EA Predicts Battlefront will sell over 13 Million Copies

The Star Wars Battlefront Beta, by all accounts, went fantastically. So fantastically, even that EA released an infograph bragging about how well it went and the many feats accomplished during that period--during the (free) Beta period, over nine million players battled on the frosty surface of Hoth, and the GIFs were impossible to avoid on the gaming Reddit. People were enamored--so enamored, in fact, that EA has slightly bumped up their expected sales numbers.

A few months back, they had expected to sell about 9-10 million copies of Star Wars: Battlefront. A pretty big number, certainly, but considering the brand and the long-requested return of the Battlefront series, not unfair. However, following the beta, that number has rocketed to 13 million copies by the end of March 2016--four million more than the total number of beta testers.

EA might have a lot of vices. Clearly restraint is not one of them. In a parallel interview, CEO Andrew Wilson said:
 

"What we have seen is that Star Wars is bringing in two groups that are very important groups to us. One are gamers that have lapsed, traditionally who have been big gamers in the past and maybe haven't played for a while. It's certainly been a catalyst for those people to come back into the gaming universe as it relates to console. And two, onboarding a new younger age demographic.”

He added, in addition to the above, that pre-orders were a large reason for their bolstered confidence-and while he offered no solid number, it seems the game has gotten its fair share of early purchases. Which, given that people have already gotten a taste of the game, is probably quite fair. Regardless, EA’s confidence is interesting, but this also means that the game will be considered a failure if it doesn't hit those marks, which could cause us problems if they consider making a Battlefront 2.

For now, though, just take it for what it is.