'Star Wars Battlefront 2' Only Sold 9 Million Copies, Fails To Meet EA’s Expectations

EA has reported its financial results for its third quarter earnings, which ended on Dec. 31. The report reveals that “Star Wars Battlefront 2” has been a disappointment because the video game publisher confirmed that it only sold 9 million copies of the game.

“Star Wars Battlefront 2” was first released on Nov. 17 and was specifically released roughly a month before the premiere of “The Last Jedi.” EA CFO Blake Jorgensen blames the controversy surrounding the game’s loot boxes as the primary reason why the game underperformed during the quarter. EA originally expected that it would sell at least 10 million copies during the first quarter of the game’s launch. For comparison, EA was able to sell 13 million copies of “Star Wars Battlefront” during its launch quarter in 2015.

Although “Battlefront 2” did not meet EA’s sales expectations, selling 9 million copies is still a success for the company. Jorgensen also said that he believes that they would be able to sell an additional 1 million or 3 million units of “Battlefront 2” during this fiscal quarter, according to Polygon. This could potentially mean that EA would be able to sell 12 million copies in the first two quarters since the game was released.

EA has already shut down microtransactions for “Battlefront 2,” but the company is planning to reintroduce it back to the game “in the next few months.” Jorgensen told The Wall Street Journal that “we’ll do it when we think it’s ready.” In an earnings call with investors, EA CEO Andrew Wilson said that the loot crate controversy with “Battlefront 2” was a “learning opportunity” for the company.

“Going forward, we believe that live services that include optional digital monetization, when done right, provide a very important element of choice that can extend and enhance the experience in our games,” Wilson said, as per GameSpot. “We're committed to continually working with our players to deliver the right experience in each of our games and live services.”

Microtransactions play a big part in EA’s business. In the company’s latest earning report, “live services” brought in $787 million to the company. This represents a year-over-year growth of 39 percent. This is why EA seems adamant in bringing back microtransactions to “Battlefront 2.”

“We never intended to build an experience that could be seen as unfair or lacking clear progression, so we removed the feature that was taking away from what fans were telling us was an otherwise great game,” Wilson said. “We are fortunate to have such passionate players that will tell us when we get it right, and when we don't. We're now working hard on more updates that will meet the needs of our players, and we hope to bring these to the Battlefront II community in the months ahead”

EA DICE has already announced major changes to “Battlefront 2” last week. The developer confirmed that a new season of free content will be arriving “soon” alongside a new Jetpack Cargo game mode. More importantly, EA DICE will also revamp the game’s progression system and the developer promises to share more information this coming March.