Eric-Brown
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EA CFO Eric Brown resigns to head up telecommunications company
Electronic Arts Chief Financial Officer Eric Brown has unexpectedly left the company to join Polycom. Brown will take the role of both CFO and COO at the communications company."I am delighted to join Polycom at such an exciting time," said Brown, in a read-between-the-lines press release issued by his new employer. "With Polycom's software strategy, open platform approach, broad ecosystem of partners, and strong brand loyalty among its huge installed base, I believe the company is ideally poised to capitalize on this new model."This ends Brown's second tour of duty at EA. He returned as CFO in 2008 after having previously left as Chief Operating Officer of EA's Redwood Shores Studio. CFO, COO... it appears Brown will continue his quest for that elusive vowel to become a CEO.With Brown exiting, EA announced other changes to its executive team, including Mark Tonneson as SVP and Chief Information Officer. EA has "begun a search for a new CFO," with Ken Barker serving in the interim.
EA, hackers win big off FIFA Ultimate Team
EA's increased revenues from FIFA 12's FIFA Ultimate Team DLC, coupled with our continuing coverage of consumer complaints over the "FIFA hack," stood out as awkward juxtaposition during EA's third quarter financial call yesterday."The innovation that makes this franchise so unique is FIFA Ultimate Team," President of EA Labels Frank Gibeau said yesterday on a call with investors. "In just three months, FIFA Ultimate Team generated $39 million in microtransactions. That's 69 percent more than it generated in the same period last year."Gibeau went on to say that because Ultimate Team is a microtransaction-based system, the company is able to generate a sizable number of big-spender consumer behaviors and it becomes a business that scales much more aggressively than other traditional DLC models.Chief Financial Officer Eric Brown added, "To put some rough numbers on this, if we compare the total digital revenue from FIFA 11 Ultimate Team to what we expect from FIFA 12 Ultimate Team in this fiscal year, we're looking to see a 25 percent increase franchise to franchise. The overall package goods units sold is not increasing by 25 percent year over year, so we are expanding by a decent margin the microtransaction revenue per user of FIFA."We continue to receive complaints nearly every day of non-FIFA players having their accounts hacked to purchase Ultimate Team DLC. EA previously responded to this by saying that "a small number" of gamers continue to report being impacted by fraudulent activity related to FIFA Ultimate Team on Xbox Live.
Battlefield 3 sells through 8 million of 12 million total shipped
In the month of November, EA moved another 3 million copies of Battlefield 3. At least, that's according to numbers revealed yesterday by EA CFO Eric Brown at the Baird Technology Conference in San Francisco (as reported by Game Informer), which has the game selling 8 million units in total across all its platforms out of 12 million shipped. As with most major game launches, both the shipped and sold amounts of the game have dropped significantly since launch, with two million being pushed to retail from EA in the month of November versus 10 million during the first week. The game's first big expansion -- "Back to Karkand" -- is set to be released some time in December, with PS3 owners getting a crack at it one week early.
The agonizing wait for Star Wars: The Old Republic's launch date continues [Updated]
The multi-million dollar question that's been on every Star Wars: The Old Republic fan's lips can be summed up in one word: When? While we still don't know a precise date, we may be a step or two closer to finding out today. SWTOR fansite Darth Hater combed through a recent EA Q&A session with investors to pull a few pertinent details from CFO Eric Brown. When asked about the launch date for The Old Republic, Brown replied, "We haven't given a street date yet. We won't do so for some time, possibly at our next upcoming earnings call towards the end of October." This earnings call will take place on October 25th. EA also continues to stand by its backup plan of a launch delay if SWTOR isn't ready, giving the title room to possibly slip from holiday 2011 to early 2012. Brown explained the conditions that would trigger such a slip: "We did hold out a slight possibility that it could slip to our March quarter. And the factors that would cause a slip is, for example, us not being completely satisfied with the scalability testing, and wanting to tune it for several extra weeks." [Update: SWTOR's Stephen Reid has posted on the forums urging fans not to read too much between the lines of investor calls. "We are still very much aiming to ship in the holiday 2011 window (AKA, before the end of the year)," he says.] [Update#2: The transcript was actually done by Darth Hater, which Ask a Jedi copied and pasted. The correct source is now linked.]
