EA has increased its sales expectations for Star Wars: Battlefront from 10 million to 13 million copies by March 2016. This change apparently came about as a result of the high participation in the game’s beta – reportedly more than 9.5 million players – which has made it the biggest beta in EA history.
The increased sales projections also seem to be a result of expectations that the game will draw in players outside the usual demographics. EA CEO Andrew Wilson apparently expects the game to appeal not only to dedicated gamers, but to newcomers and “lapsed” gamers as well:
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, and 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.
The increased sales expectations will probably make investors happy, but only time will tell how the numbers actually pan out.
