The Last Jedi DLC Comes Today + Poor Sales Cut Profit Estimates Sharply - Star Wars: Battlefront II

SBFord

The Last Jedi DLC Comes Today + Poor Sales Cut Profit Estimates Sharply - Star Wars: Battlefront II - MMORPG.com

Star Wars: Battlefront II News - Today is a big day for Star Wars: Battlefront II with the arrival of the free DLC, The Last Jedi Season. The new content is perfectly timed to coincide with this week's cinema release of Star Wars: The Last Jedi. The DLC will continue the story of the protagonist, Iden Versio, though as a much older character remembering events of the past. In addition, Finn and Phasma join up as unlockable characters.

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Warlyx

12,5M copies sold? ppl still fall for EA crap

SBFord

Warlyx said:

12,5M copies sold? ppl still fall for EA crap

People love Star Wars.

Bloodaxes

The game isn't bad despite the obvious lootbox ea greedy shenanigans.

Herase

Warlyx said:

12,5M copies sold? ppl still fall for EA crap

It will take time. Taking into account that the average consumer most likely have no idea about the shit that's been going on with EA and people, like SB said, will buy into cause it's Star Wars. Also on top of that the removal of MTX made some people reconsider buying it.

Even though it maybe small, an impact was made. the game released is far from what EA wanted to release in terms of monetization. I feel if people keep on talking about MTX into 2018, in time a bigger impact could be made.

psychosiz1

You can't believe all the stuff people want you to believe.  As an example, poor sales.  EA's sales of this game, SW BF2, are seen and are in fact, very profitable.  To prove this point, look at EA's stock.  Its sitting at 107.66 and has been steadily rising since the drop.  Its already higher than what they projected to close the year out at both at the beginning of the year and even after the recent tumble.  This doesn't happen if the sales of BF2 were considered poor after the recent fall.  In fact, many financial analyst have stated that strong sales have led to the rebound of the EA stock.  Keep in mind I am simply stating the facts and whether I like or dislike EA is irrelevant to the truth.

As for the game, being objective I would say the game could fairly be rated between 6.5-8.5 out of 10 depending upon your preferences.  The game itself has a strong population and thus far its been pretty steady. 

SBFord

As the article said @psychosiz1, EA's bottom line is golden. 34% increase this year compared to only 18% for all S&P 500 companies. It was a small skirmish in the war on loot boxes. Still it had enough of an impact to make a difference and get them to rethink strategies going forward.

Sovrath

Warlyx said:

12,5M copies sold? ppl still fall for EA crap

Not everyone wants to be part of a movement or make a stand or "whatever".

They just want to play a video game. Because ... it's a video game.

Anthur

EA is releasing this for free without re-enabling lootboxes ? The EA financial managers really have a tough christmas time. Just imagine: Christmas, new movie, new DLC, lootboxes... oh all that money to be made there. Millions and millions and millions. Poor guys.

Dauzqul

So much negative press. Even on the game sites. lol.

Daranar

SBFord said:

As the article said @psychosiz1, EA's bottom line is golden. 34% increase this year compared to only 18% for all S&P 500 companies. It was a small skirmish in the war on loot boxes. Still it had enough of an impact to make a difference and get them to rethink strategies going forward.

It has more of an impact than they let on. Every quote a corporation gives comes with a healthy dose of PR spin. I promise you people were fired, demoted, left to cry themselves to sleep over a 6 cent per share profit loss surrounding a game with an IP such as Star Wars. Keep in mind that at a small private company, profit is always good. At a major corporation, profit is the starting point. Small profits are actually very bad. They turn off investors, then you literally lose money.

Keep in mind too that the rep said 2018 will look ok listing two important events, World Cup Content ( that will kill) and MTs. But if sales were down, so will MTs and potentially MTs will be even more down with the controversy. I mean you have news outlets covering the MT debacle and senators talking about it. Millions of parents who used to have no idea/turn a blind eye, are now aware and talking about this. I wouldn't be surprised if this time next year EA is trying to spin their poor MT performance for 2018.

Though this won't kill EA, this is a much larger blow than the surface value of atleast $90 million in loss box sales assuming every lost sale was only the standard $60 box. Even now EA is continuing to lose more and more money on the game (from projections) as long as MT is down. Come on, we are gamers, we know the active player graphs and the huge bell curve on a scale of time after release. By the time MTs hit, the player base will already be a fraction of launch. I would not be suprised if this release falls short of projections by a quarter of a billion before all is said and done. And THAT, will seriously piss off execs and shareholders alike.

Don't let the box sales fool you.  Having to turn MT off is a bar bigger blow to the company.

SBFord

@Daranar These quotes were actually from a stock analyst at Bank of America Merrill Lynch and taken from this article at CNBC (though I don't disagree with your points about the impact being bigger than people say). However, even my brother, a stockbroker with Wells Fargo, says that EA's stock is in good shape despite everything. It's also got to hurt that earnings projections for the 2019 are already anticipated to be lower.

https://www.cnbc.com/2017/12/11/analyst-cuts-ea-price-target-after-star-wars-game-sales-plunge.html

Daranar

Oh it's in good shape.  Though I have withheld some investments in these MT gaming companies for a while because yeah, for sure, it's growth was stunted by this.  The graphs show it and every heavy MT gaming corp has a blip on the growth from this debacle.   One game will never kill a giant like EA, but it has undoubtedly pissed people off internally and has obviously made them rethink some things.  This MT thing was supposed to be this giant evil plan to make billions on billions forever, now it is threatened by a band of rebels.  No single game or boycott will kill a company like EA, but all of us who were boycotting/protesting with our wallets, we won.  This is a big blow that they can't ignore.   Killing a company was never a reasonable goal, but making a dent was, and this is a dent.   Mind you the dent isn't the loss of immediate sales.  The dent is destabilizing a systems that was supposed to be a sure-fire way to grow profits ten-fold; MTX.