EA has made $10 - $15 million off Online Pass
You may know EA as simply a company that creates and publishes games, but we're pretty sure the company is full of wizards. How else can you explain conjuring up between $10 and $15 million dollars? That's what the Online Pass has helped the company do, CFO Eric Brown revealed (via Gamasutra). "The revenues we derive from that haven't been dramatic. I'd say they're in the $10-$15 million range since we initiated the program," he said. First introduced last year for EA Sports titles, the Online Pass quickly spread to a majority of EA's games. Now, plenty of other third-party publishers utilize the same code system. It was introduced to combat lost revenue from used game sales and, we'd say, a wild success, if not just straight-up magic.
Battlefield 3 preorders over 1.25 million already, beating Bad Company 2
EA's CFO Eric Brown announced at the Citi 2011 Tech Conference today that Battlefield 3 has already racked up 1.25 million pre-orders, putting it "well ahead" of the previous Battlefield title, Bad Company 2, at the same time leading up to launch. Over ten times more, in fact. That game sold 2.3 million copies in the first month of release, and has sold over 9 million copies according to the most recent financial reports. Presumably, Battlefield 3 is on track to do even better than that. Brown said that EA expects to make full use of "the advantage of a two-and-a-half week early launch window versus our competitor," Activision's Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3. Brown also spoke about pre-orders for EA's other big release this fall, Star Wars: The Old Republic, though declined to provide actual numbers. Star Wars: The Old Republic will have a smaller marketing budget than Battlefield 3 at launch, and EA expects to support it over a longer length of time. Brown said that SW:TOR would have "a different spend curve," -- so far, that demand "is tracking consistent with our expectations."
EA to be the sole source for SWTOR downloads [updated]
Thanks to our friends at Darth Hater, Massively has learned that the highly anticipated MMO Star Wars: The Old Republic will be sold as a direct download only through Electronic Arts itself. In an interview with CEO John Riccitiello, the Wall Street Journal uncovered news of EA's new service, one it's calling Origin. This service will provide customers with a download service for all EA games, including the Battlefield games, the Need For Speed games, and the aforementioned Star Wars: The Old Republic. Origin is to act as a social network hub as well as a place to track all your EA game purchases, explained Riccitiello to the Wall Street Journal. This functionality will be available to all users even if they did not purchase the game directly from Origin. However, Riccitiello clarified that Star Wars: The Old Republic will still be purchasable in box form via retailers; only the digital download itself will be exclusive to Origin. Presumably, other all-digital services such as Direct2Drive and Steam will not carry the game. The full article from the Wall Street Journal is available with a subscription to the newspaper's website. [Update: Stephen Reid posted to the official SWTOR forums: "However, even though you'll only be able to buy and download The Old Republic digitally via Origin, you will still be able to buy a retail, boxed copy of the game from your favorite retailer (and that includes online retailers who'll ship the box to you). BioWare and EA know the value many gamers place on a cool boxed product... and we're producing a cool boxed product. (Or maybe I should say 'boxed products'.)"]
EA waffles on Star Wars: The Old Republic launch date, expects it before next March
EA's fourth quarter investor call today had some Jedi mind tricks going on when it came to the topic of highly-anticipated MMO Star Wars: The Old Republic's launch date. In documentation provided to investors, the company noted the title is "expected to launch in either Q2 FY12 or Q3 FY12." Translation: Second half of 2011, as was previously stated. However, during the investor call, EA CEO John Riccitiello said, "The launch date, while in our fiscal year (before March, 2012), is not yet certain." The hedging continued later with CFO Eric Brown, "While we fully anticipate launching Star Wars: The Old Republic in Q2 or Q3, the low end of our guidance range assumes the outside possibility of a January launch." If you're playing along at home: when the paperwork, CEO and CFO aren't on the same page, it means EA isn't exactly sure when this thing is coming. One thing is for sure: they hope it's by next March.
