Electronic Arts 2004 Annual Report Download - page 19

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Nothing
TM
, The Sims
TM
Bustin' Out, Need for Speed
TM
Underground and Medal of Honor
TM
Rising
Sun, and
䡵EA SPORTS BIG
TM
Ì examples of some of our recent products published under the EA SPORTS
BIG brand are NFL STREET (football), SSX 3 (snowboarding), Def Jam VENDETTA
(wrestling) and NBA STREET Vol. 2 (basketball).
Co-publishing Products
Mainly through our EA Partners global business unit, we team with other game developers who develop their
own interactive software games with our assistance, which we then publish, market and distribute. An
example of a recent co-publishing product is BattleÑeld Vietnam
TM
, which was developed by Digital Illusions,
C.E. (""DICE'').
Distribution Products
We distribute interactive software games that are developed by other companies. An example of a recent
distribution product is Final Fantasy X-2, which was produced by Square Co. Ltd.
During Ñscal 2004, we published 32 new internally developed titles and co-published an additional 11 new
titles. Of these titles, 27 sold over one million units (aggregated across all platforms). In Ñscal 2004,
approximately 45 percent of our net revenue was generated by international operations, compared to
approximately 42 percent in Ñscal 2003 and 37 percent in Ñscal 2002.
Another strength of our business is that we have developed many of our products to become franchise titles
that can be regularly iterated. For example, every year we release new versions of most of our EA SPORTS
titles. Likewise, several of the EA GAMES and EA SPORTS BIG products listed above are part of new or
continuing product franchises. We also release products called ""expansion packs'' for PC titles that provide
additional content (characters, storylines, settings, missions) for games that we have previously published. For
example, we have published expansion packs for BattleÑeld 1942, including BattleÑeld 1942: The Road to
Rome and BattleÑeld 1942: Secret Weapons of WWII, each of which expands the characters, settings and
gameplay of the original BattleÑeld 1942 game. We consider titles that iterate, sequel or spawn expansion
packs to be franchise titles.
Method of Delivery
The console, PC and hand-held games that we publish are made available to consumers on a disk (usually CD
or DVD format) or a cartridge that is packaged and typically sold in retail stores and through our own online
store. We refer to these as packaged goods products. In North America and Europe, our largest markets,
these packaged goods products are sold primarily to retailers that may be mass market retailers (such as Wal-
Mart), electronics specialty stores (such as Best Buy) or game software specialty stores (such as Electronics
Boutique). We also maintain a smaller business where we license to manufacturers of products in related
industries (for example, makers of personal computers or computer accessories) rights to include certain of
our products with the manufacturer's product or oÅer our products to consumers who have purchased the
manufacturer's product. We call these combined products ""OEM bundles''.
There are three ways in which we publish games that are playable online by consumers. First, we include
online capability features in certain of our PC and PlayStation 2 products and soon Xbox, which enable
consumers to play against one another via the Internet. We also publish games that are playable only online.
One type of these online-only games is called ""persistent state worlds'' or massively multiplayer online games
and is server based. Consumers experience these games as interactive virtual worlds where thousands of
other consumers can interact with one another. Examples of our persistent state world products are Ultima
Online
TM
and The Sims Online. These persistent state world games are often sold to consumers in the form of a
CD or DVD that contains much of the software necessary to play the game online. Other types of online-only
games that we publish are available on the World Wide Web and include card games, puzzle games and
word games (marketed under the ""Pogo'' brand), all of which are made available to consumers on our
website, www.pogo.com, and on certain online services provided by America Online, Inc.
4