Electronic Arts just reported one of their weakest quarters in recent memory, and it might be one of the last financial snapshots we ever get. The gaming giant’s Q2 fiscal 2026 results for the period ending September 30, 2025, show net bookings down 13% to $1.82 billion, net revenue down 9.2% to $1.84 billion, and net income cratering 53% to just $137 million. The company blamed comparisons to last year when College Football 25 launched, but there’s a bigger story here. EA is suspending earnings calls and forward guidance indefinitely as they prepare for a massive $55 billion go-private deal expected to close in April 2026. This is what the end of EA as a public company looks like.
The Numbers Are Rough
Let’s break down exactly how bad Q2 was for EA. Net bookings, the key industry metric that includes both digital and physical sales, fell from $2.09 billion in Q2 2025 to $1.82 billion in Q2 2026. That’s a 13% year-over-year drop. Net revenue decreased from $2.03 billion to $1.84 billion, a 9.2% decline. But the real pain is in net income, which collapsed from $294 million to $137 million, a devastating 53.4% plunge.
EA’s explanation is straightforward. Last year’s Q2 included the launch of EA Sports College Football 25, the long-awaited return of college football games after an 11-year absence. That title was a cultural phenomenon that drove massive sales and created an unfair comparison point. This year’s Q2 didn’t have a comparable blockbuster launch, leading to the significant year-over-year declines across the board.
Platform Breakdown
Console gaming remains EA’s largest revenue source at $1.21 billion, but that’s down 12% year-over-year. PC and other platforms generated $352 million, down 3%. Mobile brought in $275 million, down 4%. Every platform declined, with consoles taking the biggest hit. This widespread weakness suggests the issue isn’t platform-specific but reflects broader challenges with EA’s release slate and live service performance during the quarter.
Live services still dominate EA’s business model, accounting for 66% of total revenue at $1.22 billion. Full game sales contributed the remaining $618 million. This split shows how dependent EA has become on ongoing engagement and monetization through seasons, battle passes, Ultimate Team modes, and other live service mechanics rather than upfront game purchases.
No More Earnings Calls
The bigger news buried in this report is EA’s announcement that they’re suspending quarterly earnings calls and forward-looking guidance. This isn’t temporary. It’s permanent, or at least until the go-private deal completes. EA stated they will no longer host conference calls to discuss financial results, and they won’t provide projections about future performance. For a company that’s reported public earnings for decades, this represents a fundamental shift in transparency.
The reason is simple. A consortium led by Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund agreed to acquire EA for approximately $55 billion in a deal announced earlier in 2025. Once that acquisition closes, expected in EA’s Q1 fiscal 2027 starting April 2026, EA will no longer be a publicly traded company. Private companies have no obligation to disclose financial results, host earnings calls, or explain their business to shareholders. This Q2 report might be one of the last public glimpses into EA’s financial health we ever get.
What Going Private Means
Taking EA private removes the quarterly pressure to meet Wall Street expectations. No more analysts demanding explanations for revenue misses. No more investor calls where executives justify decisions. No more public scrutiny of profit margins and development costs. For EA’s leadership, this probably feels liberating. They can make long-term bets without worrying about short-term stock price reactions.
For everyone else, it means losing visibility into one of gaming’s biggest companies. We won’t know how well Battlefield performs. We won’t see Apex Legends engagement numbers. We won’t get detailed breakdowns of how EA Sports titles monetize their player bases. The transparency that public companies must maintain disappears, replaced by whatever PR messaging EA chooses to release.
Bright Spots in a Dark Quarter
EA did highlight some positive developments despite the overall financial weakness. Skate attracted 15 million players in less than a month after launching into early access late in Q2. That’s massive engagement for a free-to-play skateboarding game, suggesting EA successfully tapped into nostalgia for the beloved Skate franchise while adapting to modern free-to-play economics.
Battlefield 6 launched just after the reporting period ended but EA couldn’t resist sharing preliminary numbers. The game sold 7 million copies in its first three days, described as a record-breaking performance. Combined with the free-to-play battle royale mode Battlefield REDSEC launching simultaneously, EA positioned Battlefield’s return as proof their long-term strategy works. Whether those numbers translate to sustained engagement and monetization won’t be public knowledge for much longer.
Individual Franchise Performance
Madden NFL 26 showed year-over-year growth in net bookings, maintaining its position as one of EA Sports’ most reliable franchises. Apex Legends returned to double-digit year-over-year growth after recent struggles, indicating the battle royale still has legs seven years after launch. EA SPORTS FC 26 posted mid-single-digit growth despite tough comparisons to the previous year’s deluxe edition timing differences.
These individual success stories demonstrate that EA’s core franchises remain healthy. The problem isn’t necessarily declining game quality or losing players. It’s more about difficult year-over-year comparisons when last year had a massive launch that this year didn’t replicate. College Football 25 created an artificially high baseline that made normal performance look weak by comparison.
Mobile Continues Sliding
EA’s mobile division generated $275 million in revenue, down 4% year-over-year and representing just 15% of total net revenue. This continues a concerning trend where EA struggles to find mobile success comparable to their console dominance. While mobile gaming represents the largest and fastest-growing segment of the gaming industry globally, EA hasn’t cracked the code on replicating their console franchises’ success on phones and tablets.
