EA Predicts Star Wars: Battlefront Will Sell 13 Million Copies

[StewShearerOld]

EA Predicts Star Wars: Battlefront Will Sell 13 Million Copies

According to new reports, EA now expects Star Wars: Battlefront to sell more than 13 million copies before the end of 2016's first quarter.

More than <a href=http://www.escapistmagazine.com/news/view/161157-Battlefront-Beta-Stats-More-Than-9-Million-Served>nine million people played DICE's beta for <a href=http://www.escapistmagazine.com/tag/view/star%20wars%20battlefront?os=star+wars+battlefront>Star Wars: Battlefront this past September. Setting aside the fact that the beta was free to play, it's a significant number and one that, if nothing else, has been a confidence booster for the game's development team and its publishers at Electronic Arts. In fact, the beta's success has led the publisher to raise its sales predictions by some significant margins.

How much you ask? Well, according to statements from the company, Battlefront is now expected to sell more than 13 million copies by the end of March 2016. Those estimates are up from the 9-10 million copies EA had expected to ship just six months ago. Speaking about its increased expectations, the company cited the high level of interest the game has generated among both gamers and <a href=http://www.escapistmagazine.com/tag/view/star%20wars?os=star+wars>Star Wars fans as being the source of the boost. "What we have seen is that Star Wars is bringing in two groups that are very important groups to us," said CEO Andrew Wilson, in an interview. "One are gamers that have lapsed, traditionally who have been big gamers in the past and maybe haven't played for a while. It's certainly been a catalyst for those people to come back into the gaming universe as it relates to console. And two, onboarding a new younger age demographic." Adding further comment, COO Peter Moore also alluded to strong pre-order sales as being a factor. "Our ability to be able to deliver against this is solid and the pre-orders are excellent," he said.

Wilson would go on to add that more Star Wars titles are in the works and will likely see the light of day when EA and Disney have another chance to take advantage of heightened audience "engagement." We're not necessarily sure there will ever be a time quite as opportune as weeks away from the first new Star Wars movie in years, but we get what they mean. If we were going to release a new Star Wars game we'd wait for the franchise's hype machine to be running at full force too. Star Wars: Battlefront will hit PCs, PS4 and Xbox One on November 17th.

Source: VG247


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[Godzillarich(aka tf2godz)]

to ea

I think they overestimating this, this game has had such bad PR I can't see that happening. Then again I said the same thing about watchdogs and sold that selled like shit, So what do I know.

 

[Rad Party God]

That's a pretty ballsy statement EA. Prepare to be dissapointed.

 

[Aerosteam]

I hope to fucking God this game undersells.

 

[Erttheking]

http://images.cheezburger.com/completestore/2009/7/3/128911570504085724.jpg

You know, it might be in your best interest to make your expectations a LITTLE bit more realistic.

 

[Fox12]

to ea

I think they overestimating this, this game has had such bad PR I can't see that happening. Then again I said the same thing about watchdogs and sold that selled like shit, So what do I know.

I hope this game tanks, and EA is left with its merry johnson flapping in the wind.

But it seemed to garner decent reviews from people who actually played it, and it's coming on the heels of the biggest film event of the year, during the holiday season. Keep in mind, a lot of younger people haven't had the luxury of playing the original games like you and me. They don't have anything to compare it to, except maybe the Battlefield and COD titles. And a Star Wars verion of COD probably sounds pretty good to them. I think this game will sell just fine.

 

[09philj]

13 million before the end of Q1? Doubt it. I don't see it selling more than 17 million, total. Probably a bit less.

 

[Soviet Heavy]

We all like to laugh but there are certainly enough people out there who don't care about all the bullshit this game has been spewing and will gobble it up with glee.

 

[Frankster]

Taking the opposite stance from most opinions expressed thus far, I am cynical enough to believe Battlefront can shift that many copies on fancy graphics+marketing and hype alone.

I'd love to be proven wrong though.

 

[ShakerSilver]

Part of me thinks this is such a ridiculous prediction and that it will tank horribly - it's a $60 multiplayer only title with barely any content right out of the box, they're expecting it to sell as much as Battlefield 4 has in two years in less than half a year and only 9 million people played their free beta and I doubt most, let alone ALL of them will buy the game. Yet another part of me knows that this sale figure isn't that far from the truth - millions of people will throw themselves onto this rushed piece of AAA garbage just because it's big, shiny, hip, and has STAR WARS slapped on it during the hype for Episode VII. EA will continue to profit by appealing to the lowest common denominator despite their continuous gutting of old franchises.