Plus now that governments are looking into MTs..... I wont invest in any gaming company that has a large emphasis on MT right now because one ruling by America or EU could be costly.  

Daranar

zymurgeist said:

If it were their only product and they were relying on it's sales to survive there might be a point. As it is they have written off more than this on a single studio closure and they do that a lot. 

a write off on a studio closure and a product falling short of projections are two totally different things.  A healthy growing company writes off loses of a studio closure in order to consolidate expenses and actually earn more in the long term.  Loses associated with weak product sales don't help you earn money long term lol.  EA isn't closing studios like other companies where they are closing because they can't afford it and are shrinking.  EA closes them to consolidate expenses to maximize profits.  Those 'loses' or 'write-offs' are actually long term earnings.

heerobya

SBFord said:

Warlyx said:

12,5M copies sold? ppl still fall for EA crap

People love Star Wars.

And it's a fun, well made game.

Oh and they removed the thing people were complaining about prior to launch, and have steadily patched the game to increase rewards.

Oh and have still released the free DLC content, despite shutting down the ongoing revenue stream.

So... haters going to hate.

kaz350

I never understood, people complained for EA to make changes....they make changes then those same people go HAHAH STILL NOT BUYING YOUR GAME.

These high sales numbers I think proves alot of those people were never going to buy the game to start with.

Kootur

Warlyx said:

12,5M copies sold? ppl still fall for EA crap

I think it's a good game.

Bonejoker

I love star wars, but I do not know if it's worth buying the game because of so much controversy :C

heerobya

Bonejoker said:

I love star wars, but I do not know if it's worth buying the game because of so much controversy :C

If you love Star Wars - it is 100% worth buying. FOR SURE

Scot

You have to wonder how much is down to the controversy and quality of the game. The game got a poor score from reviewers at metacritic. it was not that good before EA tried to scam players.

Ikeda

Warlyx said:

12,5M copies sold? ppl still fall for EA crap

I bought it. Fun game. Enjoy couch co-op. Don't like it? Feel free to piss off. Frankly I'm digging it.

darkrain21

Warlyx said:

12,5M copies sold? ppl still fall for EA crap

That's the estimated. Think as of now they are hard pressed to sat it has sold more than 2M. It's not doing well, and hopefully this opens EA's eyes. But i doubt it when you are blinded by greed you don't see the obvious in front of you.

Celcius

The 12.5 million is projected sales, not actual sales. 

https://www.forbes.com/sites/insertcoin/2017/12/08/npd-shows-dismal-battlefront-2-sales-at-20-of-call-of-duty-wwii-sales/#65e7e22a2b38

That is a HUGE drop from BF1 too. 

https://www.forbes.com/sites/erikkain/2017/11/20/star-wars-battlefront-ii-uk-sales-down-50-compared-to-battlefield-1/#645a5c7421d9

Yes, I know that is only physical units. That does not matter however, as it is far more likely two things are the case:

1) More people bought physical units because the people who buy physical units are less privy to the loot box situation then people who buy digital

2) Even though it is just physical, it is still down 50% from what it was before. There is no way the different in digital sales went up that significantly in just one year. 

It is also funny to see people defend the game even disregarding micro transactions. The game has rubber banding, bland gameplay, and a really bad campaign that is disjointed as well as predictable...it also ends prematurely saying "THE STORY CONTINUES IN MULTIPLAYER" . Don't take it from me, read a review :P 

Sal1

SBFord said:

Warlyx said:

12,5M copies sold? ppl still fall for EA crap

People love Star Wars.

People will buy an empty box with the Star Wars logo and an official license seal on it. Which reminds me of the original Star Wars toy line made by Kenner. When Star Wars A New Hope was originally released in theaters the toy licensee (Kenner) was not prepared for the astounding success and demand of the toys. So there was the infamous empty box Christmas gift release which then was shipped to you in an unknown amount of months.

darkrain21

heerobya said:

Bonejoker said:

I love star wars, but I do not know if it's worth buying the game because of so much controversy :C

If you love Star Wars - it is 100% worth buying. FOR SURE

I love star wars and I 100% will not buy it. Buying it will tell EA they can get away with everything as long as it's star wars. That people are fine with being lied to, over charged and given a half ass experience as long as it's in the star wars universe. If you love star wars you wouldn't get it because you don't want to see the ip held for ransom then show them they can't keep getting away with this shit.

Jimmydean

Honestly, all this "outrage" towards EA is nothing but the next big thing to get upset over. The game is great - far better than Battlefront 1 was and an excellent game to hop in and have some fun. Out of all of the pay 2 win, paid DLC ridden, microtransaction games that have plagued the gaming world lately, why is Battlefront 2 so different? It's not, it's just the "hip" thing to hate lately. The new age World of Warcraft.