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[LostDonkey]

Everybody wanted the return to WW2, the thing is, they never deliver, instead they went for some sci-fi "WWI" while CoD:WWII filled the nostalgia exceptionally. And a year later, when the nostalgia was already filled, they went for yet another sci-fi "WWII" game. Still, over 7MLN is a lot, they just need to lower their expectations and focus on making good games instead of chasing CoD sales, because this will never happen.

I could have sworn i filled a survey out from EA asking what direction they should go next after BF1 and the majority wanted modern day sequel to BF4.

 

[mejin]

Holy shit...they sold much, much better than I expected.

 

[Fuz]

Next time don’t insult your consumer base, and try to be a little more tactful explaining creative decisions.

They still sold 7 millions. Gamers don't care about that, apparently.

 

[Boss Mog]

Here's the deal. The SJW stuff only became an issue because of historical accuracy and DICE being assholes about it when fans brought it up. CoD has had women in it for a couple years now, nobody complained, Fotrnite has women and very diverse characters, nobody complains. Heck, even the new Apex Legends game's cast is almost all non white characters with lots of women and nobody is complaining, in fact I love that game. And so basically the SJW stuff is not the main reason why BFV "flopped".

The main reason it didn't sell as well as they expected is because the game just isn't that good. It's almost a reskin of BF1. They managed to trick everybody into buying that game but they were never gonna be able to do it twice. Just like BF1, BFV is very light on vehicles, usually one or two tanks per side max and the game never feels like all out war, it feels more like a CoD game with bigger maps and shittier gunplay. Maps like Amsterdam may look good but they're all about corridors and pathways you can't go wherever you want like on rooftops and such. What I loved about BF4 is that everything was possible, if you could imagine it, you could do it, that why it was able to have those "only in battlefield" moments that made the franchise so good. But if you take those away, well you're left with a shallow game that isn't much fun and that doesn't really feel like you're in an all out war.

That's why they had to make fake gameplay "in engine" trailers for BF1 and BFV because just showing you actual gameplay would not make you want to play the game because it looks boring. In BF4 they could just make a trailer with only actual gameplay footage and it made you want to play it because it looked so good and hectic like what all out warfare is supposed to feel like, with tons of vehicles and explosions everywhere.

 

[Paracelsus]

They still sold 7 millions. Gamers don't care about that, apparently.

A 50% drop on your strongest franchise is "everybody gets fired" zone. You can use that kind of non-logic over there, but here we practice common sense.

 

[Akuza89]

It's a shame as the game is actually really good fun online.

Glad it dropped in price so quick otherwise I wouldn't have bought it....but! Still good fun!

 

[Whitesnake]

They still sold 7 millions. Gamers don't care about that, apparently.

EA is literally telling you “7 million wasn’t enough.”

7 million being a big-sounding number doesn’t mean the game sold well.

 

[Redneckerz]

Next time don’t insult your consumer base, and try to be a little more tactful explaining creative decisions.

EA: ''Okay dad''.

In more serious news, what kind of sales expectations do you have as a publisher if 7.3 million copies is not enough. Like, that's a proper success by most standards.

Then i read EA expected a million more. At that point i am like: You already burned a lot of bridges by politicizing a game for the singular reason that politicizing anything is hot right now, and then you declare that the game has not met its sales targets because you expect 8.3 million copies instead of the 7.3 million that it now sold, which still indicates a massive success by any margin.

EA, you really ought to look in the mirror every once in a while, christ.

 

[Heart_Attack]

Shipped does not equal sold. There's a reason why its price got slashed after a week.

 

[Scopa]

A 50% drop on your strongest franchise is "everybody gets fired" zone. You can use that kind of non-logic over there, but here we practice common sense.

Yeah. Gamers might not care, but EA certainly does. Once you filter through all the PR smoke and mirror bullshit, this doesn’t sound like a contented company:

We made some calculated decisions that did not work as planned in Q3, and we did not execute well in other areas of our business. Against the backdrop of a very competitive quarter, the combination of those factors led to our underperformance. While we are disappointed with the results, we understand where our challenges are, and we are deeply focused on applying the strengths of our company to address them going forward. We are a learning organization. Over the last six months, we’ve made organizational changes to shape our teams against our priorities for the future. We’ve made operational changes to better position ourselves to effectively drive live services and serve our player communities. We’ve made creative changes, including the formation of a Creative Council to strengthen our creative decision-making. And we will continue to make refinements in each of these dimensions as we focus sharply on execution across the company.

We are making critical adjustments to sharpen our focus on execution

Our experiences this quarter have reset our expectations for growth this year and next. And that means we must make some hard choices about investments.

