In its latest quarterly financial results statement, games publishing giant Electronic Arts predicts that it will sell 13 million copies of Star Wars: Battlefront by the end of the financial quarter ending 31st March 2016. The game is due for release on 17th November.
Over 9.5 million gamers took part in the Star Wars: Battlefront open beta a few weeks ago. It was the biggest ever single player beta in EA's history. The huge success, in terms of numbers, has lead EA's management to revise earlier estimates concerning the level of success its upcoming Star Wars license will attain.
An earlier projection by EA estimated that it might sell between nine and ten million units. Wall Street analysts had predicted the figure to rise as high as 12 million, but EA's latest financials pin the expected sales figure for Star Wars: Battlefront at 13 million units by the end of its fiscal 2016 (which is on 31st March 2016).
EA's Chief Financial Officer Blake Jorgensen said that there was "strength around 'Star Wars' based on the excitement we saw in the beta". The company CEO, Andrew Wilson elaborated "What we have seen is that Star Wars is bringing in two groups that are very important groups to us. One are gamers that have lapsed, traditionally who have been big gamers in the past and maybe haven't played for a while…. And two, onboarding a new younger age demographic."
According to the WSJ, EA usually plays it safe when making such estimates, so the 13 million figure should be pretty realistic, if not slightly pessimistic. With a long-term relationship with Disney, EA will be releasing more Star Wars titles "where is the opportunity for engagement," noted EA CEO Wilson.
Star Wars: Battlefront becomes available from 17th November on PC, PS4 and Xbox One.
