EA increases its yearly bookings estimate because American football games do better than expected

Electronic Arts (EA.O), opens new tab raised its bookings estimate for fiscal 2025 on Tuesday, thanks to strong sales of its sports games in a market where people are being careful about spending.

Shares of the business went up about 2% during late trade.
Even though the industry is going through a tough time with higher inflation, “Madden NFL” and “College Football” from EA show good involvement.

The company now thinks that sales for the whole year will be between $7.50 billion and $7.80 billion, up from its previous prediction of $7.30 billion to $7.70 billion.

At its investor day last month, the company said it expects to hit the high end of its yearly bookings prediction. It expects its football titles to bring in over $1 billion in bookings during the fiscal year.

“Madden NFL 25” and “College Football 25” were the most popular video games in the U.S. in August. According to Circana, the new college sports game was the best-selling game of the year.

Prof. Joost Van Dreunen at NYU’s Stern School of Business said that EA’s move into college football “is providing insulation from the industry’s current lack of momentum.”

To calm investors’ fears that college football would hurt sales of the new Madden game, EA released the “EA Sports MVP Bundle,” which has both games. Circana also says that sales of the deal are very good.

When everything was taken into account, the company made $2.15 per share, while analysts had predicted $2.02 per share.