EA admits Battlefield 2042 flopped, but would have been less than 10% of annual revenue anyway
"Some of the design choices did not resonate with everyone in our community."
EA has commented on the failed launch of Battlefield 2042, the latest instalment in its flagship shooter franchise which arrived late and with numerous problems.
Speaking to investors last night, EA boss Andrew Wilson admitted that Battlefield 2042's launch "did not meet expectations".
"Developing this game with our teams working from home for nearly two years ultimately proved to be challenging," Wilson said by way of explanation. "Through our processes for testing and preparation, we believed the experience was ready to be put into our players' hands. We launched with strong stability, however, as more players experienced the full game, it became clear that we [had] unanticipated performance issues that we would need to address."
Wilson went on to say the game's design had also ultimately been at fault - putting off some of the franchise's core players.
"Some of the design choices we made with the game also did not resonate with everyone in our community," Wilson continued. "We are fully committed to realising the full potential of this game and fully committed to our Battlefield fans. We have already implemented a series of major updates to the game, and there is more to be done."
Yesterday, EA announced it had delayed the launch of Battlefield 2042's first season to sometime this summer.
Last week, it emerged developer DICE was fully engaged on fixing the Battlefield franchise. (There's reportedly no Star Wars: Battlefront 3 on the horizon.)
EA said it expected it would take a $100m hit to revenue as a result of Battlefield 2042's poor performance.
Despite all of that, EA still sent a relatively upbeat message to investors by saying that Battlefield 2042 only accounted for a fraction of its annual revenue - and that things were still looking rosy as both FIFA and Apex were doing the numbers.
"Although [this is a] $100m reduction on our position at the end of Q2, it is $225m above our original guidance for the year," chief financial officer Blake Jorgensen said. "The reduction is driven by Battlefield 2042 in both Q3 and Q4, but offset by strength in the rest of the business, particularly in FIFA and Apex Legends.
"As originally forecast, the Battlefield franchise would have accounted for significantly less than 10 percent of this year's net bookings and well below five percent of next year's. We're revising those numbers, but you can see it has little impact on FY 2023 growth.
"To summarise, we just delivered the largest quarter in the company's history. FIFA goes from strength-to-strength. Apex Legends continues to show extraordinary growth. Battlefield disappointed, but our broad portfolio of games and live services insulates us from the impact of any one title."