EA: 1.5 million The Old Republic beta tester applicants can't be wrong
EA is using the Helen logic with Star Wars: The Old Republic, it seems. If 30 Helens agree on something, it has to be truth, right? While talking during a Lazard Capital Markets Technology & Media Day presentation (via Gamasutra), EA CFO Eric Brown revealed that near 1.5 million have signed up to beta test Star Wars: The Old Republic, apparently confirming there is significant interest in the title. Hey, maybe these guys and gals just like being included in beta testing? Ever think of that, Mr. Brown? "It's a great indicator in the interest level in the franchise," Brown said. EA's goal is apparently to grab not only diehard MMO players, but also to expand to a much more broad audience -- and Star Wars fans, of course, though we're sure just having "Star Wars" on the box will do that. "For us it's about creating the right experience for expanding from tier 1 and the tier 2 users to getting people who have never played an MMO before, but are interested in Star Wars, to engage and give it a try," Brown added. Brown hopes that Star Wars: The Old Republic can gain a user base exceeding 12 million, which he estimates is the current number of MMO players out there -- half of whom are in World of Warcraft. "If we do that, our addressable market is well beyond 12 million people ... into more of a general gamer population, pretty much anyone that has a minimum spec personal computer." Now to get 1.5 million people to agree on what the "minimum spec" is for a PC, we guess.
The Old Republic attracts close to 1.5 million for beta testing
If six-hour lines to play the demo at PAX East didn't give you a clue, Star Wars: The Old Republic is shooting into "crazy-huge" levels of popularity these days. Even the beta for the game is hot property, as EA reported that almost 1.5 million players have signed up to be a part of the testing cycle. EA CFO Eric Brown sees this as a terrific starting point to rule the galaxy as father and son: "It's a great indicator in the interest level in the franchise," he said. Brown estimates that there are around 12 million potential MMO players in North America and Europe right now, a market that he hopes to widen with The Old Republic's launch. "For us it's about creating the right experience for expanding from tier 1 and the tier 2 users to getting people who have never played an MMO before, but are interested in Star Wars, to engage and give it a try," he said. "If we do that, our addressable market is well beyond 12 million people ... into more of a general gamer population, pretty much anyone that has a minimum spec personal computer." We still have a while to go before SWTOR's launch, particularly with the recent news that there's no chance of the game launching before July 1st.
EA: The Old Republic not launching by July 1st
Fan site Darth Hater has a bit of cold water to throw on the fires of Star Wars: The Old Republic fans who thought the highly anticipated MMORPG might actually launch prior to July 1st. It seems as if Eric Brown, CFO of TOR publisher Electronic Arts, quashed that long shot in a speech at today's Lazard Capital Markets Technology and Media Conference. If you think that was a mouthful, Brown's quote is as well, but that isn't stopping it from making the blogsphere rounds this afternoon. "So we said it's going to launch sometime in calendar, but not within Fiscal 11. So that basically pens down between, you know, April 1st and December 31st of this calendar year. It's also reasonable to infer that it's not in our Q1 guidance. We gave Q1 Fiscal 11, Fiscal 12 non-gap revenue guidance, minus 39 minus 44 cents and I think it's not unreasonable to infer that it's not included in that 90 day period," Brown said. So, for the three of you who actually expected BioWare's Star Wars opus this summer, we're sorry. For everyone else, it's back to the guessing game regarding release dates.
