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EA: Titanfall beat our sales expectations
- Thread starter Nirolak
- Start date
Isn't that figure only for the US though?
But no numbers... yeeeeaah...
Should've been the first post.
Pointless to come out and say it "beat our expectations" but then not give numbers. They'll presumably have to give real numbers in their investors call when they discuss the massive investment they are likely to make in keeping the series going so...why not just put them out there?
statham
Member
and only for the first month, and bundles & DD aren't included.
BibiMaghoo
Member
"Our expectations were high and it beat them."
"
"
"
Just not on Xbox One
Only for the US and not counting copies bundled with Xbones or sold digitally.
Rising_Hei
Member
1984 and doublethink comes to my mind for some reason after reading this news
Banjo-Kazooie
Member
edit: beaten
rokkerkory
Member
EA its in the game!
Banjo-Kazooie
Member
So an interview where the INTERVIEWER asks someone a question and they answer it is now considered a press release eh?
Miles Quaritch
Member
sixpackrules
Member
This thing with the sale numbers reminds me of the old hollywood, not that the new one is not secretive (those dvds sales numbers) this industry needs to add more transparency, but on the other hand we could lose that great PR statements and the joy and excitment that brings to our lives
Schweinehund
Member
Its like you've never heard of marketing or something.
I consider this great news. I didn't buy titanfall because it didn't seem to have much depth in terms of loadouts and the console lobby system (pc player here), so hopefully TF2 expands upon this.
ScatheZombie
Member
From Respawn/EA's perspective:
Titanfall is a new IP, multiplayer-only and initially released on a system with an install base of around 3.5-4 million (at the time of release) and PC (which traditionally only nets about 500k-1m sales for the best of shooters - Battlefield, CoD).
Being realistic (which EA usually isn't, but let's just make the assumption), with the marketing blitz and push from Microsoft, they probably expected somewhere around a 33% attach rate, optimistically. That comes to about 1-1.5m Xbone sales. And we already know that it's exceeded that.
The real unanswered question is ... what were their expectations for 360 release and what were the 360 numbers. Those, I haven't seen any real information for. I would assume they expect at least 50% of the total sales to come from the 360 (given their assumed projections for Xbone and PC that's around another 1.5-2m sales).
So Titanfall sold somewhere between 3.5-4.5m copies across all three platforms. Considering the Battlefield franchise usually pulls somewhere between 5-7m sales, that's a pretty damn good start for a brand new, quasi-exclusive, multiplayer-only IP. I have no doubt Respawn and EA are happy with it.
Microsoft, on the other hand, is definitely NOT happy with it, considering it completely failed to boost their sales figures above the Playstation for the month of release, even within traditionally Microsoft dominated territories.
So, Titanfall was a pretty good game that sold considerly well, but it wasn't the system-seller Microsoft banked it would be. There's your answer.
Titanfall is a new IP, multiplayer-only and initially released on a system with an install base of around 3.5-4 million (at the time of release) and PC (which traditionally only nets about 500k-1m sales for the best of shooters - Battlefield, CoD).
Being realistic (which EA usually isn't, but let's just make the assumption), with the marketing blitz and push from Microsoft, they probably expected somewhere around a 33% attach rate, optimistically. That comes to about 1-1.5m Xbone sales. And we already know that it's exceeded that.
The real unanswered question is ... what were their expectations for 360 release and what were the 360 numbers. Those, I haven't seen any real information for. I would assume they expect at least 50% of the total sales to come from the 360 (given their assumed projections for Xbone and PC that's around another 1.5-2m sales).
So Titanfall sold somewhere between 3.5-4.5m copies across all three platforms. Considering the Battlefield franchise usually pulls somewhere between 5-7m sales, that's a pretty damn good start for a brand new, quasi-exclusive, multiplayer-only IP. I have no doubt Respawn and EA are happy with it.
Microsoft, on the other hand, is definitely NOT happy with it, considering it completely failed to boost their sales figures above the Playstation for the month of release, even within traditionally Microsoft dominated territories.
So, Titanfall was a pretty good game that sold considerly well, but it wasn't the system-seller Microsoft banked it would be. There's your answer.
#1 on the NPD two months in a row, top-selling game on the Xbox One, and EA says it beat their expectations, yet some people are still really fixated on the idea that it was a total flop. It's okay if you Don't Like Thing™, but insisting on counterfactual statements to support that belief is kind of silly.
There's two statements to make though.
