Gamertell

Just three weeks after its launch for digital distribution via the Playstation Store, Burnout Paradise has been downloaded 20,000 times at $30. That’s $600,000 both EA and Sony get to see and retailers don’t. The report comes via an earnings call that was picked up by Joystiq who quoted EA CEO, John Riccitiello saying:

In the future we see slower growth in the basic packaged goods business, and higher margins, greater growth and reduced cyclicality [sic] with these new direct-to-consumer businesses.

With these numbers in such a short time frame, it’s not hard to see why EA is going to invest $150 million dollars into digital distribution and expect $185 million from online revenue. Burnout Paradise isn’t even done making money for the company yet as Criterion, developers of the racer, have announced Party downloadable content and an Ultimate Box edition for 2009.

The Party DLC will add a “pass-the-pad” mode with support up to eight players and will also feature a party time vibe. The Ultimate Box edition of Burnout Paradise will feature all released DLC, including the yet-released Party pack. Both items currently have no price tags. 

Unfortunately not all is good for EA as their Q2 earnings have indicated a $310 million loss. Even worse is that the company is forced to let go of 6% of their staff, roughly 600 people. Madden NFL 2009 sold 4.5 million, Spore sold 2 million, and Warhammer Online sold 1.2 Million, these three titles made up the highlight (low light?) of this quarter.

Read [Joystiq] Also [GameDaily]