EA: SWTOR generating significant dev costs, 500K subscribers would be profitable
Electronic Arts and BioWare's Star Wars: The Old Republic has already established itself as the "largest ever development project" at the company, but Chief Financial Officer Eric Brown said that a moderate subscriber base could turn the "significant development costs" into profits -- "on a dime." During an investor call yesterday, the CFO stated that with a half a million subscribers, the game would be "substantially profitable, but not the kind of thing [EA] would write home about." The target for the publisher appears to be something with more than six zeros in it, as Brown said, "Anything north of a million subscribers it's a very profitable business." Adding color to his remarks, the executive claimed, "There's been a fair amount of talk on various blogs describing spend that are vastly higher than anything we've ever put in place. Don't read 'gamer blogs' as having any substance. Some of them bring a chuckle, but they also bring a frustration to those who are being responsible for managing EA [research and development] dollars when they read falsehoods out in the press." Brown reiterated that Star Wars: The Old Republic is expected after the fiscal year ends in March, but before the end of calendar 2011. He said the game is currently being focus tested, "not at the beta scale of testing," and has "only gotten stronger."
EA puts faith in The Old Republic's lifespan and profits
With all the cries of doom and gloom against Star Wars: The Old Republic -- not to mention accusations of a wildly bloated production budget -- one may be led to believe that TOR will fail even before it sees the light of day. EA, on the other hand, is expressing a calm confidence in the game's potential longevity and financial success. According to Eurogamer, EA's CFO Eric Brown predicts that TOR will not only last over a decade, but will be profitable even if there are fewer than a million subscribers: "Our assumptions for break-even and profitability are not seven-digit subscribers. We think we can run and operate a very successful and profitable MMO at different levels. The key thing here is to really perfect the product. We're shooting for an extremely high quality game experience. We view this as a 10-year opportunity." Brown previously admitted that TOR is the single largest project in the history of EA, and industry analysts have predicted that the title would need at least a million subscribers to break even.
EA predicts digital sales will make up 20% of revenue for fiscal year
Electronic Arts CFO Eric Brown says the company is expecting huge growth in revenue from digital content over the next few years. Speaking to the UBS Media and Communications Conference in New York today, Brown predicted that DLC and full-game downloads will likely account for up to 20 percent of EA's total revenue this fiscal year. Microtransactions have been a big hit, Brown said, especially for the FIFA '10 Ultimate Team mode -- with some players allegedly spending up to $700 just on card packs for the game. Looking ahead to next year, Brown said EA's "single biggest discreet digital add [ ... ] is expected to come from the Star Wars MMO, " The Old Republic. Brown admitted that most of these digital sales usually start with the sale of a physical disc, especially on the current generation of consoles. So while digital revenues are set to grow, EA is unlikely to abandon traditional game sales completely for ... a really long time.
EA confirms The Old Republic won't be launched before April 2011
It is a dark day for the Republic (and the Empire, for that matter) -- Gamasutra reports that Star Wars: The Old Republic won't be gracing our desktops before April 2011. Or, if you're a half-glass-full kind of person, EA did confirm that TOR will be launched during the company's 2012 fiscal year, which goes from April to December 2011. So there's that. EA CFO Eric Brown said that this was the first time the company's publicly stated a launch window for TOR, a game that is one of its most highly anticipated titles for next year. BioWare previously said that it is aiming for a spring 2011 release. The Old Republic has been deep in testing for months now, and with 2011 just a month away, the title's release doesn't seem so much of a remote concept as an event that's lurking right around the corner.
EA hasn't seen 'significant' backlash to Online Pass
Though comments on our posts regarding EA Sports' Online Pass program haven't been the sunniest reading material to pore over, Electronic Arts CFO Eric Brown recently told the Deutsche Bank 2010 Technology Conference that reaction to the initiative hasn't exactly been apocalyptic, either. "There's been no significant pushback from the user," Brown said of the program, which charges $10 for access to online modes in games acquired secondhand. "People know bandwidth isn't free, so the fact that we're diffusing online costs isn't seen as unreasonable." That's a pretty sensible outlook on the situation; though when a company's as large as EA, the definition of "significant" might be kind of obscure. We guess they didn't see our skywriting message over Pensacola Beach which read: "EA no pay for Onl. Pa." So what? We abbreviated -- it was $15 per letter! We're not made of money, guys.
