EA’s chief operating officer Peter Moore isn’t worried about the many stories of lacklustre triple-A sales this holiday season, arguing that they don’t capture digital figures. He also says EA are proficient at making money from games in the long-term, and that Titanfall 2 – which is said to have sold badly – will continue to sell for many years.
Titanfall 2 made our list of the best shooters on PC.
Moore was speaking at the Credit Suisse 20th Annual Technology, Media and Telecom Conference yesterday.
“The numbers we have seen reported publicly obviously don’t take into account digital, and we’re seeing continued strength in digital. And we’re going to see in the next few days I’m sure, some of the results of Black Friday… And I think, without giving the game away, I think we’re going to be comforted, if not pleasantly surprised. But I’m optimistic, and certainly at EA we’re not changing our guidance whatsoever.”
Moore could be talking about sales figures from GfK Chart-Track, a UK stats group which only tracks UK physical game sales. In lieu of official figures from publishers, many outlets (including us) use GfK to make early sales projections.
It has been suggested thatBlack Friday has hurt videogame sales overall, despite producing bumper sales last week. Again, Moore was quick to find cause for optimism, suggesting that the games-as-service model means a large install base equates to huge opportunities to make money in the longer term, no matter how painful a steep discount near launch might be.
Moore is proud of EA’s record in doing this, citing it again while downplaying the suggestion that Titanfall 2 and Battlefield 1 cannibalised one another by launching so close together:
“One thing we do incredibly well is take a great title like this and leverage it for many years to come,” he said, highlighting Titanfall 2’s positive critical reception. “We’re going to be selling Titanfall 2 on a global basis for many, many years.”
Many thanks to GamesIndustry.biz.