Apex Legends Reaches 70 million Players; EA to “Double Down” on Live Services & Core Franchises

Today Electronic Arts released its financial results for the second quarter of the fiscal year 2020, related to the period between July 1 and September 30, 2019.

First of all, we get comments from Chief Executive Officer Andrew Wilson and Chief Operating and Financial Officer Blake Jorgensen.

Wilson calls the quarter “excellent” and Jorgensen adds that the results are considered strong.

“It was an excellent second quarter for Electronic Arts. Our new EA SPORTS titles are thrilling core fans and bringing in new players, and our ongoing live services are growing with deeply-engaged communities

With new games like Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order, Need for Speed, Plants vs. Zombies and more great content across our top franchises, we’re set to deliver a lot of fun and excitement to players this holiday season, and continue our momentum in this fiscal year.”

You can read Jorgensen’s comment below, mentioning that the publisher will double down on live services combined with core franchises.

“The strong results this quarter illustrate the power of our live services and our core franchises. Strength in Ultimate Team, The Sims 4 and FIFA Online drove live services performance above our expectations.

Looking ahead, we are doubling down on live services combined with our core franchises. We’re investing in games that people play for longer and engage with much more deeply. This focus will continue to drive growth and profitability for the company through the remainder of this year and beyond.”

Here are a few interesting metrics, including the reveal that Apex Legends passed 70 million players since launch.

• Digital net booking* for the trailing twelve months was a record $3.883 billion, up 8% year-over-year and represents 78% of total net bookings.
• The number of FIFA Ultimate Team unique players increased 22% year-over-year.
• The number of Madden Ultimate Team unique players increased 19% year-over-year.
• Apex Legends has had 70 million players life to date.
• The Sims 4 monthly average players are up more than 40% year-over-year.

Below you can find the financial figures in detail.

Below you can check out a few interesting graphs showcasing the growth trends for the company split between physical and digital sales, the digital net bookings (which aren’t exactly sales, but close enough) split by platform, and between full game downloads, live services, and mobile.

If you’d like to compare, you can check out the results for the previous quarter, which were disclosed in July.