Let's be realistic about the future of BF franchise

Reading the EA Earnings Report, a couple of comments stand out...

"We are taking our net bookings guidance for the year to $7.525 billion. Although a $100 million reduction on our position at the end of Q2, it is $225 million above our original guidance for the year. 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. We’re committed to turning Battlefield around and building a sustainable live service, even if some of the actions we’re taking, like moving the first Season into FY23, impact net bookings in the short term."

Translation: Battlefield 2042 didn't meet expectations, but FIFA/Apex more than made up the shortfall. There might be short-term costs to fix Battlefield.

"We’ll formally guide FY23 in May, when we report Q4, but we’ve heard that some of you are concerned that the Battlefield performance might impact next year’s growth. Let me emphasize here again that we are a portfolio company. As originally forecast, the Battlefield franchise would have accounted for significantly less than 10% of this year’s net bookings and well below 5% of next year’s. We’re revising those numbers, but you can see it has little impact on FY23 growth." (my emphasis)

Translation: Battlefield 2042 is not one of our 'tentpole' franchises, and we don't see a significant future for it going forward (unless they are forecasting more than doubling their sales of all games next year!).

The backlash against changes to the BF experience may be seen by EA that the franchise cannot be significantly expanded, in terms of new and growing player base. As EA have implied, niche games are not integral to the growth of their business. Investment/development will flow to those properties that give the best return i.e. not Battlefield (my opinion).

A lot of commentary I have read assumes the BF is an important franchise for EA. Therefore, they have a vested interest in fixing it i.e. investing more money on its survival. Think again...

discussion

Lancelot_du_Lac
4 years ago
@DrunkwoIf They may try to fix some of the most egregious failings, but I don't see any medium-long term investment in the franchise. And I don't see any further 'traditional' BF games being launched in the future.

78 Replies

DrunkwoIf
4 years ago
all we can hope is 2042 is finally rock bottom, and now its time to climb back up and make BF great again.
Lancelot_du_Lac
Seasoned Ace
4 years ago
@DrunkwoIf They may try to fix some of the most egregious failings, but I don't see any medium-long term investment in the franchise. And I don't see any further 'traditional' BF games being launched in the future.
Flavin913
4 years ago
@DrunkwoIf lol BF was already pretty low especially with launch features, gonna be pretty hard for them to climb.
it's pretty clear this game just doesn't fit into the EAs wheel house
HavingABlast99
4 years ago
Oh wow, you've just discovered battlefield is not a AAA title and has a niche audience relatively speaking.
Where have you been for the last 20 years?
And here's another zinger for all you haters.
You actually want the game to head back into an even more niche market of the seen it all before modern warfare, with boring faceless soldiers that's been done to death by a gazillion other developers!!!
Brilliant strategy you got there guys 😄
Trashfield_2042
4 years ago
@Lancelot_du_Lac There is no future, bf is just like 10% of EA's annual revenue and they don't care about it all, I'd even say that those 10% were not enough so the devs were told to chase the trends and develop what seems to be popular at the moment instead of the golden formula the franchise once had
CountSero
Seasoned Ace
4 years ago
@HavingABlast99 This is what many of the so-called veterans just did not want to see and thus do not see what harm they have done with their hatred and toxicity.

Now DICE tries the balancing act between the players who like BF2042 and the vocal players who would like to revive the past.

I hope DICE don't get lost on this way.

I will enjoy the ride as long as it lasts but with the latest news it could be a rough and\or maybe the last ride of the Franchise.

btw. Kudos for this post

See you on the Battlefield
BR-DuaneDibbley
Seasoned Ace
4 years ago
For those interested, here is the/a transcript of the earnings call: https://news.alphastreet.com/electronic-arts-inc-ea-q3-2022-earnings-call-transcript/
The most important part for us:
"...but we’ve heard that some of you are concerned that the Battlefield performance by impact next year’s growth.
Let me emphasize here again that we are a portfolio company as originally forecast Battlefield franchise we have accounted for significantly less than 10% of this year’s net bookings and well below 5% of next year. We are revising those numbers, but you can see it has a little impact on FY23 growth."
So yes, they have no financial interest to invest in this game. The only thing they MIGHT do it for is to not completely destroy the name/franchise and to avoid negative PR. But how likely this is can easily be seen by looking at MANY past titles they killed off.
BFB-Praetorian
Seasoned Veteran
4 years ago
@CountSero I'm not convinced that it's the negativity in terms of posts here/social media that's harmed 2042.
When your invested in a game to the extent that you join a community like this it's easy to think that this is how the rest of the playerbase interacts and views 2042. They don't.
2042 had apparently the 2nd best launch in the history of the franchise. If the game is failing then it's because a majority of people have judged the game to be not worth playing. That's pretty much it.
BF1 also met with quite a large amount of criticism from the community on release, but it went on to become a huge financial success because the masses as a whole considered it to be a good game.
2042 just isn't a good game, not because you, I or anyone else on the forum says it is or isn't. But because that's how the playerbase as a whole has judged it.
BFB-Praetorian
Seasoned Veteran
4 years ago
@HavingABlast99 Pretty sure Battlefield is a AAA title. 2042 just doesn't play like one.
BFB-Praetorian
Seasoned Veteran
4 years ago
@Lancelot_du_Lac Battlefield may not compete with the juggernaughts of the gaming industry like CoD or the sports franchises, but up until BFV it has shown steady growth.
Games like Fifa are solid, but BR games are a more recent fad that could just as easily phase out again.
Considering how lucrative BF1 proved to be it would be a little short sighted of EA to shelve the franchise, although with 2042 coming on the back of BFV it's definitely worrying.