XboxGameZone.co.uk

Electronic Arts Inc. today announced preliminary financial results for its first fiscal quarter ended June 30, 2011 .

“This was another solid quarter driven by both digital and packaged goods. We saw strong digital revenue growth over the prior year. On packaged goods, NCAA is off to a great start and pre-orders for Battlefield 3 are tracking extremely well.” said John Riccitiello, Chief Executive Officer.

“EA is well positioned for the year ahead and reaffirms its fiscal 2012 non-GAAP EPS guidance. And we are increasing non-GAAP digital revenue guidance to a range of $1.100 billion to $1.150 billion for fiscal 2012.” said Eric Brown, Chief Financial Officer.

Selected Operating Highlights and Metrics:

• Trailing twelve month digital revenue $854 million, up 35% year-over-year.
• First quarter fiscal 2012 digital revenue $209 million, up 11% year-over-year.
• Trailing twelve month console digital revenue increased 91% year-over-year.
• Nucleus registered users 125 million at the end of first quarter fiscal 2012.
• Portal 2 sold in over two million units in the first quarter. On catalogue, Crysis 2 sold in approximately three million units life to date; Dead Space 2 and Dragon Age 2 have both sold in over two million units life to date.
• EA was the #1 publisher in Western markets with 16% segment share in the June quarter.
• For the quarter, EA had four of the top 20 selling games in Western markets: Portal 2, Crysis 2, FIFA 11, and Tiger Woods PGA TOUR 12: The Masters.
• Life to date, including digital and mobile downloads, FIFA 11 sold in nearly 15 million units and Battlefield: Bad Company 2 sold in over nine million units, demonstrating strong cross-platform results
• EA Games Label and EA SPORTS garnered 148 award nominations and 19 wins at E3. Winners included Mass Effect 3, Battlefield 3, STAR WARS: The Old Republic, FIFA 12, SSX, Need for Speed: The Run, Kingdoms of Amalur: Reckoning, Madden NFL 12, and NHL 12.
• EA’s E3 Game Changers press conference was viewed by more than two million people on Spike TV’s broadcast and live webcasts on several consumer sites.
• On July 12, 2011 EA announced an agreement to acquire PopCap Games , a leading provider of games for mobile phones, tablets, PCs and social network sites. With blockbuster titles like Plants vs. Zombies, Bejeweled, and Zuma, and a proven ability to create new hits, PopCap is a leader in the fast growing market for casual digital games. The acquisition is expected to be completed in August 2011.

XGZ will be listening in to EA’s financial call to investors, due to kick off in about 20 minutes. We’ll bring you any news of note from the call.