EA: Star Wars Battlefront II “Really Strong;” Not Bothered by Competition of Destiny 2, COD and More

Giuseppe Nelva July 27, 2017 6:50 PM EST

Electronic Arts executives express excitement for the coming Star Wars Battlefront 2, and aren't bothered by competition from big titles like Destiny 2, Call of Duty: WWII and Assassin's Creed Origins.

Today, during Electronic Arts’ financial conference call related to the first quarter of fiscal year 2018, Chief Executive Officer Andrew Wilson and Chief Financial Officer Blake Jorgensen talked about Star Wars Battlefront II, and the competitive situation as they prepare to release it.

Wilson mentioned that the game is “coming together really, really strong,” and “the single player campaign is resonating really well with the community, as well as the depth and breadth expansion of the multiplayer.”

That said, the company is not changing its 14 million units sales forecast for the title at this point, but they’re “very, very happy” with the progress on the game and “very energized” by the positive feedback they received from the community.

Jorgensen added that Disney has been a great partner, and Electronic Arts is very excited to continue leveraging the upcoming movie as well as the buzz generated around Star Wars. He clarified that the company is trying to be careful, not getting ahead of themselves on sales forecasts, since it’s still really early in the year.

Immediately after, they were asked to talk about competition against Destiny 2, Call of Duty: WWII with its returning “boots on the ground” experience, and PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds on Xbox One. Jorgensen added Assassin’s Creed Origins to that list “just to throw more fuel on the fire,” and joked on the fact they have “boots in space instead of boots on the ground.” He explained that historically EA has gone into many daunting quarters because of the competition, for instance when Grand Theft Auto V came out.

As a result, they found out that it actually grows the overall market, driving console sales, many of those titles are bundled helping to drive prices down for consumers, and Electronic Arts likes that, as it benefits consumers and benefits the company, because it generates a lot of buzz about games.

They’ve always competed against all of the titles mentioned, and it doesn’t bother them, but it excites them instead. Besides, Red Dead Redemption 2 has been delayed, which opens up “a little bit of opportunity for everybody.”

If you want to read more details on Electronic Arts financial results for the past quarter, you can check out our dedicated article from earlier today.