EA release first quarter financial results: how much did they make from PC?

First, the big news, the report breaks down earning by platform. PC delivered $276 million, the Xbox 360 $292 million and the PS3 $267 million. So the EA, one of the biggest publishers in the world, made more money from the PC than from the PS3.{Tom Hatfield}

[Christopher]

Of course they're going to make more on PC now that they are forcing people to use Origin. They get all profit at $60 prices.

Edit: There is no hate against EA going this route from me. Only logic as to why their PC profits jumped up as much as they did. $30 profit from Origin w/ $60 PC games = a lot more profit than $8-12 max profit from consoles w/$60 console games. On top of that, SWtOR made a lot of money for them as well. Not as much as they lost in the past developing it, but a lot of money this year.

[Hufandpuf]

So does PS3

[Christopher]

No, they make a fraction of the profit from PS3. They lose out on licensing fees, packaging/manufacturing costs, and more. All of this stuff comes out before determining their overall profit.

On Origin, their digital server, they don't have that except for a much smaller portion of manufacturing costs. So, selling 1 game on Origin is likely about the same as them selling 2, maybe even 3, games on the PS3 depending on if they decide to also charge $60 instead of the usual $50 for the PC game.

[Hufandpuf]

The numbers are right there, are you saying PC didn't make more than PS3? That's ridiculous PC made almost 10 million more with the same price point. And the xbox made almost 300 million.

The results are there so why didn't PC outsell the xbox numbers? By your logic, PC should be in the lead.

[StayStatic]

Handypuff is right , the PC should overtake the Xbox by that logic , but at the same time there is more money to made on the digital market , without sales numbers we can never sure but it is nice to see the PC making a good amount money again :)

P.S. link me vg chartz and I will come twist your head off :P

[pr0digyZA]

"it is nice to see the PC making a good amount of money again"

To be honest I think it has always done well, its just that they have normally only showed retail numbers which is way below the consoles so it looked weak.

[megacowdung]

I bought BF3 for $40 at Best Buy for PS3. If i wanted to download BF3 from Origin it would be $60.

[Heartnet]

@cgoodno

Then u must take into consideration the Upkeep costs that Origin requires and the development of that software to begin with.. and maintenance etc i doubt they come that better off all together.

[gaffyh]

@Heartnet - That's nowhere near the percentage that Sony and MS take from licensing (which I believe is 30%, not too sure), plus the cost of actually printing discs, boxes and paying a distributor to get the game out there, and then retail needs to take a cut off that $60 too, and it will be at least 25%!

Of course they make much more money from digitally sold games on their own service, anyone denying this is a complete fanboy! This is the same reason why Sony can afford to make a game in a franchise, even if it sells nowhere near as much as a third-party title, because they don't pay licensing costs at all.

[MaxXAttaxX]

Don't get why you singled out PS3 in the first place.

They get a fraction on consoles and full profit on PC for reasons already explained to you above. And that's a fact.

[Christopher]

***Then u must take into consideration the Upkeep costs that Origin requires and the development of that software to begin with.. and maintenance etc i doubt they come that better off all together.***

It's minor in comparison to their usual upkeep on game servers. Honestly, it's negligible overall since they would already have similar infrastructures implemented for multiplayer and have used the same concept for buying DLC in the past (BioWare points).

[BattleAxe]

Well I really hate to agree with cgoodno, but he's right. EA makes way more profit "per game" on the PC.

[pixelsword]

Yeah; EA WON'T make more on the PS3 because fundamentally, PS3 players have a wider choice; even factoring such catalysts as cost per disc and other things.

To make it plain, slapping someone with your finger won't have the same effect as slapping someone with your whole hand.

What a number of PS3 players need to do is to stop complaining and play those darn games instead of whining and cancelling their pre-orders every time a third-rate reviewer with a known bias against PS3 games gives yet another biased review instead of buying the game months later and posting "This game is actually great!"

[da_2pacalypse]

EA Origin? *pukes*

[gaffyh]

@JellyJelly - LMAO, that is completely untrue. He is just acting the way a mod needs to by punishing fanboys.

[ATi_Elite]

Your Correct!

Every EA PC title sold on Origin allows EA to take in the Whole $60.

That's why I bought BF3 from Amazon.com so EA only got a portion of the $45 I paid for it. Usually Publishers get $20 to $25 per retail game sold.