As Blake and I have talked about, we are experiencing a difficult second half of FY19. We’re disappointed with our underperformance. We are confident in our overall strategy, but we are making deliberate changes to our organization, our operational processes, and our creative focus to address our challenges.

Hopefully forming a “Creative Council” to “strengthen decision making” and “deliberate changes” is company speak for “who the fuck let these SJW nutbags in here?! Throw ‘em out and change the locks”.

But, I’m still betting they’ll just double-down on stupid.

 

[Meccs]

As someone else said: who knows how many of those 7.3M were sold for 50% off. I would bet quite a lot!
Also, weird that they didn't mention "Premier" in their report, only "Access".

 

[Paracelsus]

EA: ''Okay dad''.

In more serious news, what kind of sales expectations do you have as a publisher if 7.3 million copies is not enough. Like, that's a proper success by most standards.

Then i read EA expected a million more. At that point i am like: You already burned a lot of bridges by politicizing a game for the singular reason that politicizing anything is hot right now, and then you declare that the game has not met its sales targets because you expect 8.3 million copies instead of the 7.3 million that it now sold, which still indicates a massive success by any margin.

EA, you really ought to look in the mirror every once in a while, christ.

You and a lot of other people here seem to miss the whole point.
GTAV sold over a hundred million copies. I'll write it in numbers: 100.000.000 copies.
When that is the highest number you can achieve going AAAA with budget, then the perspective is completely changed.
RDR2 sold 17.000.000 in eight days. That's what you can and should demand from your people for a game of that scale, especially when the brand allows it.
It's one thing for KH3 to sell 5m in a week because it's an anime game with no multiplayer and moderate mainstream appeal. It's one thing for Dark Souls to sell 5m copies, but it's a whole different ballpark for Battlefield to sell 7.3m copies, because Battlefield like Fifa, Cod, Madden, NBA is one of those games that belongs to an elite of "super mainstream" titles.
A lot of the people with a console don't buy all games releasing for it. They buy the console and Fifa and CoD, play the whole year, then buy the next Fifa and CoD, That's what Battlefield falls into, it's a completely different market from the likes of Kingdom Hearts III.

The only way for Battlefield 5 to be redeemed sales-wise is that if we get BLOPS4 numbers and it tanked too. Then we'll know shooters are dead. I don't see it happening, the forecast seems to be much, much higher.

 

[Redneckerz]

You and a lot of other people here seem to miss the whole point.
GTAV sold over a hundred million copies. I'll write it in numbers: 100.000.000 copies.
When that is the highest number you can achieve going AAAA with budget, then the perspective is completely changed.
RDR2 sold 17.000.000 in eight days. That's what you can and should demand from your people for a game of that scale, especially when the brand allows it.
It's one thing for KH3 to sell 5m in a week because it's an anime game with no multiplayer and moderate mainstream appeal. It's one thing for Dark Souls to sell 5m copies, but it's a whole different ballpark for Battlefield to sell 7.3m copies, because Battlefield like Fifa, Cod, Madden, NBA is one of those games that belongs to an elite of "super mainstream" titles.

BFV isn't in the same realm as a Rockstar game. The idea that 7.3 mil is below expectations but 8.3 mil is alright is redonkoulous.

If your game is a failure or a success based on a 1 mil difference then you ought to question where things go wrong. Maybe because the game's trailers and studio commentary was around politicizing an issue that served no reason to be used for that game.

 

[angelic]

COD has had women in it since Ghosts, a game literally designed for last gen and up-ported as a current gen launch title. You could play as a woman in the franchise since 2013. with no fuss. EA / Dice love their virtue signalling though. Also, not every minority needs to be represented on screen, you're stepping into a role, it's not always meant to be you. That's why the disabled black Welsh woman in a wheelchair was cut from Street Fighter V.

 

[Paracelsus]

BFV isn't in the same realm as a Rockstar game. The idea that 7.3 mil is below expectations but 8.3 mil is alright is redonkoulous.

If your game is a failure or a success based on a 1 mil difference then you ought to question where things go wrong. Maybe because the game's trailers and studio commentary was around politicizing an issue that served no reason to be used for that game.

The 1m difference is the lowballed forecast they made after they realized the game was going to bomb. When you sell 15m with your previous installment you don't forecast half of that unless you know you screwed up.

 

[Freedom Gate Co.]

Most of that 7.3 million is literally from the controversy. It hit 5 shipped closer to launch and EA basically crippled its legs.

The days of BF3 and bad company 2 selling over 12 million is long gone.

