Electronic Arts may have big sales of The Sims 3 and EA Sports Active to brag about—as well as impressive performance on Nintendo's Wii—but it still lost money this past quarter.
How much it lost is either a little or a lot, depending on which accounting principals you prefer to hold your publicly traded companies to. EA raked in $644 million its first quarter of the 2010 fiscal year, down from the $804 million it took in the year prior. That's a $234 million loss, going by GAAP. It's a $6 million loss if you're going non-GAAP, which sounds a lot nicer, doesn't it? Regardless of your personal accounting compass, John Riccitiello seemed pleased with the company's results.
"Good execution delivered better-than-expected financial results in the first quarter," said John Riccitiello, Chief Executive Officer, via press release.
He pointed to strong sales of The Sims 3, which sold 3.7 million copies during its first month on the market. The company was similarly proud of its Wii Fit competitor EA Sports Active, which helped the publisher double its Wii sales, selling 1.8 million copies during the quarter.
That title, along with Tiger Woods PGA Tour 10, EA SPORTS Grand Slam Tennis and Rock Band 2, helped the company secure a 21 percent share on the Wii in North America, a 13 percent share on the Wii in Europe. Not too shabby for a third party!
EA will hold an investors call today to talk more about this money making business, which we're about to listen to. We expect enthralling safe harbor statements to be read flatly.