Battlefield 2042 May be a Flop, Failing to Meet EA's Expectations
EA has admitted that Battlefield 2042 did not meet the company's expectations. Most likely, this refers not only to the game's technical condition, but also to the sales results.
- Battlefield 2042 didn't live up to EA's expectations;
- The company did not want to disclose the game's sales results;
- It did, however, reduce projected profits for 2022.
It turns out that Battlefield 2042 disappointed not only players, but also Electronic Arts. The company confirmed this during a recent conference with investors (via IGN). The president of EA, Andrew Wilson, spoke on the matter. He also stated that the game's release was plagued by a number of problems, and that the game's condition was affected by the remote work mode associated with the pandemic, among other things.
"Developing this game with our teams working from home for nearly two years ultimately proved to be challenging. Through our process of testing and preparation we believed the experience was ready to be put in our players' hands. We launched with strong stability; however, as more players experienced the full game, it became clear there were unanticipated performance issues that we would need to address. Some of the design choices we made with the game also did not resonate with everyone in our community."
However, these problems would not have been particularly severe for EA if Battlefield 2042 had achieved good sales results. Most likely, however, this was not the case. Unfortunately the company did not want to provide any numbers. When asked about it, Wilson replied that the series is responsible for less than 10% of the company's portfolio, so he doesn't know why anyone would need this kind of information.
Other statements by EA's CEO may be telling in this context, however. At one point, he said that current projections for 2022 profits reach $7.525 billion. Journalist from TweakTown noted that earlier estimates were $100 million higher. It is possible that the correction is due to weaker results of Battlefield 2042.
During the conference one could get the impression that the company avoids the topic of the aforementioned game as much as possible. On one of the slides of the presentation on the further expansion of the portfolio of live-service games theinvestors could see such titles as FIFA 22, The Sims 4, Star Wars: The Old Republic, and even Battlefield 5. The latest installment of the BF series was not included.
