Electronic Arts (EA) confirmed its lower-than-expected results for its latest quarterly earnings, mainly attributed to a rough start for “Dragon Age: The Veilguard” and “EA Sports FC 25,” on Thursday.

In preliminary results released Jan. 22, EA first revealed its negative adjustment, stating “Global Football,” which is how the company classifies its “EA Sports FC” results vs. “American Football” labeling for “Madden” and “College Football,” had “experienced a slowdown as early momentum in the fiscal third quarter did not sustain through to the end” for “EA Sports FC 25,” which launched Sept. 27.

At that time, EA also noted “Dragon Age” drew only 1.5 million players during the October-December quarter, which was nearly 50% below the publisher’s expectations for the Oct. 31 release. (EA-owned “Dragon Age” developer BioWare recently laid off a portion of its staff as part of a studio realignment following the game’s launch.)

With the finalized financials released Thursday, EA reiterates it now expects net bookings to be between $7 billion to $7.2 billion when it ends its fiscal year at the conclusion of March. When reporting its last earnings results in October, EA saw a more promising outlook and upped its expected full-year revenue to be between $7.4 billion and $7.7 billion.

For the fiscal fourth quarter, which runs January to March, EA says it now expects net bookings to be between $1.4 billion and $1.6 billion. Net revenue estimates are between $1.7 billion and $1.8 billion. Forecast for diluted EPS is between 65 cents and $1.00, with net income between $171 million and $263 million.

Wall Street forecast earnings per share (EPS) of $1.08 on $2.34 billion in revenue, according to analyst consensus data of GAAP numbers provided by LSEG. EA reported non-GAAP results of diluted EPS of $1.11 on $2.2 billion in net bookings.

“The record success of our ‘EA Sports FC 25’ Team of the Year event demonstrates our creative teams’ ability to adapt, innovate, and execute at scale,” EA CEO Andrew Wilson said in a letter to shareholders. “As we build on this momentum across EA, we are confident in a return to growth in FY26 and beyond as we bring our next wave of iconic entertainment to players and fans worldwide.”  

“Today, we announced plans for a $1 billion accelerated share repurchase, which is expected to bring total stock repurchases to $2.5 billion within the first year of our $5 billion authorization,” EA CFO Stuart Canfield said. “This reflects both our confidence in EA’s long-term strategy and our ability to balance investment in growth with capital returns.”

More to come…