According to a market report, investment analysts are concerned about the pre-order sales of EA’s Battlefield V, especially in comparison to both Red Dead Redemption 2 and Call of Duty: Black Ops 4.
Analyst group Cowen described pre-orders as “weak,” and are especially concerned that the game may be this year’s Titanfall 2 – a great game that was practically ignored because it was sandwiched between two sales behemoths. The irony is that back in 2016, Battlefield 1 was one of those games – now the series finds itself in the same position.
The report was posted on the Dow Jones Newswires, and picked up by Wall Street Journal writer Sarah Needleman on her Twitter. There was also concern around the departure of EA’s chief design officer (and former DICE CEO) Patrick Söderlund, as the announcement about his departure comes just two months before the release of Battlefield V. Söderlund was CEO of DICE for 10 years, and served as a high-level creative exec for EA in various roles for the last eight years.
This report certainly comes at a bad time, since both Battlefield V and Black Ops 4 are battling it out in alpha and beta, respectively – with Battlefield’s latest alpha starting today. The Battlefield V open beta doesn’t start until September – which is also when the Black Ops 4 Blackout beta begins.
$EA pic.twitter.com/XEdeY4nJUe
— Sarah E. Needleman (@saraheneedleman) August 14, 2018
Red Dead Redemption 2, on the other hand, doesn’t need anything like betas – but there still isn’t a PC version announced, so at least on PC Battlefield V is certain to get some sales.