legends just popped into existence. The latter's launch was improbably smooth, which bodes well for the future. I spent all of last night getting demolished by people much better at the game than but still managing to have a hoot, and I found it hard to believe how polished and hassle free it was. I've grown far too used to early access launches and betas, I forgot what it was like to play a multiplayer game that's simply ready. Within 24 hours, it already had one million unique players

If one of those games is going to get EA out of trouble, I'd bet on Apex Legends.

Fraser Brown
Online Editor

Fraser is the UK online editor and has actually met The Internet in person. With over a decade of experience, he's been around the block a few times, serving as a freelancer, news editor and prolific reviewer. Strategy games have been a 30-year-long obsession, from tiny RTSs to sprawling political sims, and he never turns down the chance to rave about Total War or Crusader Kings. He's also been known to set up shop in the latest MMO and likes to wind down with an endlessly deep, systemic RPG. These days, when he's not editing, he can usually be found writing features that are 1,000 words too long or talking about his dog. 

Latest in FPS
Fragpunk FPS
Fragpunk review
Rainbow Six Siege year 9 season 2 key art - two Rainbow Six Siege operators facing each other
'Siege 2 was never on the table': Rainbow Six Siege X director explains why the 10-year-old FPS doesn't need a sequel
rainbow six siege sledge
After holding out for 10 years, Rainbow Six Siege is finally going free-to-play (kind of)
rainbow six siege x dual front mode
Rainbow Six Siege is getting its first permanent mode in 10 years, and it throws every Siege rule out the window
Fragpunk characters with weapon drawn
The latest big game on Steam is Fragpunk, or as I like to call it, 'kitchen-sink Counter-Strike'
spectre divide
Spectre Divide and its studio are shutting down after just six months: 'The industry is in a tough spot right now'
Latest in News
Will Poulter holding a CD ROM
'What are most games about? Killing': Black Mirror Season 7 includes a follow-up to 2018 interactive film Bandersnatch
Casper Van Dien in Starship Troopers
Sony, which is making a Helldivers 2 movie, is also making a new Starship Troopers movie, but it's not based on the Starship Troopers movie we already have
Assassin's Creed meets PUBG
Ubisoft is reportedly talking to Tencent about creating a new business entity to manage Assassin's Creed and other big games
Resident Evil Village - Lady Dimitrescu
'It really truly changed my life in every possible way': Lady Dimitrescu actor says her Resident Evil Village role was just as transformative for her as it was for roughly half the internet in 2021
Storm trooper hero
Another live service shooter is getting shut down, this time before it even launched on Steam
Possibility Space concept art.
Possibility Space owners sue NetEase for $900 million over allegations it spread 'false and defamatory rumors' of fraud at the studio that ultimately forced it to close