Analyst Decreases Original Sales Estimate for Star Wars Battlefront II
Earlier this year it seemed like EA had everything going for them with Star Wars Battlefront II, however when their new title launched last month, it was received very differently. Unsurprisingly, after an underwhelming launch and a fair share of criticism surrounding the pay-to-play model, an analyst has decreased their original sales projection for the latest Star Wars title.
Doug Creutz, the Managing Director of Technology, Media, and Telecom-Media at Cowen sent a message to clients yesterday regarding its sales forecast for Battlefront II. In the message he stated that the firm would be lowering their original sales forecast by 3 million, from 14 to 11 million units. He confirmed this was a result of the impact the loot box controversy has had on sales so far, as core gamers are increasingly unhappy that the developers and publishers put the microtransactions into the titles’ gameplay. You can find his full statement below.
“We are lowering our FY18 estimates to below management’s guidance as we believe that Star Wars Battlefront 2’s performance (lower units + the indefinite delay of microtransactions) has been disappointing enough to more than offset any strength elsewhere in the model.
The negative player reaction to the mishandled loot box economy has clearly impacted SWBFII sales. We think this is evidence that the industry’s core gamer constituency is getting increasingly unhappy about the degree to which microtransactions are being shoehorned into core gameplay loops.
Even factoring in the shift to digital units, it seems pretty likely that initial total sales will wind up being 20%-30% behind the pace of the original Battlefront, with bigger-than-normal price cuts also likely needed to move inventory. We think that the poorly reviewed Need for Speed Payback is probably underperforming as well.”
It was thought that Star Wars VII: The Last Jedi may help Battlefront II make it out of the sales slump, with the free heroes added to the game, however it looks like it just wasn’t enough to make gamers want to invest in the latest Star Wars title.