 

[Redneckerz]

The 1m difference is the lowballed forecast they made after they realized the game was going to bomb. When you sell 15m with your previous installment you don't forecast half of that unless you know you screwed up.

Oh, so they already aimed low with 8.3 mil and left disappointed when it was even lower?

Its not like EA did a lot to translate that negativity to something positive, did they?

 

[Horns]

Either way this game is fun and it can be acquired dirt cheap. Get it!

 

[Guileless]

 

[Bolivar687]

Analysts were already projecting it to undersell. Going to WWII this soon felt really stale after BF1, which brought us to a war we hadn't really seen in games yet at the time.

I wonder if they're reluctant to do modern again because of BF4, which I really don't understand underselling. IMO, it would of done wonders if they had followed up BF1 with BC3.

 

[bigedole]

Lot of people in here complimenting the # sold, but their revenue has to be down massively from projections with the 50% discount they did a week after release. That's all that really matters to investors, and that's why their stock price is going to plummet today.

 

[Catphish]

EA: "We sold 7.3 million copies."
Parrots: "Get woke, go broke."

 

[tr1p1ex]

BFV isn't in the same realm as a Rockstar game. The idea that 7.3 mil is below expectations but 8.3 mil is alright is redonkoulous.

Yeah except 8.3 million was their revised expectation. They already warned back in November that sales were going to be lower. PLus realize they had to discount the game by 50% to get to 7.3 million. So not only are sales units off by 15% from their already lowered expectations but they took in a lot less money to get there.

 

[CaptainAnchovie]

When they say the sales failed to meet their expectations, it's not purely a numerical statement, 7.3 million is a number most games would dream of hitting.
Many of those copies could have been sold at half price, which means not only is it the lowest selling Battlefield in some time, but the lowest grossing. Revenue is probably down 35% when comparing the same amount of units sold.

 

[NickFire]

I have two questions that I'd be asking if I owned shares in this publisher. 1) How many copies were sold at MSRP? 2) Is is arrogance or ignorance that causes them to try hiding the elephant in the room?

 

[Trogdor1123]

I wonder how close the revenue was to projections, not just units sold.

 

[tr1p1ex]

Also notice how they report current active monthly players in BF4 and BF1 and don't report the current active BFV players except to say it's larger than either of those.

And notice they report Apex Legends player numbers mere days after it launches but still haven't reported any BFV player numbers.

 

[Redneckerz]

Yeah except 8.3 million was their revised expectation. They already warned back in November that sales were going to be lower. PLus realize they had to discount the game by 50% to get to 7.3 million. So not only are sales units off by 15% from their already lowered expectations but they took in a lot less money to get there.

Still BS either way.

 

[StreetsofBeige]

Total failure. In the same time as BF1:

- It`s sold half the copies
- No doubt lots of sales came from bargain binning $30 copies
- There`s millions more Xbox and PS systems out there vs. 2 years ago. If anything, sales should be higher even if it was the same % of gamers buying it now vs BF1
- Call of Duty`s game isn`t even a competing WW game where it might be WW overkill in the same year. It`s a Black Ops setting

 

[manfestival]

EA: "We sold 7.3 million copies."
Parrots: "Get woke, go broke."

If you don't understand why 7.3 million copies is a failure and the context of the numbers then you probably shouldn't post here.

I am really curious as to how low the revenue truly was. They are releasing one big number in an attempt to pull the wool over the investors eyes. Interesting enough, stocks took a huge nose dive after this news. Seems like BF5 is really hurting EA way more than they ever imagined.

 

[Thiagosc777]

If you don't understand why 7.3 million copies is a failure and the context of the numbers then you probably shouldn't post here.

At this point it is impossible not to know why. Multiple people have mentioned it already here.

Yes, like people usually say: they got woke, and went broke.

It'd be funny if the next Battlefield follows the same marketing strategy of cyborg women and telling people not to buy the game.

 

[StreetsofBeige]

If you don't understand why 7.3 million copies is a failure and the context of the numbers then you probably shouldn't post here.

I am really curious as to how low the revenue truly was. They are releasing one big number in an attempt to pull the wool over the investors eyes. Interesting enough, stocks took a huge nose dive after this news. Seems like BF5 is really hurting EA way more than they ever imagined.