The mobile decline, while small in percentage terms, matters because it represents a strategic failure. EA invested heavily in mobile development and acquisitions over the past decade, yet mobile remains a relatively minor part of their business that’s shrinking rather than growing. As the gaming industry increasingly shifts toward mobile-first engagement, EA’s weakness in this area could become a more significant problem over time.
Stock Performance Despite Bad News
Here’s the weird part. Despite reporting declining revenue, plummeting profits, and missing analyst estimates, EA’s stock has risen approximately 37% since the beginning of 2025. That significantly outperforms the S&P 500’s 17% gain over the same period. How does a company with weakening fundamentals see its stock price surge?
The answer is the go-private deal. Once an acquisition is announced at a specific price, the stock tends to trade near that acquisition price regardless of quarterly performance. Investors aren’t buying EA because they believe in the business fundamentals. They’re buying because they expect the acquisition to close and provide a guaranteed exit at the agreed-upon price. Short-term financial performance becomes almost irrelevant once a buyout is locked in.
What This Means for Gaming
EA going private represents a significant moment for the gaming industry. One of the few remaining independent major publishers is about to become privately owned, joining a growing trend of private equity and sovereign wealth funds acquiring gaming companies. Take-Two bought Zynga. Microsoft acquired Activision Blizzard. Embracer Group went on a buying spree before imploding. Now Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund is taking EA private.
The implications are complicated. Private ownership can enable longer-term thinking and risk-taking without quarterly earnings pressure. But it can also mean less accountability, more aggressive monetization hidden from public scrutiny, and development decisions driven purely by profit without external oversight. We won’t know EA’s financial performance anymore, so we won’t know if their strategies succeed or fail unless the company chooses to tell us.
The Last Dance
EA will likely publish one or two more quarterly reports before the acquisition closes in April 2026, but this Q2 report feels like the beginning of the end for EA’s transparency. The suspension of earnings calls and forward guidance signals that EA is already transitioning mentally to private company operations where they owe explanations to their new owners rather than public shareholders and analysts.
For gaming fans, journalists, and industry watchers who’ve relied on EA’s quarterly reports to understand trends in sports games, live service monetization, and AAA development costs, this transition represents a significant loss of information. EA has been one of the most transparent major publishers precisely because they had no choice as a public company. That forced transparency is about to disappear.
FAQs
Why did EA’s sales fall 13%?
Net bookings declined 13% year-over-year primarily due to comparisons with Q2 2025 when EA Sports College Football 25 launched. This year’s Q2 didn’t have a comparable blockbuster release, creating difficult year-over-year comparisons.
Is EA going out of business?
No, EA is being acquired by a consortium led by Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund for approximately $55 billion. The deal is expected to close in April 2026, taking EA private and removing its stock from public trading.
Will EA still publish financial reports?
Once the acquisition closes and EA becomes a private company, they will have no legal obligation to publish quarterly financial reports or host earnings calls. This will likely be one of the last public financial reports EA releases.
How did Battlefield 6 perform?
EA reported that Battlefield 6 sold 7 million copies in its first three days after launching just after the reporting period ended. This was described as record-breaking performance for the franchise.
Why is EA’s stock up if sales are down?
EA’s stock has risen 37% in 2025 primarily due to the announced go-private deal. Once an acquisition is announced at a specific price, stocks tend to trade near that acquisition price regardless of quarterly performance as investors expect the deal to close.
What happened to earnings calls?
EA suspended quarterly earnings calls and forward-looking guidance indefinitely ahead of the go-private deal. They will no longer host conference calls to discuss financial results with analysts and investors.
How much of EA’s revenue comes from live services?
Live services account for 66% of EA’s total revenue at $1.22 billion in Q2, with full game sales contributing the remaining $618 million. This demonstrates EA’s heavy dependence on ongoing engagement and monetization.
When does EA’s acquisition close?
The $55 billion go-private deal is expected to close in EA’s Q1 fiscal 2027, which begins in April 2026. After that, EA will no longer be a publicly traded company.
What is EA’s fiscal year?
EA’s fiscal year runs from April 1 to March 31. The Q2 fiscal 2026 report covers July 1 to September 30, 2025. This unconventional fiscal year can cause confusion when comparing to calendar years.
Conclusion
EA’s Q2 fiscal 2026 results tell two stories simultaneously. On the surface, it’s a weak quarter with declining sales, plummeting profits, and tough year-over-year comparisons explaining the pain. Dig deeper and it’s the beginning of EA’s transformation from public company to private entity, complete with suspended earnings calls and disappearing transparency. The 13% drop in net bookings and 53% collapse in net income would normally trigger intense scrutiny and demands for accountability. Instead, it’s almost an afterthought compared to the seismic shift happening as EA prepares to leave public markets forever. For decades, EA operated under the microscope of quarterly earnings pressure, analyst expectations, and shareholder demands. That era is ending. Whether that’s good or bad for EA’s games, employees, and players won’t be clear for years, and we probably won’t have the financial data to evaluate it anyway. What we know now is that one of gaming’s giants reported a rough quarter, suspended the earnings calls that would normally explain what went wrong, and reminded everyone that this whole public company thing is almost over. April 2026 isn’t far away. After that, EA’s financial performance becomes a black box unless they choose to share. The transparency we’ve taken for granted disappears. And a significant chapter in gaming industry history closes, replaced by whatever comes next when Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund owns one of the world’s largest game publishers. It’s been real, public EA. See you on the other side. Or maybe we won’t see anything at all anymore. That’s kind of the point.