Electronic Arts posted adjusted net sales of $1.03 billion for its second quarter ending September 30, beating both its internal projections and the expectations of analysts.

Analysts recently polled by Thomson Reuters estimated that sales would rise 9 percent to $967 million. Instead, the $1.03 billion posted Thursday represents a 17 percent rise.

The company attributed the successful quarter to strong performance from sports titles FIFA 12 (8 million shipped) and Madden 12 (3 million shipped), as well as its social gaming cash cow, The Sims Social, which EA says now has over 8 million daily active users.

The publisher also noted that life-to-date shipments of March 2010′s DICE-developed multiplatform military shooter, Battlefield Bad Company 2, have reached 11 million units.

While packaged goods revenue was up slightly, and continues to be the bulk of EA’s business, the company’s main growth was in digital: the $216 million in adjusted sales is a 30 percent increase from the $166 million reported during the same quarter one year ago.

Smartphone game revenue in particular was up 87 percent during the quarter, the company said. Additionally, the company’s monthly active users across its social games more than doubled from the same period last year, from 49 million to 101 million.

Losses for the quarter widened, from $201 to $340 million, with earnings per share down 5 cents, in line with analyst expectations.

The company is expecting its next fiscal quarter — which includes high profile releases Battlefield 3 and Star Wars: The Old Republic — to see adjusted revenues of $1.55 to $1.65 billion.

Its full year guidance has now been raised to a range of $4.05B to $4.2B.

Gamasutra