Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order has been a success story for EA, beating expectations in both the sales and critical reception departments. On Thursday, EA's Chief Financial Officer Blake Jorgensen said in an investor meeting that initial expectations for Fallen Order was for the sale of six to eight million copies by March 31. But now, EA is increasing its sales expectation to 10 million units as the game has already sold 8 million copies by the end of December 2019.
EA's Andrew Wilson said that Fallen Order was the game fans have been wanting for. He also commended Respawn for developing such a game. “Respawn delivered an expertly crafted, high quality experience with outstanding gameplay that thrilled players, made many game of the year lists, and sold beyond our projections for the quarter," he said in the investor meeting.
Fallen Order is not the only game Respawn has developed that was financially beneficial for EA. Respawn also developed Apex Legends, which became a surprise hit and has since earned EA millions just through microtransaction alone. Currently, Apex Legends is in Season 3, but soon will be heading to a new season known as Assimilation on February 4. Assimilation will bring a new legend, weapon, and much more.
Star Wars Battlefront 2 Celebration Edition also sold significantly above EA’s expectation. Publishers also praised the FIFA and Madden franchises for their strong performance. Jorgensen claimed that there are currently 12 games in the pipeline that are planned to release in the next fiscal year. Four of these games are from EA's sports franchises, four are from smaller developers and the remaining four “draw from the breadth of our IP.”
Previously, EA has claimed that “singleplayer games are no longer popular”, but now it seems like EA has since moved from its previous beliefs. Fallen Order could pave the way for other story oriented singleplayer games rather than your usual “live service games”.
