Tintanfall 2 got off to a pretty poor start in the UK, failing out outsell the launch total of the original game – which was exclusive on Xbox, but EA says it is too soon to make adjustments to its sales forecast for Titanfall 2, and remains confident in its long term success.
“We’re delighted with the way players are reacting to Battlefield 1 and Titanfall 2,” said EA CFO Blake Jorgensen during the publisher’s Q2 earnings call last night. “Both are reviewing very well, and we expect them to sell strongly for a long time. However, we’re only a week into Battlefield and just a handful of days into Titanfall, so it’s still too early to update sales forecasts for either.”
Jorgensen added: “We’re very excited about both of them and think there’s a long opportunity, not just in the quarter, but for a good one to two years to come. I remind people we had quite a few players still playing Battlefield 4 three years after the game shipped right up until the time we shipped Battlefield 1, so deep engagement in that product.”
Asked if Titanfall 2 sales were being cannibalised by EA’s own Battlefield 1, CEO Andrew Wilson said this isn’t the case.
“We believe that Battlefield 1 and Titanfall 2, while they have some overlap, fulfill very different motivations in what a player is looking for,” explained Wilson. “And so we think there are really three types of players: people that really love Battlefield and that type of big strategic game play that will orient in that direction; the player that loves the fast, fluid, kinetic gameplay of Titanfall 2 and really orients in that direction; and the player that just has to play the two greatest shooters this year and will buy both.”
There also appears to be no sign from EA that its relationship with developer Respawn is on shaky ground following the launch.
“We are working with Respawn to build a franchise,” said Jorgensen. “This is something that we plan to be working with them on for many, many years to come, and there’s huge opportunity inside of that franchise to continue to expand it. And so part of the strategy of building a franchise is you have a long view.”
Wilson added: “We have announced we have a long-term relationship planned with them. We are looking at a number of different things with them. As is related to Titanfall 2, there is still a lot of things that they’ll be putting into the game for the foreseeable future.”
He concluded: “The expectation is that Respawn will continue to support and grow the Titanfall community through Titanfall 2. And over time we’ll work out what the right cadence for next version of Titanfall is and/or any other titles they’re working on.”
Source: EA Q2 Financials via SeekingAlpha
