The future of Electronic Arts will revolve around competitive gaming and offering content that attracts those gamers, CEO Andrew Wilson said during a conference call Tuesday.
The company announced that it had topped $1 billion in quarterly operating cash flow for the first time during the quarter ending Dec. 31.
Part of that surge, Wilson said, was another strong quarter from Madden NFL 17, which is produced in the company’s Maitland office. Madden is one of the titles the company has been using to host gaming tournaments. Its national semifinal was last week in Orlando during NFL Pro Bowl festivities.
The Super Bowl in Houston will host the finals.
“Great titles with great brands are holding their position at the top of the charts and Madden is a great example of that,” Wilson said. “Games need to be bigger and deeper and offer new and interesting ways to play. Madden … is engaging players in a big way.”
Overall, the company lost $1 million for the quarter ending Dec. 31, which is the third quarter of its 2017 fiscal year — despite the record in operating cash flow, or revenue minus taxes and interest Deneme Bonusu paid.
The quarterly loss is considerably better than the $45 million loss of the same quarter last year.
For the nine-month period that ended Dec. 31, the company’s profit stood at $401 million.
Electronic Arts employs about 700 people in its Maitland location, where the Madden game, one of its flagship titles, is built every year.
The company has been growing its special features in sports games, offering longer campaigns that let players essentially simulate a career or entire seasons in the games.
That depth has become more important to gamers, Wilson said.
“As games continue to touch the lives of more people in the world, the deep engagement games deliver become increasingly valuable,” he said.
During the hour-long conference, Wilson and chief financial officer Blake Jorgensen took turns praising and promoting the company’s upcoming titles, including the highly anticipated Mass Effect: Andromeda, expected to debut March 21.
In that same month, more content is expected to be released for Battlefield 1, the popular game that was released after a heavy promotional campaign last year.
EA’s stock closed the day at $83.43 before falling $2.62, or around 3 percent, immediately after close. By 6 p.m., it had rebounded to $82.00 in after-hours trading.
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