From the perspective of EA, game was not a flop but a success.
From the perspective of MS and their XBO sales expectations, game was a total flop.
Miles Quaritch
Member
They probably faced a similar situation to Sony and the cancelled SSM project. Game wasn't progressing how they wanted, it was becoming a money pit, only choices left were to either cancel it or get someone to foot the rest of the bill.
Not disagreeing with the second statement; the Xbox One's price of entry was hurting sales more than Titanfall could help, even with the various bundles. Game still sold pretty well given the circumstances, but in general it's probably not a good idea to count on a single title to bring about a dramatic reversal of fortune.
Credit to JR for stickin it out through the long haul.
I don't think anyone would have blamed him for canceling the game the day Zampella walked into his office and told him they were cutting single player and needed more money.
Clockwork5
Member
I wonder how dead they expected the campaign lobbies to be this far in.
Imp the Dimp
Member
I know nobody who plays or owns it
spookyfish
Member
Sure it did, EA. Sure it did.
You were so sure of it that Microsoft had to fund the completion of it.
You were so sure of it that Microsoft had to fund the completion of it.
I am guessing the lack of numbers comes from them not really wanting any comparisons drawn with other games OR with the PS4-bound sequel.
If the sequel is this successful across all systems I am willing to bet they'll at least give you a number in "more than x million copies"
edit - to those saying "sure it did...." the flip side is we don't know what EA was projecting. For all we know they were expecting like 1M units worldwide lifetime? To be fair, I'd guess once they saw what kind of a whooping PS4 sales were putting on XBONE sales, they brought expectations for the game to something reasonable given the install base in US and UK.
If the sequel is this successful across all systems I am willing to bet they'll at least give you a number in "more than x million copies"
edit - to those saying "sure it did...." the flip side is we don't know what EA was projecting. For all we know they were expecting like 1M units worldwide lifetime? To be fair, I'd guess once they saw what kind of a whooping PS4 sales were putting on XBONE sales, they brought expectations for the game to something reasonable given the install base in US and UK.
Where are you getting all this data?
The Xboxone version was number 1 for a month then dropped a lot in the NPD chart and the 360 version was number 1 in the second month. We don't know if the game has legs or not.
Legs or not, it did well enough for EA to greenlight a sequel that's almost certain to be multiplat and sell better because of that.
Really, I'm just kinda tired of people insisting that Titanfall was a dismal failure because they don't personally like the game.
It wasn't a failure but I don't think it was a smashing success either. It probably did as well as could be expected since it was light on content, had development problems, and did not release on PS3/PS4.
TechnicPuppet
Nothing! I said nothing!
What were MS expectations? They expected everyone with live to buy 2 copies maybe?
EA said before Titanfall came out that they wouldn't be releasing sales figures for ANY of their games anymore (i'm not sure why though).
I always find it strange that so many people on here doesn't know that, there was threads about it i'm pretty sure.
I agree.
That's like every game. People just like to see things fail for some reason.
WrenchNinja
Member
Combination of the following:
- Not liking that it was multiplayer-only. Understandable, though I wish people wouldn't use this to justify their arguments about price.
- People thinking it has too little content, which is totally fair.
- Backlash against some of the gushing responses it got from the press. Totally reasonable to find it obnoxious, though some went a bit far with their claims of astroturfing, press bias, artificial hype, etc.
- A minority of it is people hating it because of its association with Microsoft.
Dr. Kitty Muffins
Member
I sort of expect more former Sony Santa Monica talent will end up at Respawn with Stig being at the studio.
And Justin Hendry, who created the first level of GoW3. Respawn had a few SSM vets before Stig joined.
Fixed
makingmusic476
Member
Maybe their revised expectations post-DRM/price backlash.
shinra-bansho
Member
I'm not sure why exactly people are finding this hard to believe.
I don't think it's far-fetched to say that the Xbox One has sold faster than expected.
And the attach rate is incredibly high; high enough that it's unrealistic to expect more.
Those two pieces of information together should make for exceeding expectations to be quite realistic.
I don't think it's far-fetched to say that the Xbox One has sold faster than expected.
And the attach rate is incredibly high; high enough that it's unrealistic to expect more.
Those two pieces of information together should make for exceeding expectations to be quite realistic.
Sword Of Doom
Member
Wish I could say the same about the servers in the western US. They're empty
Exactly, very good points. Just seems that downplaying in Titanfall threads are always taking too big role.