EA Predicts Star Wars: Battlefront Will Sell 13 Million Copies

[shirkbot]

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.

If it does then there are a fair number of bad people in this thread, myself included, but I agree that its failure might be good for the industry in the long run.

 

[Lightspeaker]

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.

All of this. Regardless of how EA is perceived its still a huge game publisher, the game is developed by a massively well-known developer and Star Wars is one of the biggest licenses in the world. And its being released along with an insanely hyped new film. I could definitely see it selling that many that quickly. Much as I hope it doesn't.

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.

Hell, you don't even have to be 'meh' and only play a bit of it to not be part of their projections. I actually played a ton of it to get a solid impression of the game and, as I've said before, it wasn't as bad as I had been anticipating (although to be that bad it'd have had to literally try to kill me).

That being said I flat out refuse to buy the game. It will NOT be worth the launch price based on all the information given so far.

 

[SlumlordThanatos]

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

Battlefront will sell well. Really well.

But not "13 million copies in Q1" well. I'd say that pretty much everyone who played the beta will buy a copy, so anywhere between 9-10 million copies.

 

[martyrdrebel27]

even if it sells 13 copies, that's too many. we shouldn't be rewarding this kind of blatant devolution.

 

[martyrdrebel27]

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

Battlefront will sell well. Really well.

But not "13 million copies in Q1" well. I'd say that pretty much everyone who played the beta will buy a copy, so anywhere between 9-10 million copies.

that's so wrong it's laughable. I, like others, were all queued up to buy the game, before the beta. the beta LOST sales, not gained.

 

[fix-the-spade]

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

At this point it's worth remembering that DICE's best selling game ever, Battlefield 3, sold around 15 million copies in two and a half years. Bad Company 2 reportedly hit 12 million, Battlefield 4 around 7 and the rest less than that.

So to make 13million in six months would make it DICE's fastest selling game ever.

At the same time, the very best selling Star Wars game ever made is Lego Star Wars: The original Trilogy, that got nowhere near 10 million sales, never mind 13.

So to meet EA's target DICE have to make both their fastest selling and the fastest and best selling Star Wars video game in history.

I hope EA copes well with disappointment, more than that I hope Disney doesn't cope with it very well at all.

 

[SlumlordThanatos]

I, like others, were all queued up to buy the game, before the beta. the beta LOST sales, not gained.

True, but I imagine that the kiddies who will see the ads for this game after the movie drops will make up the difference.

Still, I could be being generous in my estimate, but I don't like underestimating the power of children who aren't old enough to have played the original Battlefront games and will buy any sufficiently shiny licensed game.

 

[Something Amyss]

While I expect it to be popular I don't expect it to be 13 million copies popular. Remember when they needed Dead Space 3 to sell 5 million copies in less than a month, which was about as much as Dead Space 1 and 2 combined? Or what about Titanfall, which while not exactly a flop it clearly wasn't as popular as they hoped?

Part of me actually hopes it undersells because they've really skimped on the game's features. Its a Battlefield 3 re-skin with less features than Battlefield 3.

And since we're name dropping Battlfield, Battlefield 4 has--to date--sold about 13 million copies according to VG Chartz. Now, the website doesn't offer a complete sales figure (digital PC sales, ie most of them, are not factored), they're expecting at least that number. Over four months. On fewer platforms. And yeah, I know BF4 had some massive issues, but Battlfield 3 sold about 17 million units total--just four million more--in its lifetime.

And at that point, one has to wonder what could possibly make them think this was a realistic number. Did the beta lead to a number of pre-orders? Like, 4-5 million? Did they have some sort of subliminal message in the source code? Did Peter Moore find an executive with a soul left to sell?

I mean, it can't be the Star Wars branding alone, can it?

 

[martyrdrebel27]

I, like others, were all queued up to buy the game, before the beta. the beta LOST sales, not gained.

True, but I imagine that the kiddies who will see the ads for this game after the movie drops will make up the difference.

