Titanfall 2 Sales Will Be 'Substantially Disappointing'
By Rob Gordon 25 October 2016
Research firm Cowen & Company reports that Titanfall 2 sales could be ‘substantially disappointing’ for Electronic Arts, dropping its estimates on units sold.
According to early feedback, it looks like Respawn Entertainment has managed to make Titanfall 2 a high quality gaming experience. So far, critical reports suggest that the title is a fantastic follow-up to the first game, building upon the success of its predecessor with ease. However, according to one research firm, this may not transfer over to solid sales.
The prediction comes courtesy of Cowen & Company analyst Doug Creutz, with the firm dropping its rating on publisher Electronic Arts. The reason behind this change is the belief that Titanfall 2 is going to miss its previous sales predictions. In fact, the Cowen report suggests that the shooter’s sales are going to be “substantially disappointing.”
“We are downgrading EA shares … because we believe that Titanfall 2 sales are going to be substantially disappointing,” wrote Creutz in a note to clients, continuing to suggest that the predicted drop in sales would be “enough to offset upside from Battlefield 1.” That’s certainly a concern for both Respawn and EA, with many hoping that the game would be able to solidly compete with other big hitters on the market.
The reason for this drop in estimated sales means that once again the the decision to release Titanfall 2 between Battlefield 1 and Call of Duty: Infinite Warfare comes into question. Respawn’s mech-based shooter has been squeezed between the release of the two most anticipated games of holiday 2016, and it seems as though Titanfall 2 may wind up as the rejected game out of the three by many FPS fans – which is perhaps not surprising given how Call of Duty and Battlefield are the juggernauts of the genre.
The proximity of Titanfall 2‘s release date to its two biggest competitors had certainly been called into question in advance of the release window, raising eyebrows of many in the industry. Fans have also been left wondering why EA decided to risk the game being pushed out by the two high-profile series, but the publisher had previously seemed unconcerned. Indeed, CFO Blake Jorgensen even suggested that Titanfall 2 could “fulfil different gameplay motivations” to Battlefield 1.
Only time will tell if these sales predictions prove accurate, but it would be a shame to see Titanfall 2 miss out on a potential long-term place in the market. Respawn seems to have run a great development cycle this time round, delivering the game with a tiny day one patch, while promising free DLC for all players certainly marked up Respawn in the good books of many gamers. Hopefully, the quality of the final product will be enough for Titanfall 2 to pick up a strong following in spite of its rivals, and by living up to its award for the best online multiplayer of E3 2016 the title could potentially still find life away from its initial launch period. However, for now it seems like it’s going to be a tough fight for the game.
Titanfall 2 is out now for PC, PS4, and Xbox One.
Source: CNBC
