According to Electronic Arts, Ultimate Team made a “substantial portion” of its revenue last year. Now we know exactly how much money the company made from this game mode, which accounts for almost 30 percent of its total earnings.
Electronic Arts has disclosed this information in its annual report for the United States Securities and Exchange Commission. The document was spotted by Nikko Partners senior analyst Daniel Ahmad on May 26.
During the last seven years, Electronic Arts almost tripled its revenue from Ultimate Team. While the company made $587 million from it in the fiscal year 2015, it earned $1.62 billion from this mode, which is 29 percent of the publisher’s total revenue of $5.62 billion for the fiscal year 2021.
How much does EA earn from Ultimate Team across FIFA, Madden and NFL?
EA Net Revenue from Ultimate Team:
FY 2021: $1.62bn
FY 2020: $1.49bn
FY 2019: $1.37bn
FY 2018: $1.18bn
FY 2017: $775m
FY 2016: $660m
FY 2015: $587mThe majority is from FIFA Ultimate Team ofc. pic.twitter.com/xUbNUx6R62
— Daniel Ahmad (@ZhugeEX) May 26, 2021
It is worth noting that the Ultimate Team revenue combines earnings from all games that have this mode. The list includes sports series like Madden NFL, NHL, and FIFA. According to Ahmad, the majority of this sum is from FIFA Ultimate Team.
Ultimate Team allows users to collect players’ cards and play online. The whole monetization is built around opening packs (loot boxes) for in-game currency or real money. In its latest report, EA said that this mode is “designed for players motivated by competition and self-improvement.”
Electronic Arts faced a lot of criticism for its monetization strategy in recent years. In March, the company got into a so-called EAGate when its employees were accused of selling rare Ultimate Team cards to FIFA players. Last month, a leaked document also suggested that EA encouraged to spend real money on in-game items.
Loot boxes also have been the subject of debate for a while, as governments of different countries try to regulate these mechanics. For example, Germany is now considering a new reform to potentially classify games with loot boxes 18+. Belgium is now the only European country that officially banned people from buying the Ultimate Team cards for real money.