Electronic Arts today reported earnings for its fiscal fourth quarter and the company had a record year, despite all the noise and controversy surrounding Star Wars: Battlefront II.

For the full year ended March 31, EA pulled in revenue of $5.15 billion (up 6.2 percent), while profit was $1.04 billion (up 7.9 percent). Results were rosy for the fiscal fourth quarter, too. Revenue for the period jumped 3.6 percent to $1.582 billion with profit up 7.2 percent to $607 million. (Percentage changes provided by GI.biz).

The good times for EA are expected to roll on in the current fiscal year. EA said it expects to make $5.6 billion in revenue for the period and a profit of $1.11 billion. EA's lineup of big-name, revenue-driving titles for the year include BioWare's new IP Anthem, the next Battlefield game, all the EA Sports games, and whatever other surprises may be in store.

"Fiscal 2018 was a year of strong growth and continued transformation for Electronic Arts, as we expanded the reach of our leading franchises like FIFA, Battlefield, and The Sims to more players across more platforms and geographies," EA CEO Andrew Wilson said. "In the year ahead, we will expand the world of play with amazing new experiences and new IP, more competition, and industry-leading subscription programs. There has never been a more exciting time to be engaging and entertaining global communities."

EA CFO Blake Jorgensen added, "Our success is driven by the way we have changed, and continue to change, our relationship with players. They want more depth in their favorite games, and fresh content that can hold their attention year-round. This has made our business much more stable and enabled us to deliver a dependable and growing cash flow to investors."

In the wake of massive criticism from fans, EA removed microtransactions from Star Wars: Battlefront II just before the game launched in November 2017. Microtransactions were added back in April, so whatever revenue EA has made and continues to make from them will not be publicised until EA's next earnings report later this year.

Unsurprisingly, it was EA's digital business that helped spur growth during the year. What EA calls "digital net bookings"--which include mobile, full-game downloads, and "live services" i.e. microtransactions--surged 17 percent to reach $3.538 billion during the year. Here are some other takeaways from EA's report today:

"Nearly 18 million players engaged in competitive gaming across FIFA 18 and Madden NFL 18, up more than 75% year-over-year."

"The Battlefield community, across current generation consoles and PC HD, now has more than 54 million players life to date."

"The Sims community had more than 80 million Sims players across PC and mobile in fiscal 2018."

For more on EA's earnings report today, check out the additional stories linked below.