To The Moon

Electronic Arts Inc. disappointed investors with its holiday sales and earnings Tuesday, and executives moved a big game launch to next fiscal year, leading to a forecast that is drastically less than Wall Street expected.

EA $(EA)$ shares dove more than 12% in morning trading as the videogame publisher missed on every important metric for its holiday earnings and the forecast for its final fiscal quarter of the year. In statements, executives sounded as if cuts were taken to compensate for the miss."As market uncertainty mounted during the quarter, we took measures to protect underlying profitability," Chief Financial Officer Chris Suh said. "We are prioritizing the player experience, directing investment to where it can have the most positive impact for our players and on growth."

EA reported fiscal third-quarter earnings of $204 million, or 73 cents a share, up from earnings of 23 cents a share a year ago. Holiday-season revenue came in at $1.88 billion, down from $1.79 billion a year ago. Net bookings for the quarter, which account for deferred revenue, were $2.34 billion, compared with $2.58 billion in the year-ago quarter.

Analysts on average were projecting adjusted earnings of $3.08 a share on revenue of $1.93 billion and net bookings of $2.48 billion, according to FactSet; EA did not provide adjusted earnings information in Tuesday's release. Shares fell more than 5% in after-hours trading following the release of the results, after closing with a 0.2% decline at $128.68.

"While our teams delivered for our players, the current macro environment impacted Q3 results," Chief Executive Andrew Wilson said in a prepared statement.

The numbers get worse in the forecast, as executives revealed that a big release previously set for the fiscal fourth quarter was moved to the next fiscal year. "Star Wars Jedi: Survivor," previously expected in March, will now launch at the end of April, the company revealed in a blog post Tuesday.

"In order for the team to hit the Respawn quality bar, provide the team the time they need, and achieve the level of polish our fans deserve, we have added six crucial weeks to our release schedule," the blog post said.

EA executives guided for net revenue of $1.7 billion to $1.8 billion, net bookings of $1.68 billion to $1.78 billion, and earnings of 5 cents a share to 20 cents a share in the fiscal fourth quarter. Analysts on average were projecting revenue of $2.13 billion, net bookings of $2.23 billion and adjusted earnings of $2.21 a share, according to FactSet; EA executives did not provide a forecast for adjusted earnings per share.