EA Revenues Drop As Potter Goes Double Platinum News

EA has confirmed that global sales of Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix topped two million units within the first week of release back in July. News of the sales performance was revealed at the same time that Electronic Arts published its financial results for the first quarter of the 2008 fiscal year, which ended on June 30th.

In addition to the double platinum performance of the boy wizard's fifth adventure, sales in the three month period were also driven by Command & Conquer 3: Tiberium Wars, The Sims 2 Pets, The Sims 2, and Need for Speed Carbon.

Despite this, EA's net revenue for the period fell by 4% on the year to $395 million (£194.6 million), whilst gross profit dropped by 7% to $229 million (£112.8 million). The publisher's net losses also increased on the year, from $81 million (£39.9 million) to $132 million (£65.0 million).

John Riccitiello, Chief Executive Officer, spoke about some of the changes made at EA in recent months: "In the last three months we announced the reorganization of our business into four Labels and welcomed Kathy Vrabeck and Peter Moore to EA...I'm pleased that our team, structure and strategy are coming together quickly."

"Looking ahead, we have a strong slate," said Warren Jenson, Chief Financial and Administrative Officer. "In the balance of the fiscal year, we plan to launch our full EA SPORTS lineup, Need for Speed Pro Street, MySims, Medal of Honor Airborne and ten new properties, including Army of Two, The Simpsons, SKATE, Boogie and Rock Band."

The company also announced that it was raising its net revenue expectations for the full fiscal year, ending March 31st 2008, by up to $100 million. The expected figure is forecast to be between $3.2 billion and $3.5 billion (£1.58 billion and £1.72 billion).