I`m going to take a quick stab at this with napkin math:

7,300,000 copies
$45. 25% of $60 US. The average price EA sells this copy to stores, net proceeds from digital sales after 30% cuts to MS/Sony etc, but boosted a bit by higher proceeds from Origin direct etc.....
$329,000,000 revenue

Minus
2,000,000 copies sold at bargain binning?????
$25. Estimated discount given to stores so their net price is $20, they sell for $30
$50,000,000 of discounts

$279,000,000 Net revenue
$38. Net revenue per copy

 

[manfestival]

I`m going to take a quick stab at this with napkin math:

7,300,000 copies
$45. 25% of $60 US. The average price EA sells this copy to stores, net proceeds from digital sales after 30% cuts to MS/Sony etc, but boosted a bit by higher proceeds from Origin direct etc.....
$329,000,000 revenue

Minus
2,000,000 copies sold at bargain binning?????
$25. Estimated discount given to stores so their net price is $20, they sell for $30
$50,000,000 of discounts

$279,000,000 Net revenue
$38. Net revenue per copy

It is probably a fair estimate. I imagine the game is profitable but then there is the hit in stocks which is probably the biggest gut punch for EA. I saw a bunch of articles about it but I didn't look at the hard numbers to see the actual losses of this.

 

[mckmas8808]

Nobody will care about the BR mode.

Truth!

 

[mckmas8808]

I`m going to take a quick stab at this with napkin math:

7,300,000 copies
$45. 25% of $60 US. The average price EA sells this copy to stores, net proceeds from digital sales after 30% cuts to MS/Sony etc, but boosted a bit by higher proceeds from Origin direct etc.....
$329,000,000 revenue

Minus
2,000,000 copies sold at bargain binning?????
$25. Estimated discount given to stores so their net price is $20, they sell for $30
$50,000,000 of discounts

$279,000,000 Net revenue
$38. Net revenue per copy

And this is why I root against EA so much. A single game can be profitable, yet they claim it to be a failure and that the single player is what got in the way. The EA suits have NO IDEA what they are doing.

 

[Guileless]

At least EA had some company today in the shitter. Fortnite 's dominance is spooking everyone else.

 

[StreetsofBeige]

At least EA had some company today in the shitter. Fortnite 's dominance is spooking everyone else.

We've seen it already. BR mode everywhere. Just like WWII shooters 10 years ago.

Just a matter of how long the BR mode fad will last. Given it's new and Fortnite/BO 4/PUBG are doing great and Apex Legends had a great trial with zero marketing, looks like a hot fad for years to come.

 

[StreetsofBeige]

I could have sworn i filled a survey out from EA asking what direction they should go next after BF1 and the majority wanted modern day sequel to BF4.

A survey like that is pointless for the next game because by the time gamers fill out a survey, development on BFV was already well underway. Was the survey implying the "very next game" should be XXXX?

Or was it vague meaning "any" game after BF1 at some point could be a modern day game?

I don't see polls like this being anything more than marketing schtick to hook gamers in unless they take the data true to heart for a game 5-6 years out.

 

[spookyfish]

Im dissapointed. 7.3 million is too much.

True. But I’m betting the vast majority of those went for 50% or more off.

 

[Halo is Back]

7.3 million is a lot more than I thought honestly

 

[LegendOfKage]

Some brutal honesty from someone who just a few days ago was being paid to play Apex Legends, with money that came from EA's marketing budget:





4:56 time stamp. After Titanfall 2, I have to think that the reversal of roles here isn't lost on Respawn.

I'm very happy for Respawn.

 

[Azurro]

BFV isn't in the same realm as a Rockstar game. The idea that 7.3 mil is below expectations but 8.3 mil is alright is redonkoulous.

If your game is a failure or a success based on a 1 mil difference then you ought to question where things go wrong. Maybe because the game's trailers and studio commentary was around politicizing an issue that served no reason to be used for that game.

The difference is that while 7.3 doesn't sound bad, the revenue per copy is very low, as the game has been heavily discounted very soon from release.

 

[Redneckerz]

The difference is that while 7.3 doesn't sound bad, the revenue per copy is very low, as the game has been heavily discounted very soon from release.

Is there a source for this?

 

[Azurro]

Is there a source for this?

Did you somehow miss all the discounts the game went through? You can even find them here on the forum.

 

[Redneckerz]

Did you somehow miss all the discounts the game went through? You can even find them here on the forum.

Yes. I am a Dutch resident so i reckon a lot of the discounts do not apply for me, hence why i asked for a source.

 

[cryptoadam]

DICE should of gone with premium pass to add to their revenues.

Love the game but the content is just not there. Still no combined arms mode launched and no Rush mode.

Just waiting for EA to tell us that they wanted to give us the best BR excperience they can and APEX legends has shown that a free BR mode would not make the best Battlefield BR, so as a favor to all the fans the BR mode will now only cost 39.99. See how much EA cares.