Digital Sales as a whole allows Publishers to take in more cash. They don't have to spend money on boxes, disc, shipping, and splitting revenue with the retailer plus Digital content can be sold forever whereas older retail content will be taken off the shelf to make room for new content.

EA saw Valve make a Billion dollars without releasing a Game and jumped all over Digital Distribution by copying Steam with Origin.

*I'm sure EA Hats are next*

[john2]

Speaking of which, one of the pros for digital distribution was the lower prices (back in the days). It's funny but today, most of retail games are cheaper than their digital versions (unless there is a sale)

[Jazz4108]

The real point even after licensing and retail cuts they still made more on the 360 then any other platform so I imagine you will see EA go more to the 360 in the future. According to n4g in the past the ps3 is where EA makes money and Activision is the 360. It looks like n4g was wrong about the 360 again as EA and Activision all make more money off the 360 then sony machine. These are all facts I stated btw.

[CommonSense]

you intentionally inconvenienced yourself out of spite?

that's idiotic. you still bought the game. and then when you put the disc in, you still had to install it through origin.

if you hate ea so much, then don't buy their games at all.

[The_KELRaTH]

I can't comment on US direct sales but in Europe you can buy PC digital media titles as a retail package with a code and manual in the box (ie. Amazon, Shopto, Game etc) and PC titles on average remain 20 - 30% cheaper.

I wonder what the licensing costs are for PC protection?

[john2]

I'm really puzzled today with pretty much all digital platforms/services. Yeah, Origin is not as good as we'd hope to and GFWL has all sorts of issues. UPLAY... well, it's Ubisoft. And then comes Steam with the new Subscriber Agreement (and if you don't agree with it, you won't be able to access all the games you had purchased). In all seriousness, sometimes it's easier to slap a crack on a game and play it than face all those issues that we, the legitimate customers, have to face in order to play our games.

If only there were more services like GOG...

[TronEOL]

What issues are these? I have over 100 games on Steam, and I clicked "agree/next/whatever it was" on that "horrible to deal with" Subscriber Agreement without any issue. I was curious of it, but to be honest, I don't care about the details as long as I can play my games.

The legitimate users usually say things like that. Only people that have something to hide will argue agreement changes, or programs that check out your gameplay habits, or others of the sort.

I have zero problems with Steam, and next to no issues with Origin (besides the lack of proper digital pricing) and GFWL. My only issue with the latter is that they have next to no in-client community like Steam has.

[Mythicninja]

I made sure to buy battlefield 3 at a brick and mortar so that they didn't get all the profit. Also, won't be buying anything else that uses origin, so long term viability of this business strategy is questionable to me

[Hoje0308]

You question the future of Origin simply because you don't use it? Great logic there.

[Letros]

While you're right, I don't think it takes away from the notion that PC is as competitive as other platforms for EA.

[Christopher]

I agree, but it could easily paint a picture that swings PC popularity beyond where it is rather than setting on the plateau that PC gaming has become.

[2pacalypsenow]

nobodys forcing you to play their games. And EA isnt the only one charging $60 for games Steam Has $60 games too . I dont see the Hate towards Origin is ?

[Christopher]

There is no hate, only common sense as to why they made more money off of PC sales. It's called a "no duh" situation.

[STONEY4]

Steam doesn't make certain games $60 at launch. Publishers do. That's why Activision games remain $60 over a year later and never have sales, while other publisher's games drop to $5 in less than a year.

[ATi_Elite]

Some people tend to think the PC doesn't make any money cause the PC doesn't advertise Games 24/7 but these numbers show that the PC makes cash for EA just like the Xbox360 and PS3.

Just to think most PC Gamers dislike Origin and many EA titles are console Ports so the few EA PC titles like The Sims, SWTOR, Battlefield 3, The Secret World, Warhammer Online, EA's P4F brand etc. are making a ton of cash on the PC.
(yes i know BF3 is a multiplat but it was made PC first then ported down)

Sure EA's console ports are not huge sellers on the PC (PC Gamers prefer PC specific titles not crappy ports) but EA is smart to have a list of dedicated PC titles. EA has been trying to blatantly copy World of Warcraft but EA needs to make original content instead of Copy n Paste.

With so many Game Changing PC titles coming out soon EA may need to rethink it's PC strategy if it wants to continue improving those PC Numbers.

[Saryk]

I agree. But my biggest pet peeve with EA is this!

When you make a game like Battlefield 2, which was freaking awesome and then make a game like Battlefield 3. Make sure you add all the features from the old to the new, like bots, lan and co-op.

