REDWOOD CITY, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)-- Electronic Arts Inc. (NASDAQ:EA) today announced preliminary financial results for its third fiscal quarter ended December 31, 2011.

"We are pleased to report a strong holiday quarter driven by Battlefield 3, FIFA12 and a strong showing by our digital games and services," said Chief Executive Officer John Riccitiello. "Star Wars: The Old Republic is developing a committed community of players with more than 1.7 million active subscribers and growing."

"We recorded our highest operating cash flow in 31 quarters and grew segment share in both Europe and North America," said Eric Brown, Chief Financial Officer. "Third quarter non-GAAP digital revenue grew 79% year-over year, and we achieved our goal of generating over $1 billion in non-GAAP digital revenue on a trailing-twelve-month basis."

Selected Operating Highlights and Metrics:

Star Wars®: The Old Republic™ has generated 1.7 million active subscribers and sold through more than 2 million units in a little over one month.
Battlefield 3™ and FIFA 12 each sold through more than 10 million units. Madden NFL 12 has sold through almost 5 million units life-to-date.
EA was the number one publisher by segment share in Western markets for the calendar year, where EA segment share grew by 3% to 20% in Europe and by 1% to 17% in North America.
PopCap — which joined EA in August has grown revenue by 30 percent on a trailing-twelve-month basis.
EA's Playfish social gaming network released Risk™: Factions in partnership with Hasbro.
EA was the number one game publisher in the Apple App StoreSM in December. In December, EA's first free-to-play mobile game, The Sims™: FreePlay, reached the number one position on the list of top-grossing iPad® Apps.
EA's Nucleus registration system now has a database of more than 168 million consumers.
Origin™ — EA's direct-to-consumer digital service has registered more than 9.3 million consumers and generated more than $100 million in non-GAAP revenue since launch. Origin has publishing agreements with Warner Brothers, THQ, CapCom and recently added 11 new publishing partners including Trion and Robot Entertainment.
Non-GAAP digital revenue exceeded $1 billion in calendar year 2011 and continues to grow significantly with new subscriptions, micro-transactions and advertising.
Q3 FY12 Financial Highlights:

Non-GAAP net revenue of $1,651 million exceeded our guidance of $1,550 million to $1,650 million. Non-GAAP diluted earnings per share of $0.99 exceeded our guidance of $0.85 to $0.95. Non-GAAP net revenue in Q3 fiscal 2012 was higher as compared to Q3 fiscal 2011 driven by digital growth and by the successful launches of Battlefield 3 and Star Wars: The Old Republic.