Sandwiched between the launch of Battlefield 1 and Call of Duty: Infinite Warfare, Titanfall 2 struggled to meet sales expectations right out of the gate, with analysts slashing forecasts by upwards of 30 percent prior to release. As a matter of fact, one firm claimed that long-term sales would be “substantially disappointing,” and that’s despite Respawn’s shooter sequel launching as a multi-platform title.
Electronic Arts is yet to disclose official sales figures just yet, and though that’s unlikely to change anytime soon, Electronic Arts CFO Blake Jorgensen touched on the matter while speaking at the UBS conference in San Francisco, as relayed by GameSpot.
During the speech, Jorgensen revealed that both EA and Respawn are adopting a long-term strategy with Titanfall 2 moving forward, and that “it’s not about the first day of sales or the first week of sales.”
“We remind people we’re building a franchise with Titanfall, so it’s not about the first day of sales or the first week of sales, it’s about the long run,” he said. “We’ll do a lot of things with Titanfall to continue to build engagement. We’re going to give away a substantial amount of free extra digital content going into next year. And really build the franchise around people and engaging with the title. Because everyone who has played it just loves it.”
Though it only represents a portion of the global market, two weeks ago retail analyst Chart-Track confirmed that launch sales of Titanfall 2 failed to match up to those of its predecessor in the UK all-formats chart. What’s more, Respawn’s sequel is already available for $30 at select retailers, so take from that what you will.
It’s disappointing, then, particularly when you factor in how well Titanfall 2 fared in reviews. In a recent opinion piece, our own Alex Gibson offered up his two cents on the sequel’s lowly sales performance, and if you’re a fan of the game, we suggest giving it a read.