• Hey, guest user. Hope you're enjoying NeoGAF! Have you considered registering for an account? Come join us and add your take to the daily discourse.

EA: Titanfall beat our sales expectations

N

Nirolak

Mrgrgr
Still no exact numbers though.

Eurogamer said:
EA raised eyebrows by not announcing sales of Titanfall - a decision some took to indicate it had performed poorly. But [EA's CEO Andrew] Wilson told me the game beat sales expectations.

"Yeah!" he said enthusiastically. "Our expectations were high and it beat them."

An exact sales figure is unknown. EA COO Peter Moore told investors in a May 2014 financial call that Titanfall had sold 925,000 retail copies in the United States during its launch month - a number that didn't include digital sales. EA confirmed to Eurogamer this week that Titanfall is the best-selling game on Xbox One lifetime to date, based on its own data, with a high attach rate.
Click to expand...
Source: http://www.eurogamer.net/articles/2...ll-2-for-ps4-ea-and-respawn-reflect-on-launch
 
S

Speedy Blue Dude

Banned
So... Went from Second Best Selling title on Xbox One to Best Selling in the last month.

That's great. So it sold more than CoD: Ghost did (on Xbox One), impressive. Anyway we can use that to estimate the sales figures?
 
U

unempLLOYD

Member
post-6493-Jennifer-Lawrence-okay-thumbs-ilbJ.gif


Im sure their expectations were alot higher.
 
Pegasus Actual

Pegasus Actual

Member
If you haven't bought it yet, time to get on board btw. May Titanfall 2 strike the death blow to the shambling 3 headed corpse-monster that is Call of Duty.

I'll still buy the next couple of COD games day one though :(
 
A

Aquamarine

Member
Here is the exact quote about Titanfall sales from EA's Q4 2014 Results Conference Call:

Doug Creutz - Cowen and Co.
Thanks. I’m wondering if you could talk about Titanfall a little bit. First, if you could just share how many units you’ve sold to-date, that would be great and then you’ve mentioned the three map packs. I was wondering, you talked about live services a lot. How often are you thinking about ways to keep engagement of that game strong? See what will likely be a multiple year development process or the sequel when you’ve got other big shooters coming to market over the next six to 12 months. Thanks.

Peter Moore - Chief Operating Officer
Hey Doug, its Peter. So the first question, we said standby for Titanfall and boy! did it land and landed phenomenally well. NPD has us at 925,000 units sold through, which is for the quarter; its unbelievable considering it only arrived on the Xbox One with PC with three weeks to go. I can also tell you that the Xbox 360 version is off to a great start as well.




I don't understand their policy to abstain from sold-in.

All the major, institutional investors already know what the NPD figures are, so it really doesn't hurt giving greater context towards sold-in figures.

Greater context to investors both informed and uninformed eliminates potential doubt and skepticism.

And I can't believe it took a Q&A question for EA to finally give up some number for the product.

When I listened to the call itself it sounded like Mr. Moore just rattled a number off the top of his head...almost as if he wasn't initially prepared to brag.
 
N

Nightengale

Member
Speedy Blue Dude said:
So... Went from Second Best Selling title on Xbox One to Best Selling in the last month.

That's great. So it sold more than CoD: Ghost did (on Xbox One), impressive. Anyway we can use that to estimate the sales figures?
Click to expand...

Not really.

First off, it's most likely some degree of guesstimate based off data like gfk and NPD. (which will be very reflective of the market because XB1 had limited market penetrative)

And Acitvision needs to share SKU breakdown first.
 
B

Bundy

Banned
Yeah...

EA: "It beat our sales expectations!"
Reporter: "So what are the current sales numbers and what were your expectations back then?"
EA: ".....uhm.... I have to go!"
*leaves*
 
N

Nirolak

Mrgrgr
Y0j1mb0 said:
Serious question here: How weird is that? They say they beat sales expectations and yet don't want to say how?
Click to expand...

That's easy. The expectations weren't a very high number. Presumably in the 2-3 million range.

For a smaller company that's impressive, but EA is a giant fueled by megahits.
 
A

Aquamarine

Member
unempLLOYD said:
post-6493-Jennifer-Lawrence-okay-thumbs-ilbJ.gif


Im sure their expectations were alot higher.
Click to expand...

