While Titanfall 2 received rave reviews upon its release, its release date and the number of players found online hinted that it was not as successful as the other games of Electronic Arts.
That fact was confirmed by the publisher itself during its earnings call for the quarter ended December 2016.
Titanfall 2 Misses Sales Targets
Titanfall 2, developed by Respawn Entertainment, has not performed as well in terms of sales as what Electronic Arts had expected.
Electronic Arts did not provide any specific numbers on how many units of Titanfall 2 have been sold nor the target that the publisher had for the game. However, analysts from Morgan Stanley have previously estimated that only 4 million units of Titanfall 2 have been sold, meeting the firm's initial sales estimates for the first-person shooter.
The relatively low sales figures for Titanfall 2 was said to have been offset by the surprisingly good performance of other titles, specifically that of Battlefield 1, which performed much better than expected. Electronic Arts likewise did not state specific sales figures, but Morgan Stanley analysts have estimated 15 million units sold for Battlefield 1, with the title showing its strength among video game titles by being the second least discounted title over the 2016 holiday season.
Why Did Titanfall 2 Fall Short?
Electronic Arts did not give any specific reasons on why it believes Titanfall 2 fell short in meeting its sales targets. However, a popular theory among gamers is that the lower-than-expected performance of Titanfall 2 was due to its release date, which was sandwiched by two other first-person shooters from Electronic Arts.
A massive marketing campaign led to the launch of Battlefield 1 on Oct. 21 of last year, with Titanfall 2 being released a week after on Oct. 28. The week after that, on Nov. 4, Call of Duty: Infinite Warfare was launched. Battlefield 1 and Call of Duty: Infinite Warfare went on to become the top two best-selling titles in 2016 within the United States, according to figures from the NPD Group.
Electronic Arts, however, said that it expects Titanfall 2 to continue strong sales for a long time, fueled by the mostly positive reviews that the game has received despite lagging behind Battlefield 1 and Call of Duty: Infinite Warfare in market performance.
Electronic Arts Earnings
The lower-than-expected sales for Titanfall 2 were offset by the strong performance of Battlefield 1 and Call of Duty: Infinite Warfare, with Battlefield 1 tagged as the company's biggest Battlefield launch of all time with amazing reviews.
Electronic Arts booked revenue of $1.15 billion in the three months from October to December of 2016, which is a slight increase compared to the $1.07 billion in revenue that the company posted in the same period of 2015. Electronic Arts, however, posted a net loss of $1 million in the quarter, though that was a far better performance compared to the net loss of $45 million that it reported in the corresponding quarter of 2015.
The publisher is now looking ahead to its next big title, Mass Effect: Andromeda, which has a launch date of March 21. The game is expected reach sales of 3 million units by the end of that month.
