Battlefield V has failed to meet EA's expectations, the company revealed at its latest earnings call. The shooter, which launched just over two months ago in November 2018, has sold 7.3 million copies worldwide across all platforms, but the publisher was expecting at least 1 million more.
EA CEO Andrew Wilson put the game's performance down to a number of factors, one of them being that it launched during an especially busy period. Indeed, both Red Dead Redemption 2 and Call of Duty: Black Ops 4 made it out before Battlefield V, almost certainly taking attention and potential sales away from DICE's World War II title.
That's not really the whole story, though, is it? There was a lot of scepticism surrounding Battlefield V months before it launched, and when it did hit the shelves, the reception wasn't stellar. Not to mention the fact that some key modes were held back as post-release additions, including the game's battle royale component, which is still set to go live in March. It's just too late, innit?
Still, so many publishers and developers would kill to have their game sell over 7 million copies, so this is once again a case of questioning EA's estimates. Even from where we were sitting last year, it was clear that Battlefield V wasn't generating the "buzz" that we've come to associate with the industry's biggest blockbusters. But, you know, it's still 7.3 million copies.
[source gameinformer.com]
Comments 45
Yeah, that happens when you lie to your fan base and try to do whatever you want, disregarding the fans, while also disrespecting them.
Didn’t EA say they didn’t want some of those fans to but it or didn’t need them to buy their game? Congratulations EA, they didn’t. You should have adjusted the sales target for the people you said shouldn’t buy it.
@Jaz007
What did they lie about i really dont know?
The game is pretty decent though and its something else then the standard stories i like it. 😃
The initial sales expectations of these AAA games have gotten ridiculous. Any other company would lose their mind at the mere idea of selling 7 million copies, but it's "disappointing" for the big wigs. Just insane.
I wonder why. And yes, PushSquare, this is it.
Not bad for half a game..
So greedy. If EA listened to their fans or even let them design the game, they'd probably sell double the amount.
Waaaay too greedy...
If 7 million copies isn’t successful to you then you really need to re-evaluate your entire business
@MattyHammo if I was a dev I wouldn’t do either of those things. I’d make the game I want to make. Part of the problem we have here is devs giving people too much say in what they do. The community is too used to throwing torches on everything they don’t agree with
After all that controvesy, still 7 million people bought the game. If that how it is, then stop saying EA is the worst and stop bashing them in the very first place!! Stop it with the gaming backlash like diablo immortal / Fallout 76.....
Battlefront 2 is a genuine great game.Fallout 76 is not as bad as you think there is FUN to be had in the game at least better than most 2018 Nintendo titles.
@Flaming_Kaiser They said it would be the most realistic Battlefield game and then introduced woman with robot hands. A bit of a realism problem for WW2. They did back off on some of the lack of realism, but it’d still say that qualifies as a lie.
@Evilworm Just because they have sales doesn’t mean they’re business practices aren’t greedy, gamebresking, and bad for the industry. I also don’t see how Nintendo ties into this.
@jly1987 I agree. That's one reason why I try to avoid gaming communities. I despise the lingo and everything. So many people call games "trash," even though they aren't, etc. It's ridiculous. It's like hating things, particularly in gaming, is a trend people love (and have for years).
Anyone else surprised it sold that well? I haven’t heard anything about it.
@Jaz007 Ok first off get your facts straight and maybe pick up a history book before spewing nonsense that you read from disgruntle posters.
First off women did fight in WWII. Several European women did fight in resistance groups and covert groups. Second of all it wasn't a robot hand it was a prosthetic hand that was common to that era.
So yeah no one lied.
lets try not to portray women as an important factor on the front lines of WW2 sir. Their highly important contributions came form being Nurses & factory workers for the war effort, but i guess facts hurt to much. @Tasuki
" Don't like it, Don't buy it" i follwed their advice to a T..
@youreyesonly00 Maybe for the US but in Europe many of the women did fight. Most of them as I said work undercover and such you'd be surprised at how many did. Facts hurt too much for you I guess.
@youreyesonly00 @Tasuki It’s the frontlines with the Germans and British, neither of which had woman fighting on the frontlines. I don’t a lot about the undercover aspect (I’m assuming we’re not talking about resistance fighters and Russian snipers, neithe of which are a problem), but the ratio would still be heavily in favor of men and it they were “undercover,” so it wouldn’t be obvious that they were woman, meaning it’s historically inaccurate if they’re openly woman. It would be hidden and a random eater egg if it was accurate.
That was also more than prosthetic hand in WW2. There no way you could use one like that back then. An elite squad soldiers also wouldn’t have someone with a prosthetic hand. It wasn’t robotic directly no, but it certainly didn’t act like WW2 era prosthetic.
@Evilworm
The game definitely didn't perform as well as it could have even if its still huge. I think the backlash was fair enough. What I find ridiculous was the continuous backlash and pure Hate about SWBF II. That game had loot boxes sure. Even if it was justified before launch, from day one at launch there was no Mt's at all and people kept hating on it (pushed by the press as well). People were manipulated into even promoting COD which was pushing shameful price and season pass that was completely free in SWBF II. Including story dlc
I dare EA to let all their developers create original single player IP's without MTX and always online capabilities.
7.3 million is impressive considering the internet backlash.
This is a business news piece. EA and big corporations base profits and sales on estimates. With the marketing clout and bundles EA are always going to sell loads, it’s just not enough. They launched with a product that could not compete with its competitors at launch. Hopefully lessons are learned.
