College Football 25 Racks Up Record 5 Million Players in First Week as EA Beats Wall Str

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“EA Sports College Football 25″ drew a record-breaking 5 million unique players during its first week of availability, up from the 2.2 million that had joined the live-services game for early access by its July 19 release date.

Electronic Arts (EA) announced the impressive stats for the new title in its fiscal first-quarter 2025 earnings report Tuesday, where the video game giant also noted that 500,000 users played the game via EA Play’s trial option.

Wall Street forecast a GAAP earnings per share (EPS) of 88 cents and a non-GAAP EPS of 42 cents on $1.22 billion in net bookings, according to analyst consensus data provided by Seeking Alpha. EA reported diluted EPS of $1.04 and non-GAAP EPS of 52 cents on $1.26 billion in net bookings. That’s a drop of 14% in revenue from the year-ago quarter, and 29% fall in earnings.

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Profit stood at $280 million for the quarter, which ran April 1-June 30, down 30% from the comparable period in 2023.

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EA reported $1.4 billion in live services-related net bookings, down 5% from last year, but besting analysts’ projected $1.06 billion in net bookings.

“EA delivered a strong start to FY25, beating net bookings guidance as we continue to execute across our business,” EA CEO Andrew Wilson said in a letter to shareholders. “Our focus on delivering bigger, bolder, and more connected experiences for our players has never been sharper and is illustrated by the record-breaking launch of EA SPORTS College Football 25 as we head into another historic Q2 sports season at EA.”

EA CFO Stuart Canfield added: “Strong execution, live events and continued player engagement across our experiences, delivered Q1 results above expectations. Looking ahead, the remarkable success of our launch week for College Football, combined with the upcoming launches for EA SPORTS Madden NFL, EA SPORTS FC and Dragon Age: The Veilguard, is building momentum for FY25 and beyond. We are well positioned to deliver our multi-year financial objectives.”

EA stock closed Tuesday at $149.12 per share. The regular U.S. stock markets will reopen Wednesday at 9:30 a.m. ET.

Wilson and Canfield will host a conference call at 5 p.m. ET to discuss the quarter in greater detail.

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