March 21, 2005
Electronic Arts Misses March Quarterly Estimates
Blaming hardware shortages, lack of re-orders for December quarter releases, and intense competition, Electronic Arts revised its forecast for the March quarter and the fiscal year down. Previous estimates were for EPS of $1.90-1.95, now the company expects $1.70-$1.72 a share.The CEO mentioned Half-life 2 and World of Warcraft sucking avid gamer time away from EA's owns games. Instead of blaming hardware and competition, why not own up to the fact EA's quality has simply sucked. Fifa Street? Lord of the Rings: Third Age? Medal of Honor Pacific Assault? James Bond? Would any gamer in their right mind want to play those games instead of Grand Theft Auto San Andreas, Halo 2, World of Warcraft, Gran Turismo 4, and God of War? I don't think so.
And do you hear that? It's the giant sucking sound of development talent whooshing away to the competition exemplified by the C&C real-time strategy design lead leaving EA for Blizzard. When you have the cream of the crop like Blizzard, Bungies, Sony's internal studios, and even Rockstar able to release games after 2-4 years of development time and WHEN THEY ARE DONE, you just get better games. EA's 1-2 years and pushing them out the door doesn't do games justice and finally it has caught up to them. [Discuss]
