Acquisitions Cause $US 454 Million In Losses For EA In Fiscal 08

Army of Two, Burnout Paradise and the continued strength of Rock Band drove Electronic Arts to $US 1.127 billion in sales for the fiscal fourth quarter, an 84 percent increase over the same period last year – but rather than turn a profit, EA took a $US 94 million loss.

Despite having 27 titles that sold over one million units during the year and a total $US 3.7 billion in sales, that loss on the quarter was only a portion of the company’s overall $US 454 million loss on the year, a hefty blow after last fiscal year’s $US 76 million profit.

However, both sales and revenue growth were decent for the company, beating analyst expectations. Crunching the numbers, it appears as if EA could have made around $US 30 million, if not for the costs largely due to its acquisitions – specifically the $US 620 million purchase of BioWare and Pandemic in October 2007, finalised in January 2008.