[/rant]

 

[Silentpony_v1legacy]

So what's the real number gonna be then? 2million? Maybe?

 

[dragongit]

5-8 million copies, very likely. Maybe even 10. Going beyond that is... questionable. not to mention they expect to see that many, AND the 60 dollars worth of DLC... so if they get 120 per head, the hope to rake in...*punches into calculator* Anywhere in the neighborhood of 1.5 Billion dollars. And if it works, it'll only encourage more companies to jack up the prices of DLC and gut the core game even further. I hear there are really only 4 different zones in the core game. That really doesn't seem enough to justify even the full price.

 

[K12]

Translation: If we only sell 10 million copies of this game we'll brand it a complete failure and shelf the battlefront series for a decade out of spite.

 

[dyre]

13 million before the end of Q1? Doubt it. I don't see it selling more than 17 million, total. Probably a bit less.

Well, 17 million is the total amount of total Battlefield 3 sales (to date) according to vgchartz, so that's not a bad guess. I think Battlefront has a good market position in terms of attracting both traditional DICE fans as well as Star Wars / old Battlefront fans, so if EA avoids any serious bad news, I could see it eventually selling 20 million+. Call of Duty MW3, in comparison, has sold over 30 million copies to date.

13 million in the first quarter seems a bit ambitious though. Then again, I'm sure the EA analysts have more data to work with than we do, like total pre-orders as well as what % of their customers usually pre-order vs. buying on Day 1, etc.

 

[MiskWisk]

Well, I suppose I should get this out of the way...

 

[VoidOfOne]

To be fair, considering the common person who plays games don't read gaming news, people still pre-order games, and many are excited for the new Star Wars movie, this estimate is not all that far off.

They do boast that 9 million people played the beta, and people have been asking for a new Battlefront game since the PS2 era. It is almost like a perfect storm.

The thing that I am interested in is how it plays out over time, and how the user base is 6 months from release.

I am reminded of how Vince Zampella tweeted that Titanfall sold over 10 million copies, or has 10 million players (his tweet reads: Celebrating 10 million!). It made me wonder why EA didn't come out with this, considering that they would love to boast this. Then I saw that Titanfall is selling for $9.99. It shows there's an audience, but one that didn't want to pay the $60 price tag. Makes me wonder about how Battlefront will turn out.

 

[DeaDRabbiT]

Part of me thinks this is such a ridiculous prediction and that it will tank horribly - it's a $60 multiplayer only title with barely any content right out of the box, they're expecting it to sell as much as Battlefield 4 has in two years in less than half a year and only 9 million people played their free beta and I doubt most, let alone ALL of them will buy the game. Yet another part of me knows that this sale figure isn't that far from the truth - millions of people will throw themselves onto this rushed piece of AAA garbage just because it's big, shiny, hip, and has STAR WARS slapped on it during the hype for Episode VII. EA will continue to profit by appealing to the lowest common denominator despite their continuous gutting of old franchises.

[/rant]

That 9 million that played the beta also includes people like me that installed the beta, played a bit of survival (like a few rounds) and was all "meh" and promptly uninstalled.

 

[Ukomba]

Part of me thinks this is such a ridiculous prediction and that it will tank horribly - it's a $60 multiplayer only title with barely any content right out of the box, they're expecting it to sell as much as Battlefield 4 has in two years in less than half a year and only 9 million people played their free beta and I doubt most, let alone ALL of them will buy the game. Yet another part of me knows that this sale figure isn't that far from the truth - millions of people will throw themselves onto this rushed piece of AAA garbage just because it's big, shiny, hip, and has STAR WARS slapped on it during the hype for Episode VII. EA will continue to profit by appealing to the lowest common denominator despite their continuous gutting of old franchises.

[/rant]

That 9 million that played the beta also includes people like me that installed the beta, played a bit of survival (like a few rounds) and was all "meh" and promptly uninstalled.

Count me in as one of those. If the game had a good single player game with a story line like Dark Forces I'd be all over it, but I wouldn't spend $30, let alone $120, on this repetitive, all multiplayer, gouge fest.

 

[Adam Jensen_v1legacy]

Am I a bad person for wanting their dreams to shatter? I really think this game is a financial flop. It would be good for the industry in the long run.