Virtual Goods News

In an earnings call yesterday Electronic Arts disclosed several interesting statistics related to its nascent virtual goods projects along with more general statistics for Q1 2009 and the year to come. Perhaps most significant is the disclose that EA's digital content revenue stream is projected to generate $80 million in 2009, a number expected to double in 2010. Likewise, the 2009 revenue figure is a twofold increase of EA's 2008 digital content revenues. 

The digital content category of EA's revenue combines both revenues from microtransaction sales of in-game virtual goods and direct digital sales of EA games to consumers. It is unknown what percentage of the total revenue number is accounted for by each category of content, but EA is definitely expecting growth in microtransaction sales to drive the projected revenue increase in this category 2010. EA CEO John Riccitello stated during the call that he expects to see gains in ARPU driving margins during next two years. 

Other interesting disclosed regarding EA's plans for virtual goods in their overall business emerged during discussions of upcoming titles. Regarding EA's microtransaction-oriented sports titles that operate in Korea and China, Riccitello stated that they expected the line to become profitable this year after several years of investment. Two titles highlighted in the call were NBA Street Online and FIFA Online 2. EA has no stated plan to launch either title in North America.

It is typical for major gaming companies to emphasize major upcoming titles expected to generate heavy revenue to investors during an earnings call. Among the titles EA chose to emphasize this year were The Sims 3 and Dragon Age