You're right...EA does indeed grand expectations for Titanfall.

However, initial expectations are diminished due to the promotion of an SKU that has a fundamentally low installbase (a given, considering how the Xbox One is a brand new platform), and that it's an unproven new IP.

I have no doubt that the initial sales expectations were beaten...but I'm quite skeptical whether in the long-run EA's total lifetime expectations will be matched.
 
N

Necromanti

Member
I thought they were expecting an absurdly high number due to the extensive marketing campaign the game had been given, but I guess I misread the situation.
 
M

Mario007

Member
Wonder how many of those were bundles. Not that it matters to EA but it does matter to paint a picture how the game was really selling.
 
A

Aquamarine

Member
Necromanti said:
I thought they were expecting an absurdly high number due to the extensive marketing campaign the game had been given, but I guess I misread the situation.
Click to expand...

They are still expecting an absurdly high number...just over the course of the IP's lifetime.

Just because it's on-track now doesn't mean it will be on-track in the future.


Initial sales of Wii U were similarly on-track in the Holiday 2012 season due to the buzz surrounding launch. Then January 2013 came and everything crashed and the Wii U became a failure.
 
M

Mechazawa

Member
travisbickle said:
Weren't EA willing to cancel it at one point? High expectations.
Click to expand...

To be fair, until Microsoft stepped in, the game was a black pit that kept eating money due to the Activision lawsuit. EA's probably happy to just not have to worry about throwing any more money at the base product at this point.
 
U

unempLLOYD

Member
Nirolak said:
Based on what? They beat their overall quarterly expectations sales wise (which they gave out a few months before the game released) so presumably it had to have sold at least close to them.
Click to expand...

Based on the fact that they hyped up the game quite alot before its initial release and even after it's release.
aaron paul playing titanfall xbox ad
Even went so far to call it as the second coming of fps or cod killer.
 
M

Mushroomer25

Member
It's possible. We don't know if EA knew that Microsoft planned to bundle Titanfall with the console - which likely drastically affected sales.
 
M

Miles Quaritch

Member
travisbickle said:
Weren't EA willing to cancel it at one point? High expectations.
Click to expand...

Yeah, they did reach a point where they apparently weren't willing to throw any more money at the game and MS stepped in...

Anyway, it's pretty annoying that we still don't have numbers. What are the latest guesstimates?
 
S

shinra-bansho

Member
Nirolak said:
That's easy. The expectations weren't a very high number. Presumably in the 2-3 million range.

For a smaller company that's impressive, but EA is a giant fueled by megahits.
Click to expand...
Hmm, that would put it in the BioWare game range I guess? I'm kind of curious what expectations are for Inquisition now though.

For comparison, I suppose, they managed to get Battlefield 3 to ship 15M, of course on much less limiting installed bases. If they want to get anywhere near that with this franchise, I'm guessing they go multiplatform going forward.
 
K

Kelsey

Banned
Number 1 selling game for the year at Amazon US on any platform. And that's not counting bundles. Mario Kart is making a run at it now though.
 
A

Aquamarine

Member
Miles Quaritch said:
Yeah, they did reach a point where they apparently weren't willing to throw any more money at the game and MS stepped in...

Anyway, it's pretty annoying that we still don't have numbers. What are the latest guesstimates?
Click to expand...

We have NPD...that's about it.


For that we have:

865K / 925K / 1 million March

77K April Xbox One
560K


So we know the title is at least like 1.5 million by now in USA alone.
 
N

Nirolak

Mrgrgr
unempLLOYD said:
Based on the fact that they hyped up the game quite alot before its initial release and even after it's release.
aaron paul playing titanfall xbox ad
Even went so far to call it as the second coming of fps or cod killer.
Click to expand...
Ask yourself who was doing the marketing in the examples you listed and then consider who made the statement in the OP.
 
Z

zomgbbqftw

Banned
Compare and contrast to the other new IP on the new consoles, Watch_dogs.

I'm still in the camp that says EA probably don't regret selling the exclusive to MS but the sequel is now in 100% multi-platform territory from 99% before. MS pushed the franchise harder than EA ever could have and TF is now established as one of the go to shootbang games of the coming generation. I could see TF2 being current gen/PC only. Getting paid to have someone else spend their money to promote a franchise for which you own the publishing rights is a rare thing indeed. There is, as yet, no indication that EA did badly out of selling the exclusive.
 
