Perhaps the most telling thing, coming from Ken Barker, interim CFO: (emphasis by me)
My "tin-foil" translations:
1. They're making enough money off it ($19.5 million gross per month) that it's covering costs. The 2.4 million boxes covers, say, $100 million of the production cost of $300 million. EA happy.
2. The "it only represents a mid-single digit percent of total profitability" is a defensive statement, and also shows that they are either planning on potential failure of the game, or trying to find any way to explain their investment not living up to the hype.
Their shares are on a downward skid, and for a company to release big-name titles like Mass Effect 3 and SW:TOR to lose money... wow.