A sign is posted in front of Electronic Arts headquarters on March 30, 2023 in Redwood City, California.
Justin Sullivan | Getty Images
shares Electronic Arts The video game publisher lowered its full-year booking guidance, largely due to challenges with its football franchise, which has led to the company’s biggest revenue decline since 1999.
The stock plunged 19% to $115.86 as of noon Thursday. It would be the market’s worst day since the dot-com bubble and the stock’s third-biggest decline since EA’s public market debut in 1990.
For its fiscal third quarter ended December 31, EA explain Late Wednesday, the company expected net bookings to reach about $2.215 billion, compared with previous guidance of $2.4 billion to $2.55 billion. The company said in a statement that it had revenue of approximately $1.88 billion in the fourth quarter of last year and diluted earnings per share of $1.11.
EA said Dragon Age and its EA Sports FC series “fell below our net bookings expectations.”
“The weakness comes primarily from global soccer franchises,” analysts at Roth Capital Partners wrote in a note Thursday, calling the profit forecast a “major misstep.” Their rating on the stock is equivalent to a hold rating.
EA said net bookings for the full fiscal year ending March 31 will be between $7 billion and $7.15 billion, down from previous guidance of $7.5 billion to $7.8 billion. Net bookings include physical game sales as well as online gaming revenue, EA said.
The warning points to a weakness in the most famous football video game series since 1993.
The company also said that the role-playing game “Dragon Age” had 1.5 million players this season, about 50% lower than expected.
EA said it expects global soccer sales to decline year-on-year and said online sales or bookings for live streaming services will also decline in fiscal 2025.
EA plans to release full third-quarter results on February 4.
