EA made US$1.5billion from ‘Ultimate Team’ over the past year

Electronic Arts (EA) has earned over US$1.5billion in revenue in financial year 2021 through its Ultimate Team offerings alone.

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The earnings were revealed through the company’s latest 10-K document filing, which provides a comprehensive summary of the company’s annual financial performance. Per the document, EA has declared a revenue of US$1.62billion in FY 2021 through Ultimate Team across its FIFA 21, Madden NFL 21 and NHL 21 titles.

First shared on Twitter by video game analyst Daniel Ahmad, EA’s 10-K also includes records of the company’s Ultimate Team revenue dating back to 2015. Consumer spending has increased significantly over the past seven years, rising from US$587million in FY 2015 to US$1.62billion in FY 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: $587m

The majority is from FIFA Ultimate Team ofc. pic.twitter.com/xUbNUx6R62

— Daniel Ahmad (@ZhugeEX) May 26, 2021

EA’s Ultimate Team mode, which is available on its most popular sports franchise titles, allows players to create teams comprising their favourite athletes. In order to secure the players of their choice, gamers will either have to purchase the characters with in-game currency or through randomly generated packs – or loot boxes – that can be purchased with real money.

EA recently came under fire for allegedly steering players to purchase loot boxes in FIFA 21. A leaked 54-page presentation revealed that purchasing loot boxes was the “cornerstone” of the game, and that EA was “doing everything we can to drive players there”.

Responding to the controversy, the studio said that “decisions to spend are always entirely optional”, and that the content in the leaked document supports their claims by showing “how we are supporting engagement in our game during the summer period, not spending”.

EA has since made a handful of individual cosmetics available for purchase in FIFA 21 without having to purchase loot boxes. These cosmetics include new home and away kits, a stadium theme and more.

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