Electronic Arts surges on higher profit thanks to “College Football 25”

That $600 payment to every college football player who agreed to appear in “College Football 25” sure seems to have paid off for Electronic Arts. The sporty game studio reported its fourth-quarter results after the bell on Tuesday and said the collegiate title helped fuel its 2025 results.

EA posted a $254 million profit, up 40% from a year earlier. Its American Football division alone scored more than $1 billion in net bookings on the fiscal year, a good chunk of its $7.36 billion net bookings total. Live services — which fuel many of EA’s sports titles — represented 73% of total net bookings on the year.

Now that rival Take-Two’s tentpole “GTA 6” title has been delayed until late May 2026 (out of EA's fiscal 2026), the company expects net bookings of between $7.6 billion and $8 billion.

The company's shares were up more than 5% in after-hours trading.

Last week, EA announced its fourth round of layoffs since 2023 and scrapped a “Titanfall” game that was in development.