EA predicts digital sales will make up 20% of revenue for fiscal year

Electronic Arts CFO Eric Brown says the company is expecting huge growth in revenue from digital content over the next few years. Speaking to the UBS Media and Communications Conference in New York today, Brown predicted that DLC and full-game downloads will likely account for up to 20 percent of EA’s total revenue this fiscal year.

Microtransactions have been a big hit, Brown said, especially for the FIFA ’10 Ultimate Team mode — with some players allegedly spending up to $ 700 just on card packs for the game. Looking ahead to next year, Brown said EA’s “single biggest discreet digital add [ ... ] is expected to come from the Star Wars MMO, ” The Old Republic.

Brown admitted that most of these digital sales usually start with the sale of a physical disc, especially on the current generation of consoles. So while digital revenues are set to grow, EA is unlikely to abandon traditional game sales completely for … a really long time.