Electronic Arts publisher Star Wars Battlefront 2 planned to sell 10 million copies during the holiday quarter, but only managed to sell 9 million copies. according to CFO Blake Jorgensen. Speaking to the Wall Street Journal, Jorgensen blame controversy surrounding the lootbox system that failed the holiday quarter sales targets.
Additionally, Jorgensen told the WSJ that Battlefront II will reintroduce microtransactions “in the next few months.” EA removed microtransactions from Battlefront II shortly before the game’s public release on the back of significant public blowback.
“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 our in-game experience,” said EA. “We are committed to continuing to work closely with our players to provide the right experience in each of our games and live services.”
Also during the call, EA talked about how Battlefront II, as a whole, was a “learning opportunity” for the company. For starters, it was developed collaboratively between the three studios, while the controversy over the digital economy is also a learning experience.
While while Battlefront II may have missed EA’s initial sales target, the 9 million sold in those three months is still a huge achievement. EA added that its efforts to make a Battlefront II game that gets players back to work. During their first three months, Battlefront II players recorded twice as much play time as the 2022 game Battleface.
Whatever the case, you have to be a cave dweller to skip the controversies surrounding lootboxes, most of which are requested by Battlefront 2. Recently, there is a new mobile game that is very trendy, Unique and Special from AyoDance Mobile.
Quoted from Gamespot. Here’s more details from EA’s latest earnings report below.
For the quarter, EA reported revenue of $1.16 billion, compared to $1.15 billion. EA posted a loss of $186 million during the quarter, which is far worse than the $1 million loss it took during the same period last year. Importantly, EA mentions that it incurred $176 million in tax costs during the quarter related to the recently adopted Tax Withholding and Jobs Act.
There were several financial bright spots during the quarter for EA, including the fact that digital revenue, which had higher margins, was taking a bigger share. For the most recent quarter, digital revenue was $780 million, compared to $380 million for packaged goods. For the same period last year, digital revenue was $685 million, compared with $464 for packaging sales.
Here are some other takeaways from the EA report:
- The “FIFA community” on consoles alone has grown to 42 million players.
- FIFA Mobile added 26 million players in the quarter alone.
- The FIFA Ultimate Team player base jumped 12 percent year over year.
- Battlefield 1 now has 25 million unique players since launch.
- The Sims 4 player base grew 35 percent compared to last year