Star Wars: The Old Republic not planned for fiscal year 2011
If you're eagerly awaiting the release of Star Wars: The Old Republic, even with the release window of April 2011 being thrown around, you could be forgiven for holding out hope that the game might get a slightly earlier release. (If you're sick of hearing about it, you might be hoping for an early release too, just so everyone will shut up.) But your hopes will not be borne out, it seems -- and the game might even come a bit later than we'd expected. John Riccitiello, CEO of Electronic Arts, has stated again that the game is not expected to ship during fiscal year '11. Although he didn't reference Star Wars: The Old Republic by name, Riccitiello referred to a new MMO currently under development -- and CFO Eric Brown later referred specifically to the game as not being part of the '11 fiscal year forecast. The period under discussion ends on March 31st, 2011, which means that we can still look for the game early next year, but it's not getting pushed any faster. Still, it's only a year away, and that year could go quickly. [ via Joystiq ]
Star Wars: The Old Republic shipping after March 2011
During EA's fourth-quarter earnings conference call, CEO John Riccitiello made a reference to a "major new massively multiplayer online game" -- probably Star Wars: The Old Republic. "EA is incurring significant development costs for a major new massively multiplayer online game," he said. "However, this game is not expected to ship in fiscal '11." Later, CFO Eric Brown responded directly to a question about The Old Republic, saying that "It's not included in our FY11 release slate." This all but confirms that The Old Republic is the game referred to by Riccitiello during a similar call in January, when he gave a "major MMO" a release date of spring 2011. If it's in the spring, but not in EA's fiscal 2011 (which ends March 31), that means we can look forward to some Jedi fellowship sometime between April and June of next year.
EA posts $677 million loss in FY2010 alongside downed revenues
EA has reported the results for its fiscal year 2010, which ran from April 1, 2009 through March 31, 2010, showing a downed revenue stream for the year and an improved loss. The company took in $3.654 billion (down from $4.212 billion in FY2009) and, measured against money spent, lost $677 million (an improvement from last year's $1.088 billion in losses). Additionally, Q4 2010, running from January 1 – March 31, 2010, saw $979 million come in, compared with $860 million in Q4 the previous fiscal year and $1.243 billion last quarter -- a profitable final quarter for the company, contrasting last year's Q4 loss of $42 million with $30 million earned. CFO Eric Brown said of the coming fiscal year, "We are affirming our FY11 and Q1 non-GAAP guidance and expect to grow profitably in the year ahead. Our digital businesses are expected to grow approximately 30 percent." For all of you wondering what that means in human speak, he's saying that, regardless of today's announcement, he's confident in what the company has predicted for the coming year (as you might imagine, EA predicts it's going to do better than last year). It also means that Brown and EA expect to see a lot more dollars coming in on the digital front in the coming year, a likely possibility given initiatives like Project Ten Dollar, the EA Sports Online Pass and the usual stream of DLC for new games.
EA: 'Sharp and distinct' console transition unlikely
It's not exactly surprising to hear EA Chief Financial Officer Eric Brown say that we won't see the "sharp and distinct console transition like we've seen in the past." It's a notion we've heard before and something that THQ boss Brian Farrell explained a couple years back, dividing the current cycle into three distinct sub-cycles: handheld, Wii and another group of Xbox 360 with PS3. Brown's issue had more to do with pricing, noting that half the PS2's sales occurred after the console hit $150, which the PS3 at $300 is nowhere close to. Comparing it to the last console cycle, Brown doesn't feel pricing has come down to where the publisher would have expected it to. Given the amount of investment required in the current round of HD gaming, it's unlikely we'll see publishers wanting to invest heavily into whatever's next -- especially in this economy. [Via IndustryGamers]
