But we dont know what that game is, except that its "major" according to the CFO.
Also another important event is starting to creep into game development, higher costs.
http://online.wsj.com/article/BT-CO-20120507-715173.html
SAN FRANCISCO (Dow Jones)--Electronic Arts Inc. (EA) said it will delay the release of an important, as-yet-unidentified game title past the next year, a major factor dragging its sales expectations lower than analysts had expected.
The Redwood City, Calif., company said it expects profits for the current fiscal year of between $1.05 and $1.20 a share with about $4.3 billion of sales, excluding deferred revenue and certain other adjustments. Analysts' average projection called for a $1.12-per-share profit and $4.49 billion of revenue, according to a poll by Thomson Reuters.
EA said that the game, which interim Chief Financial Officer Ken Barker declined to name, had been delayed in part because of costs. "It's a major game," he said.
The company also said it would take a $40 million restructuring charge and eliminate some jobs associated with its move into Internet-based sales.
The news overshadowed EA's fiscal fourth-quarter profit, which more than doubled on sales of its latest blockbuster game, a sci-fi space battle game called "Mass Effect 3." Shares dropped 9.4% to $13.71 after hours. The company's stock has fallen more than a quarter so far this year.
EA's disappointing outlook comes as the company attempts to transform its business model to better compete against rivals such as Zynga Inc. (ZNGA), which has expanded their business to better support Internet-based sales. To respond, EA whittled its product list to focus on fewer but more successful games. It also bought Playfish to help it make games for social networks, such as Facebook, and PopCap Games, to better compete on mobile devices such as Apple Inc.'s (AAPL) iPhone.
EA has also built a large multiplayer game based on the "Star Wars" franchise in order to compete against Activision Blizzard Inc. (ATVI), whose "World of Warcraft" game with 10 million subscribers has created recurring revenue that has helped grow the videogame company into one of the world's largest.
EA's "Star Wars" beat expectations in the months after its December release, with 1.7 million active subscribers. But many first-time players left the game, bringing it down to 1.3 million active subscribers. EA said the game was still doing well and that the number of paying subscribers had risen as a percentage of overall players.
"The service is stable, profitable, and we have strong plans to grow it," John Riccitiello, EA's chief executive, said on a conference call.
Despite declines in some games, others such as "FIFA 12" performed well. EA said the soccer game generated $100 million in Internet-based sales of products like additional uniforms and other digital goods.
For the quarter ended March 31, Electronic Arts reported a profit of $400 million, or $1.20 a share, up from $151 million, or 45 cents a share, a year earlier. Excluding income-tax adjustments, deferred-revenue effects and other items, per-share earnings fell to 17 cents from 25 cents. Revenue jumped 26% to $1.37 billion, but slipped 1.8% to $977 million on an adjusted basis.
The company's cautious guidance in February predicted a profit between 10 cents and 20 cents a share with $925 million to $975 million of adjusted revenue.
Operating margin widened to 26.7% from 13.3% amid higher sales of digital titles.
Stock down 10% after hours...not a good day for videogame developers everywhere. edit to add text of the article since its now subscription only
