EA: full game downloads contributed nearly $100 million during Q4

EA said during its call to investors last night that full game downloads contributed nearly $100 million during Q4 in fiscal year 2013, a figure which is up 64% year-over-year.

Speaking with investors in a prepared statement, CFO Blake Jorgensen said that full game downloads are typically driven by PC products, and during the firm's Q4 FY13, SimCity was the "key driver of that growth," as it sold 1.6 million units with 50% of its sales being digital downloads.

Subscriptions and other digital revenue contributed $191 million, up 54% year-over-year, and the growth was primarily attributed to the $121 million of the full year's Battlefield 3 Premium subscriptions.

DLC and free-to-play contributed $224 million, a figure which is up 45% yoy, thanks to FIFA Ultimate Team and "solid results" from Star Wars: The Old Republic and Bejeweled Blitz.

"Our Star Wars: The Old Republic game is a combination of free-to-play and subscription business models," Jorgensen told investors. "Both models are performing well. The game has attracted new free-to-play members and total active users are up.

"We continue to deliver new game updates for the community every 6 weeks, helping drive subscribers and free-to-play consumers to the game."

EA said during its investors call, that since going F2P, 1.7 million new players have joined SWTOR and monthly revenue has more than doubled. Paid subs now stand at 500,000.

The firm's mobile business also generated $104 million for Q4, up 21% over the prior year with smartphones and tablets providing a major boon to revenue and accounted for $79 million of the $104 million total - up 27% year-over-year.

Real Racing 3 and The Simpsons: Tapped Out were key contributors to mobile growth. The Simpsons: Tapped Out has 13 million installs and with the recent release on Android, it hit 5.4 million DAUs at its peak across all mobile platforms. Meanwhile, Real Racing 3 has registered more than 30 million installs to date and Sims FreePlay has more than 55 million installs.