EA Reveals Sequels for FY 2010

Electronic Arts has today confirmed a slew of titles for the upcoming fiscal year, which begins on April 1st, with many sequels set to appear on the consoles. During a conference call for investors, EA CEO John Riccitiello revealed that Dead Space will make an appearance on Wii, together with a follow up to Battlefield: Bad Company, and formally announced 'multi-platform' development of Mass Effect 2.

News of the sequels comes at the same time the publisher announced plans to push its remaining big three titles for fiscal 2009, The Sims 3, The Godfather II, and Dragon Age: Origins, into the next fiscal year, which takes place between April 1st 2009 and March 31st 2010.

EA also confirmed 1100 redundancies and a 'narrowing' of its portfolio, as the publisher strives to save between $65 million and $75 million over the next twelve months. The financial results for the fiscal quarter, which ended on December 31st 2008, saw EA record a significant GAAP net loss of $641 million, a massive increase over the GAAP net loss of $33 million recorded in the same period in FY 2008. The publisher has also reduced its full fiscal year expectations as a result of the decision to push The Sims 3, The Godfather II, and Dragon Age: Origins into FY 2010.

“Our holiday quarter came in below our expectations and we have significantly reduced our financial outlook for fiscal 2009, a clear disappointment,” said John Riccitiello, Chief Executive
Officer. “We delivered on game quality and innovation in calendar 2008, with 13 titles rated 80
or above -- more than any third-party publisher. We expect to build on this great quality record
in the year ahead while delivering more profitability.”

“Given our recent performance and the current economic environment, we are aligning our cost
structure with a lower projection of revenue, resulting in approximately $500 million of operating
expense reductions in fiscal 2010 as compared with our previous plans,” said Eric Brown, Chief
Financial Officer.

It wasn't all bad news however; the publisher confirmed that FIFA 09 became its biggest-selling title of the third quarter, with over 7.8 million units sold. Warhammer Online also secured 300K subscribers across North America and Europe during its launch quarter.