Still, I could be being generous in my estimate, but I don't like underestimating the power of children who aren't old enough to have played the original Battlefront games and will buy any sufficiently shiny licensed game.

you know, you're probably right. I tend to underestimate the power of rampant, vapid consumerism. I feel like this Battlefront will not have the same audience as Battlefront 2, which I can assume they assumed they would get.

 

[Tsun Tzu]

Whelp.

I sure as hell hope not.

Gotta maintain the barest semblance of faith in my fellow man, after all.

 

[The Rogue Wolf]

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.

AND fire everyone involved and shut down the studio. Don't forget that!

 

[shintakie10]

I have to agree with the person who thinks that its a reachable number, just not by Q1.

I can easily see it hittin 10 million by Q1 barring any horrifically tragic launches. 13 million seems a bit of a stretch.

That being said, this seems like a really risky move. Upping your projections by what, 40% or so, really sends a message that you're completely confident in this game to your investors. If the game fails to reach that benchmark, even if it surpasses the original estimate, that will come back to bite them in the ass. Investors will feel swindled that they bought into the 13 million dollar game and only got a 10 million dollar game.

 

[Shoggoth2588]

...Is this going to end up being one of those games that sells 2 - 3 million copies on day one and maybe 7 - 9 million over its lifetime and still be considered a failure? I'm not saying it's impossible but I really don't see that many people buying this. Yes, it's Star Wars but I just don't see that alone carrying this title.

 

[Zontar]

...Is this going to end up being one of those games that sells 2 - 3 million copies on day one and maybe 7 - 9 million over its lifetime and still be considered a failure?

Most likely, though I can't say I'd be disappointed because if there's one game series that the world doesn't need it's DICE's Battlefield Star Wars edition. For got sake the Star Wars mod for Battlefield 3 is better then the game looks like it's shaping up to be.

 

[Azure23]

I'd like to think that it won't happen, because I honestly believe that this game tanking would be a good thing for the industry as a whole. I hope there's a massive backlash from the punditry and the customer base against the downright predatory season pass and dearth of content. I'd love all that to happen, but it's battlefront, and while there are doubtless hundreds of thousands of people who played the beta and walked away disgusted and frustrated (myself included), millions others who've got nothing to compare it to were probably dazzled by the look and sounds of the game.

Fuck this game, fuck EA. Pandemic, I miss you so.

 

[flying_whimsy]

I think that 13 million will be partly based on just how good the new star wars movie turns out to be: if it's great people will eat up anything with star wars on it. If it sucks, the old school nostalgia will still push it a bit, but not all the way.

Have you all seen their new commercials? They look amazing in a way that I can see sucking in a lot of people who don't traditionally game just by the nostalgia factor they're selling. Hell, if it was actually the game in their commercials I'd buy it, but I already know that it isn't.

Regardless, I suspect there will be a lot of bitter tears during the inevitable server overloads at launch and again once it's playable and everyone realizes they were sold a lie once more.

 

[Barbas]

Oh look, a greedy AAA publisher counting chickens before they hatch again.

Wake me up for the shitstorm.

 

[laggyteabag]

It probably would have done, if the game was any good.

I am glad that I got the chance to actually play the beta, so I can save myself money in the future, just in case my curiosity got the better of me. If this game does sell 13 million copies, I for one, will not be one of them.

 

[008Zulu_v1legacy]

13 million buy and play in the first month. 12 million quit within a day or two because the servers can't handle the load. By month 2, maybe 20 thousand or so left who aren't bored with the same generic "Call of Warfighter" multiplayer. 6 months later, maybe 2 thousand.

 

[FoolKiller]

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

Battlefront will sell well. Really well.

But not "13 million copies in Q1" well. I'd say that pretty much everyone who played the beta will buy a copy, so anywhere between 9-10 million copies.

that's so wrong it's laughable. I, like others, were all queued up to buy the game, before the beta. the beta LOST sales, not gained.

I played the beta, I won't get the game for at least a year. And my friend and I both tried and won't buy. And we played 3 hours of Battlefront 2 just last week. I may play it if it was free, but not for the 80 dollar price tag in Canada.