Electronic Arts has posted a loss for its third quarter of 2007, blaming restructuring charges and deferred revenue – but has reported record revenue for the Christmas period.

The publisher suffered a net loss of $33 million for the period ended December 31st, 2007. That compared with net income of $160 million, or 50 cents a share from the previous year. It put the decrease down to increased marketing costs and restructuring charges of $78m.

However, the company’s revenue grew 17 percent to $1.5 billion for the third quarter, compared with the $1.28 billion it reported in Q3 2006. The result was driven by sales of Rock Band, Madden and The Simpsons.

EA also reported that Battlefield: Bad Company and Mercenaries 2: World in Flames had both been delayed to fiscal year 2009.

 “This was a record revenue quarter for E.A. and the single biggest revenue quarter for any third-party publisher in our industry,” said EA’s chief executive John Riccitiello.

"While we are disappointed that two titles slipped out of the March quarter, Burnout Paradise is off to a terrific start and we are looking forward to the upcoming launches of Army of Two and FIFA Street 3."