<div><p>SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - Electronic Arts Inc <ERTS.O> warned that fiscal 2011 earnings would miss Wall Street expectations as it grapples with a lack of blockbuster new games after a succession of missed targets and restructurings.</p><p>Shares of the U.S. video game publisher fell 8 percent after its current-quarter forecast also missed analysts' expectations on Monday, a month after it had updated its current 2010, fiscal year outlook.</p><p>"Four weeks ago I don't understand why they didn't give a number they could hit," said Wedbush Morgan analyst Michael Pachter.</p><p>Investors have been grumbling over EA's failure to meet its own guidance, its underperforming shares and a turnaround plan that even the company concedes is taking longer than expected.</p><p>EA forecast profit, excluding items, of 2 cents to 6 cents a share for the March quarter, on revenue of $800 million to $850 million. Analysts, on average, had forecast profit of 13 cents a share on revenue of $850 million, according to Thomson Reuters I/B/E/S.</p><p>EA blamed the lowered guidance on its catalog titles, the European market and the adverse impact of foreign exchange.</p><p>For the fiscal year ending March 2011, EA forecast earnings of 50 cents to 70 cents a share on revenue of $3.65 billion to $3.9 billion. Both lagged Wall Street's expectations for 74 cents and $4.07 billion.</p><p>Although analysts say the company has a strong game slate for the first half of the year, EA still lacks mega-selling titles like rival Activision Blizzard Inc's <ATVI.O> "Call Of Duty: Modern Warfare 2."</p><p>"'FIFA' is a great game and 'Madden' is still a big hit but they need other breakout titles," said MKM Partners analyst Eric Handler.</p><p>The company warned that industrywide sales of packaged goods software would slip 3 percent in 2010. However, on a conference call with analysts, Chief Executive John Riccitiello conceded that EA's forecast for next year was conservative.</p><p>"There's reason to be optimistic. We have just chosen not to because we think it's a better planning assumption," Riccitiello said.</p><p>"What's been true about EA for a long time is they're terrible at forecasting," Pachter of Wedbush Morgan noted. "This time I think they're taking no chances."</p><p>Early in January, after EA cut its fiscal 2010 earnings and revenue estimates, analysts said Riccitiello's job was on the line, citing a failure to appease investors clamoring for higher margins and share price performance.</p><p>A DIFFICULT YEAR</p><p>EA had a tough 2009, slashing jobs and narrowing its game portfolio amid an industrywide slump in video game sales and a continuing transition to digital and casual games. The publisher will release 36 titles next fiscal year, down from 54 in the current year.</p><p>EA's well-regarded pipeline for the March quarter included "Mass Effect 2," "Army of Two" and "Dante's Inferno."</p><p>Shares of the company gained about 11 percent in calendar 2009, lagging by far the 29 percent that Activision chalked up over the same period.</p><p>Video game industry sales in the United States -- the largest market -- fell 8 percent in 2009 to $19.7 billion, and game software sales slid 11 percent. The economic downturn most impacted the industry's casual fans, with the music category particularly hard-hit.</p><p>EA reported on Monday a net loss of $82 million, or 25 cents a share, in the fiscal third quarter ended December 31, versus a loss of $641 million, or $2 a share, in the year-ago period.</p><p>Excluding items, EA earned 33 cents a share, versus the average analyst estimate of 31 cents a share.</p><p>Revenue fell 25 percent to $1.2 billion, while non-GAAP revenue came in at $1.35 billion. Wall Street was estimating $1.34 billion.</p><p>Shares of Redwood City, California-based EA closed at $17.49 on Nasdaq and fell 8 percent to $16.03 in extended trading.</p><p>(Reporting by Gabriel Madway; Editing by Richard Chang)</p><img src="http://admatch-syndication.mochila.com/images/ad.gif?aid=68717876&bid=informcom" /></div><div id="copyright"><div>

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