Research firm Cowen & Company reports thatTitanfall 2sales 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 makeTitanfall 2a high quality gaming experience. So far,critical reportssuggest 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 thatTitanfall 2is 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 thatTitanfall 2sales 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 fromBattlefield 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 releaseTitanfall 2betweenBattlefield 1andCall of Duty: Infinite Warfarecomes into question. Respawn’s mech-based shooter has been squeezed between the release ofthe two most anticipated games of holiday 2016, and it seems as thoughTitanfall 2may wind up as the rejected game out of the three by many FPS fans - which is perhaps not surprising given howCall of DutyandBattlefieldare the juggernauts of the genre.
The proximity ofTitanfall 2’s release date to its two biggest competitors had certainly beencalled into questionin 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 thatTitanfall 2could"fulfil different gameplay motivations"toBattlefield 1.
Only time will tell if these sales predictions prove accurate, but it would be a shame to seeTitanfall 2miss 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 witha tiny day one patch, while promisingfree DLC for all playerscertainly marked up Respawn in the good books of many gamers. Hopefully, the quality of the final product will be enough forTitanfall 2to pick up a strong following in spite of its rivals, and by living up to its award for thebest online multiplayer of E3 2016the 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 2is out now for PC, PS4, and Xbox One.