[urwifeminder]

Pretty gutterd origin wont work with my modem crysis 2 and bf3 unable to play yet every other game and service runs perfect built a new rig lol for bf3 cost $ 1,600 and cant play ha ha ha ha ha ha either have to get a new modem or change isp, why does uplay, gfwl and steam work so great the forums on origin are funny people demanding refunds lol thomson 585 v8 face palm it disconnects my internet have to reboot pc and modem .

[Mythicninja]

Since when does GFWL work great?

[urwifeminder]

Ive never had a problem with it every gfwl live game has worked for me without an issue, i have gears,bioshock,bulletstorm,bat tlestation pacific,gta i love that it connects to my 360 achieves also dawn of war 2 load up patch and play simple.

[Skynetone]

your service provider should replace your modem for free, thats if they value your business

[superrey19]

Get a new modem and some punctuations for your sentences.

[urwifeminder]

no

[ipe]

Mmmm pretty sure this show how consoles re strong in its 7th year, 2 to 1 compared to pc( and dont tell me that more platforms, there re hundreds of milion pcs out there, and 8600 30$ gpu can run me3)

They also have origin, more titles on pc, swtor, sims, micro trans.games, older games not on consoles sold in bundles etc. Mstter of fact show that their usual games sell more on console despite smaller margins, less total games...

But im glad all platforms re doing ok, just little observation

[kevnb]

this is a company thats focused more on consoles than pc we are talking about. lets not forget nexon was trying to buy EA not long ago..

[dazzrazz]

"A lot of it is from Origin, which now has 21 million users." it should be "forced" users :P

[superrey19]

When you say it like that of course it sounds bad, but they are obviously not forcing anyone to buy a game. It's like saying Valve "forces" people to use Steam in order to play counter strike! Oh no!

Personally, I'm indifferent about Origin. It runs in the background, I load EA games from it, and that's it. It ain't as fleshed out as Steam, but Steam use to suck back in the day too, and we all love it now.

[2pacalypsenow]

Are you forced to play EA Games? no? So Shut up. I bought Alan wake on PC and the only way to play it is through Steam , yet i don't bitch about being forced to use steam

[Somebody]

I haven't bought the BF3 Premium thing. I don't know why.

[glennco]

you can have mine

[shutUpAndTakeMyMoney]

pc is dead!! /s

[kevnb]

i kind of figured it would be something like that. Its only going to shift even more towards pc as well, unless of course windows 8 screws it up.

[shutUpAndTakeMyMoney]

windows 8 is good and bad.. For the tech savy windows 8 is annoying but has the best performance and is super fast! I like windows 8 actually but some thing are good some bad. The searching is way way better and more efficient. And metro is a smart but very Impactful part of win8.

[andibandit]

Yeah things are swinging in the PC's favor. Personally im tired of seing sequel after sequel son consoles and have a huge backlog of sequels that i should complete.

I think things will keep swinging towards the PC's favor until the new generation of consoles gain a foothold.

[kevinsheeks]

But all i ever hear is piracy piracy piracy when it come's to pc yet they make the most on pc -_-

they withhold games from us and release them 3 months late pc gamers get unjust treatment

[TronEOL]

Once they get a proper "game renting" feature for PC gaming, I think we'll start seeing equal treatment for PC gamers. The only reason people pirate games (not agreeing with it) is mostly because they're unsure of if they'll like it or not.

And not all of these games get on Steam or have a Steam sale that's 50-75% off.

So if the ability to rent games off Steam, Origin, or the like comes into play, you'll start to see the whole piracy thing sort of die off. It won't die for good since there are complete douchebags in the world who just don't believe in paying people for their work, or self-righteous gamers that believe certain publishers/developers don't deserve money if the game isn't the way they want it.

But I can see PC gaming eventually getting to the point in which most games are released side-by-side their console counter-parts.

[RAYMEISTER]

They need to give half off for single player. Then if u wanna play the multiplayer pay the remaining difference.

[Chris558]

Damn hate ea

[Gamerita]

ORIGIN is a virus i will never use it or buy an EA game that require this spy virus software.

STEAM ftw :)

[Zha1tan]

I cant understand why any self respecting PC gamer would be interested in any EA game at all.

They are average at best, do nothing new and are often severely limited in scope and creativity and are most of the time a shadow of a activison blizzard product and not to mention overpriced compared to more innovative, creative,better & bigger games.