Of the companies leading the charge with live services and games that follow the model, EA is easily among the most prominent of them all (often much to the annoyance of a great many consumers). To say that it’s a business model that’s worked out for the company would be a bit of an understatement, and EA continues to reap the profits from it, to the surprise of no one.
In its latest quarterly earnings call, for instance, the company confirmed that of all of its net booking for the period of fiscal year 2021-22 (April 2021-March 2022), 71% of them came from live service games. That’s nearly $5.4 billion, which is up 17% from what EA managed in the previous fiscal year (when live services made up 71% of their yearly net bookings). Meanwhile, full game sales earned EA $2.4 billion in the period, which is up 34% from last year.
Without a doubt, Apex Legends was primary driver for that revenue, while Battlefield 2042, in spite of its abject failure, would also have contributed at least little bit. Meanwhile, sports games like FIFA and Madden NFL remain constants for EA. It should be interesting to see whether the former will continue its performance when it changes its name to EA Sports FC from next year onward. The upcoming launch of Apex Legends Mobile is also likely to drive significant profits.