| bumidan said: Normally, as per GAAP rules (from my recollection) - as well as what EA does.... Live Revenue (subscription) should be broken down almost equally. Because the revenue is being recognized each month, as opposed to just 1 time (when it is bought) This is the reason why EA revenue for PS3 and Wii are weird and have a lot of GAAP/nonGAAP difference. (SEE MY PREVIOUS EA THREADS) So I think Squilliam, even though a lot of Live Subscriptions may be bought during the holidays, my gut (and GAAP) tells me that revenue is being recognized throughout the year, not just one time. |
I would be more inclined to say its a one off rather than something which is broken down over 12 months. Im no accountant, nor am I really up to date on the GAAP procedures. It just makes sense because the cards are sold to retail rather than sold online mostly, so its less messy in terms of returns etc to deal with the revenue on the month of sale to the retailer than spread it out over 12 months.
I would also suggest that live is now making up a larger proportion of the total revenue. Microsoft takes a much larger cut of online sales *30% for published Live Arcade games* more for games they publish themselves and unknown for other content. You should take a look at the Xbox Live Arcade games sales figures and possibly infer 30% of the revenue for Microsoft and if you consider previous statements that over a billion dollars has been spent online with the Live store and the fact that its probably increasing quite rapidly.
Tease.
