Electronic Arts Confident of Digital Despite Revenue Drop

Electronic Arts has reported a figures for the third quarter of the financial year ending December 31st. Total net revenue was down from a loss of $82m in the same period in 2009 to a loss of $322m in 2010.

This breaks down as follows:
Total Net Revenue: Q3 2010 = $1,053million vs Q3 loss of $1,243million.
Net Digital Revenue $195m vs $133m
Net Publishing Packaged Goods and Other Revenue $767m vs $845m
Net Distribution Packaged Goods Revenue $91 vs $265m

So, while digital distribution and micro-transactions were up, good old boxed games were down. According to EA CEO John Riccitiello, the figures "demonstrate(s) our confidence in EA's digital strategy."

The board for the publisher announced the authorising of a stock repurchase program totalling $600m of EA's stock over the next 18 months.

Good contributors to EA's financial quarter include Dead Space 2, doubling sales over the original as well as Medal of Honor and Need for Speed: Hot Pursuit, surpassing 5m in sales for the period. EA also explained it was the top publisher on Xbox 360 and PS3, the App Store and the Microsoft Windows Phone 7. The titles FIFA 11, Madden NFL 11 and Battlefield: Bad Company 2 have also shifted over five million copies since their launch last year.

Bad news for EA or just not a good financial quarter for publisher? Any thoughts, feel free to post them in the Comments section below.

Source: EA and EA again and here too.