Digital sales now two-thirds of EA revenue

EA’s digital earnings now account for about two-thirds of all revenues according to the company’s latest financial report.

Driven by strong performance of mobile games like The Simpsons: Tapped Out, Plants vs. Zombies 2, Real Racing 3, and console mainstay FIFA, the publisher’s finances for the first half of the year are looking better than expected.

The company pulled in $695 million this quarter, and of that $450 million came from digital revenues.

The Simpsons alone has brought EA over $100 million in revenue since launch last year, and FIFA’s digital revenues surpassed $145 million for the first half of the fiscal year.

In general, EA Sports is doing well for itself in the digital sector and the company pointed to the success of all games in the Ultimate Team franchise is enjoying without relying on brick-and-mortar sales.

PC sales are also a major part of the company’s revenue. The platform managed to draw $274 million, not far behind total console sales of $309 million.

Though digital growth is a good sign for the long term, retail sales are still falling and by generally accepted accounting procedures, EA actually lost $273 million this quarter.

The non-GAAP results tell a different story though, since the publisher used revenue from online games deferred from previous quarters to boost Q2 to a profit of $105 million.

This might sound like gaming the system, but since those revenues haven’t been included in the previous quarterly report investors are buying again and have driven EA’s share prices up 92 cents in after hours trading to $25.05.