Electronic Arts on Tuesday reported its ninth straight quarterly loss as cost cutting couldn't make up for slumping sales.

The company slashed its outlook for its new fiscal year, saying that revenue will be lower than it previously expected while its loss will be larger.

But EA officials argue that they have the situation under control, noting that the company maintained its previous pro-forma forecast for the new year, which calculates revenue differently and excludes certain charges.

And they point to what they see as progress: EA rapidly cut costs in its most recent quarter, is taking a new approach to marketing, is seeing early success with digitally distributed games and has some expected hits on the horizon. Those include a new version of "The Sims" and a new "Harry Potter" game.

"We continue to see a challenging (economic) environment,'' company CEO John Riccitiello told analysts on a conference call. But he added, "We are confident we have the right strategy for driving hits."

Investors weren't so bullish. In after-hours trading following EA's report, the company's shares 3.3 percent.

In its fiscal fourth quarter, which ended March 31, the video game publishing giant lost $42 million, or 13 cents a share. The bottom-line result was actually an improvement from the same period a year ago, when EA lost $94 million, or 30 cents a share.

Sales for the quarter fell 24 percent year-over-year to $860