When Patrick Soderlund left EA, speculation about trouble on homefront started. It seems like some of the rumours could indeed have merit to them, as there are incoming reports of Battlefield V pre-orders failing to meet expectations.
People normally remember Titanfall 2 as one of EA's biggest flops, even though the game itself was a rather brilliant shooter. Titanfall 2 had the bad fortune of releasing right next to Call of Duty and Battlefield's yearly entries, so the game tanked, but maintains a cult following. Battlefield V seems to have a similar problem minus the cult, on top of the unnecessary controversy EA DICE sparked with silly customisation options.
Wall Street Journal is now reporting that Cowen, an analyst company, stated that Battlefield V pre-order sales have been poor, especially when compared to its direct competitor - Call of Duty: Black Ops 4 which is due for release just one day after Battlefield V, on 12 October 2018. On top of everything, Red Dead Redemption 2 is scheduled for release in a close time period to both of these games, on 26 October 2018.
Other companies have visibly tried to steer clear of October release dates for that reason alone, anticipating that Red Dead Redemption will hog sales at an abnormal rate. Cowen continues by stating that Battlefield V is now poised to end up like Titanfall 2 which was also stuck between two major releases in 2016, one of them being Battlefield 1, ironically enough. Poetic justice?
Soderlund leaving DICE just two months before the release of the studio's next major title was fishy enough, especially considering the man spent almost 20 years working there. and pre-order analysis may have shed some more light on his reasons.
EA DICE
Having Titanfall 2 flop in 2016 seems like a light breeze now, considering that EA took a nosedive with Star Wars: Battlefront 2 in late 2017 and early 2018, and now they seem to be primed to take another with Battlefield V. It is still worth mentioning that EA's stock price seems to be bulletproof, as every perceived "flop" so far had little to no effect on the company's long term value.
Gallery of screenshots and memes about Battlefield V
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