A

Aquamarine

Member
zomgbbqftw said:
Compare and contrast to the other new IP on the new consoles, Watch_dogs.

I'm still in the camp that says EA probably don't regret selling the exclusive to MS but the sequel is now in 100% multi-platform territory from 99% before. MS pushed the franchise harder than EA ever could have and TF is now established as one of the go to shootbang games of the coming generation. I could see TF2 being current gen/PC only. Getting paid to have someone else spend their money to promote a franchise for which you own the publishing rights is a rare thing indeed. There is, as yet, no indication that EA did badly out of selling the exclusive.
Click to expand...

I believe any potential failure to deliver scenario from the Titanfall IP will wound EA starting from the sequel onward.

You're right...they have a free pass for TF1.
 
P

p3tran

Banned
having bought and played ALL FPS GAMES on next gen, in my opinion titanfall still is not only the most "next gen" one, but the one that keeps playing better than everything else.
so the good sales should be no news to anybody.
 
A

Aquamarine

Member
Shosai said:
Is there any evidence of this? News to me
Click to expand...

Sure.

Read Geoff Keighley's brilliant "The Final Hours of Titanfall," where he did a ton of investigative research into the game's development.

http://www.gameranx.com/updates/id/...development-was-turbulent-saved-by-microsoft/

"It needs to be emphasized here that at the final hour, it was Microsoft that saved the project. We also know that since then, EA and Respawn plan to open up future Titanfall games to more platforms. If Microsoft had not stepped up to the plate, though, the game would have not even been made."
 
Z

zomgbbqftw

Banned
Aquamarine said:
I believe any potential failure to deliver scenario from the Titanfall IP will wound EA starting from the sequel onward.

You're right...they have a free pass for TF1.
Click to expand...

It's not so much a free pass as much as I think they have done better out of selling the exclusive than they would have out of promoting the game themselves as a multi-platform. EA are not good at launching new titles. Look at their record, it is crap. Letting MS do the heavy lifting by giving an early exclusive this generation has boosted TF to a level that EA would not be able to achieve. They are not as friendly with the press as MS and they do not have the same marketing power to tie in with a console launch. The only are in which I believe EA did badly was unnecessarily delaying the 360 version of the game. As an EA multiplatform game TF on XB1 would have sold worse and had worse review scores and it would not be bundled and they would have had to spend their own money promoting it. EA did well from the transaction. Better than MS for sure who got an unfinished game in return.
 
P

PaulExcellent

Member
That's good! I want a sequel with single-player and more content from these guys. It was a neat game, but it just didn't feel like $60 worth of game to me.
 
D

driver116

Member
The two people close in my life who are obsessed by console FPS and Xbox have no interest in Titanfall. They've failed to make a big hitter I think. The game is good.
 
D

Droopaloop

Banned
PaulExcellent said:
That's good! I want a sequel with single-player and more content from these guys. It was a neat game, but it just didn't feel like $60 worth of game to me.
Click to expand...

Same here. I bought it and played it for maybe a month or so. I think a single player campaign would have helped it a bunch in terms of value; or maybe they could have included one of the future map packs or something. Now every time I turn it on I'm in a lobby full of multiple gen players and get curb stomped.
 
M

Madness

Member
Best Selling lifetime to date, so does anyone have any hard numbers for other games, presumably games like Call of Duty: Ghosts? Will be nice to know it's at least ahead of certain numbers.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Similar threads

EA Hopes to Use Generative AI to Drive Monetization and Make Development 30% More Efficient
Opinion Business Game Dev
27
2K
radewagon replied
Battlefield will be a "meaningful part" of EA's future, despite Battlefield 2042 disappointments
Opinion Game Dev 2 3
101
4K
EDMIX replied
Final Fantasy 16 sales results were in the range of their expectations, feel the penetration of PS5 performance was quite good.
2 3 4
182
12K
BrunoCoel replied
Immortals of Aveum director blames poor sales on busy release calendar and says "no one anticipated" Baldur's Gate 3 to be so successful
Opinion 2 3 4
184
10K
Spyxos replied
Layoffs reported at Hello Neighbor publisher TinyBuild | Job losses of up to 30 percent expected across studios
News
6
689
Bkdk replied
Top Bottom