The backlash against EA’s Star Wars Battlefront 2 was arguably the biggest gaming story of last year, even hitting mainstream press, being the talk of governments around the globe, and fundamentally shifting the conversation on loot boxes or anything that might constitute gambling within a game.
Although EA point towards the controversy as hitting them in the pocket, the damage was not as bad as you might expect. Despite failing to achieve their 10 million sales target, Star Wars Battlefront 2 still managed to shift 9 million copies and will go into double digits before EA’s fiscal year is up.
— Sarah E. Needleman (@saraheneedleman) January 30, 2018
Revealed in a call to investors (apparently the only time when a publisher is really truthful) by CEO Andrew Wilson and CFO Blake Jorgensen, the “disappointing” sales were blamed on the game’s backlash, though they did point towards the upward trend in digital sales. The reboot of Battlefront sold 14 million copies by the end of the 2016 fiscal year, but its sequel’s digital sales made up more of the overall total with 37% compared to 32%, which effectively gives more money to EA.
In the same call, Wilson denied that Disney had anything to do with pressuring EA into temporarily removing microtransactions from the game:
“You shouldn’t believe everything you read in the press. We have a tremendous relationship with Disney and built amazing games together. At this point, when we make the decision we have the right model for players and the community, I have no doubt we will be supported by Disney.”
Also speaking to the Wall Street Journal, Jorgensen admitted that the ambitious Anthem had been delayed to 2019. Elsewhere, they also announced that Battlefield 1 has had 25 million unique players and a new game in the series will be released in October and also that FIFA has over 40 million players on console alone. Despite reporting a net loss of $186 million following tax reform, EA’s shares were up 4.3% following the Q3 report.
If you aren’t aware of all the Battlefront 2 controversies, we compiled them right here for you. In short, EA introduced luck-based, paid-to-win elements into a full-priced game and people weren’t happy. They also had a PR nightmare, which all culminated in them removing microtransactions from the game, though they are expected to return imminently, Wilson confirmed in the same report.
Aside from the controversies, Battlefront 2 simply wasn’t an amazing game, or at least lived up to its promise of being an “apology” for its predecessor. From our review:
“It’s clear that the developers have a passion for the Star Wars universe, but very little love for the players. The core is solid but surrounded by trash.”
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