@MadAussieBloke wow you're so cool bro! Can I be you're apprentice. I wish I could hate on things in lieu of a personality.
So I guess EA will be closing down DICE now? That's their usual modus operandi...
I am surprised it sold that we'll,the game had no buzz at all. And it takes EA not to be satisfied with what they got out if it...eew
@Boxmonkey breaking news! Loud hysterical minority turns out to be a minority.
A Battlefield game where rush mode is only available as a timed event is no real BF game to me. I own every BF game starting from BF1942, except BF V.
Battlefront 2 happened EA. Dont pretend its due to a busy winter period, even if RDR2 will have eaten some sales. The complete disregard for customers when Star Wars came out was always going to have an impact on sales for this.
Publishers need to learn that they cannot keep taking us for a ride. It wont have helped that Dice made both games
I dont hear anyone talking about the game at all either, which doesnt help!
@Evilworm Battlefront 2 a great game 😂😂😂.
You mean that game which would cost over $2000 or 7 months at 24 hours a day playing to unlock everything. The game which had be completely rebalanced to make it work without the loot boxes which were completely "optional" and a poor 4 hour campaign. If you genuinely believe that and Fallout 76 are better than Nintendo titles or any game in terms of the latter then good luck to you.
Maybe EA will start to make games first and foremost without first deciding how to rip off the customer before the game has even come out, looks at Anthem store leak - or maybe not
Lol, people concerned about ‘realism’ in a video game. I understand that the Americans clearly thought that women were too frail and weak to join the war effort but resistance groups in Europe didn’t have that luxury. By focusing on lesser known parts of the war, they’re at least making it better than playing as bloody ‘Trent WhitePerson’ for the millionth time during the D-Day landings. Ahh yes, D-Day, when the war started. Oh wait...
it didn't meet sales expectation cuz it's 50% off in less than 1 month, and the sales only picks up after the price drop.
I've played Battlefield 1 since BF1942 and I disliked it - my other half loved it. I preferred watching her play through the SP - I'll get BFV after December this year as I always then to dive in a year later as it's been on my radar for a while.
On a side note, 7.3m copies were maybe disappointing vs the production cost? Seemed like the cost of this type of game isn't cheap....
I notice the article masterfully leaves out the obvious controversy where gamers were called misogynists for calling out the robo-girl.
I'll buy it when it's much cheaper, just like I did with BF1. £60+ is ridiculous for a game filled with microtransactions and I only care about your single player aspect of the game.
EA complaining their AAA game only sold 7 million sales and yet on the flip side Square Enix are celebrating that their AAA game sold 5 million
i dunno EA maybe your over bloated sales goals are the issue here, you was releasing this game on the tail of the Battlefront 2 Loot Box fiasco, you should have tempered your expectations
Many publishers would give their eye-teeth for 7 million sales. But it’s all about expectations. When you compare yourself to COD then you’re likely to be disappointed. Personally I don’t play any of these FPS games, but I feel like EA apparently needs to temper expectations.
I'm sure it still made a profit. Greedy shareholders are to blame for it being a "disappointment".
I personally feel bad for DICE. On the one hand you have a Publisher that's tied you down. You have to make the games they want with little say in anything. When not rushed to the market by EA and given a proper development cycle, DICE can do amazing things. Just look at Battlefield 3, 1 or the Bad Company games. Then on the other hand you have the community which like any other community these days are full of whingey little gimme gimme gamergate idiots. To sell 7 million copies despite such a backlash against the publisher is quite the achievement. To hell with what EA or anyone else says. I've always played DICE games since Pinball Dreams debuted on the Amiga 500 and always will.
@FullbringIchigo I love SQEEX but they can be just as bad. I'm pretty sure Sleeping Dogs and Hitman did pretty decent numbers but were 'below expectations'. Both great games. And don't get me started on what they did to Deus Ex Mankind Divided. RIP Sleeping Dogs, United Front and Deus Ex.
@jly1987 fair enough if designing and making your own game, but when making a popular and established franchise such as Battlefield, its a bad idea to replace gameplay mechanics with money making ideas. Spit out an unfinished game with missing modes and maps, and of course you won't make sales. I enjoy Battlefield V but it still feels incomplete for some reason, and not just for the Battle Royale mode which I'm not interested in.
@nessisonett The realism and atmosphere created by it in BF1 did a lot for the game in my experience with it. If something blantantly out of place like woman or robot arms (or even the Katana some American I think was using in the reveal - don’t quote me on that one) is there it would have hurt the atmosphere and game to me.
This also has nothing to do with focusing on lesser known pets of the war. I don’t think resistance fighters are a faction. And why do you say “Americans thought woman” were too frail. If the nation wasn’t conquered and only had resistance fighters, that was most of the nations having that policy, American or otherwise.
Played BF4 to death. Bought BF1 and hated it. Didn't bother at all with BFV.
BFV selling 7 million copies means it was a success, regardless of what EA says, it is their problem for setting their sale expectations so high. Where they hoping to match RDR2’s sales or something? Personally I’m loving BFV, IMO it’s an improvement over BF1 with better weapons, vehicles and maps. Looking forward to seeing how it’s battle royale mode plays.
This is also a major publisher. To them, games never "sell well" because it's never enough for the shareholders. It's like their sales expectations are always at x+1, where x is the number of copies they end up selling.
EA is also a particularly scummy company, though, so I don't care how poorly their games sell. The world would be better off if they went out of business.
Those aren't the only reasons people weren't buying this. My kids wanted this and CoD4. I told them they could get CoD4.
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