EA Made More Than $1 Billion From Microtransactions Last Quarter

Business is booming for EA.

Gaming giant Electronic Arts reported earnings for its holiday quarter today, and the company performed ahead of expectations. In particular, revenue from EA's microtransaction bucket--called Live Services--reached nearly $1 billion. Another highlight was Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order, which performed above expectations.

As you can see in the chart below, EA made $993 million from live services during the quarter ended December 31. For the trailing 12 months, EA made $2.835 billion from microtransactions. With microtransaction revenue from mobile included, the figure for the latest quarter likely climbs over $1 billion and even higher for the trailing 12 months. Have a look at the chart below to see all the numbers.

EA made a total of $1.593 billion in revenue for the quarter and $361 million in profit, so as you can see, microtransactions are very big business for EA. A major part of EA's microtransaction revenue comes from the Ultimate Team modes for EA's sports games, including FIFA, Madden, and NHL.

The publisher also said Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order performed significantly above expectations. EA was modelling sales of 6-8 million copies, but now the company is expecting sales to reach 10 million copies during the current fiscal year ending March 31.