Electronic Arts Inc. (EA – Free Report) is scheduled to report fiscal third-quarter 2018 results on Jan 30.

The company has beaten the Zack Consensus Estimate in three of the trailing four quarters, delivering an average positive surprise of 24.78%.

Last quarter, the company reported non-GAAP earnings of 66 cents per share, which beat the Zacks Consensus Estimate of 55 cents. Net bookings, which matched the consensus mark, came in at $1.18 billion, up 7.4% year over year.

However, Electronic Arts’ outlook for the third quarter of fiscal 2018, which includes the important holiday season, is lower than expected. For the quarter, the company expects net bookings to be $2 billion whereas the Zacks Consensus Estimate stands at $2.03 billion.

Electronic Arts Inc. Price and EPS Surprise

Electronic Arts Inc. Price and EPS Surprise |  Electronic Arts Inc. Quote

Factors at Play

EA’s popularity is primarily driven by its well-known franchises, which has been the key growth driver for the company. EA SPORTS titles, along with Battlefield, Titanfall, and Star Wars are some of its biggest franchises.

In third-quarter fiscal 2018, Electronic Arts released the highly-awaited Star Wars Battlefront II game, Need for Speed Payback and The Sims 4(Console). The quarter will also include the sale of FIFA 18 that was released on Sep 29, 2017. FIFA remains one of the most popular titles among gamers.

Apart from popular titles, it is the shift to digital that has proved to be a major growth driver for Electronic Arts. Digital sales now contribute to the majority of revenues. Additionally, the live services component (includes revenues from extra content and subscriptions, advertising, and others) of EA games has also emerged as a big growth driver.

However, the launch of Battlefront 2 was a disappointment for the company. The game did not receive very positive reviews. The outrage over the exorbitant pricing of in-games purchases compelled EA to temporarily turn off all microtransactions in the game, apparently.