Report: EA Targeting 100 Million Players for New Battlefield Game, as Project Has Largest Budget in Franchise History
When it comes to mega gaming franchises, there’s none bigger than perhaps Call of Duty and Fortnite. Could Battlefield stand toe-to-toe with these behemoths? Publisher Electronic Arts (EA) seems to think so.
A new report that talks about the development of the new Battlefield game mentions how expensive the project has become and EA’s lofty goals for it.
All the info from the report comes from developers purported to be connected to the game, though under the condition of anonymity (understandably why).
New Battlefield Game in Development Is the Most Expensive Series Entry of All-Time
The report from Ars Technica states that the new Battlefield game, currently working under the codename “Glacier,” has a broader scope than its predecessors and boasts the largest budget of any Battlefield game to date.
It mentions that the project had a budget of more than $400 million as of early 2023, and it has already exceeded the original budget. However, major setbacks have said to have disrupted production, with “hundreds of additional developers” brought in from various EA-owned studios to help get the same back on track, which significantly increased the project’s overall cost.
“Multiple team members” with knowledge about the project’s finances have shared that current projections are now well north of the $400 million amount.
With that significant amount of money sunk in, EA has lofty goals to go along with it.
The report claims that EA’s “executive leadership” believes Battlefield has the potential to stand alongside heavy hitters such as Call of Duty and Fortnite if the “right calls were made and enough was invested.” The target? A lofty 100 million players over a set period of time that included post-launch.
The unnamed EA employee said, “Obviously, Battlefield has never achieved those numbers before,” admitting the number is a little too high to be a realistic target. “It’s important to understand that over about that same period, 2042 has only gotten 22 million,” shared another dev, who also added that even 2016’s Battlefield 1—the most successful game in the franchise by numbers—had achieved “maybe 30 million plus.”
While it might seem like EA is dreaming for even wanting to hit that mark, the publisher is said to believe that a free-to-play model such as what Fortnite and Call of Duty battle royale modes offer, that number is attainable.
DICE Skeptical 100M Is Achievable
It’s said that “very few people” working in the studios behind the new Battlefield believe this 100-million -player target was achievable. Many veteran developers of Battlefield who worked at DICE in Stockholm, Sweden, were said to be skeptical of it.
One developer shared, “Among the things that we are predicting is that we won’t have to cannibalize anyone else’s sales…That there’s just such an appetite out there for shooters of this kind that we will just naturally be able to get the audience that we need.”
When it comes to the lofty player count and revenue targets, one source mentioned that “nothing in the market research or our quality deliverables indicates that we would be anywhere near that.”
As of press time, EA has not commented on the report, nor do we think they ever will. While what we’ve seen of the new Battlefield game is looking great so far, targeting a super-high number is never a good thing, since anything below it is considered a failure. The last thing the Battlefield franchise needs right now is to shoot for the stars, since franchise fans just want a core Battlefield experience without any gimmicks.
And when you factor in how the battle royale craze has flattened out, even if EA offers the new Battlefield game’s battle royale mode as a F2p game to shooter fans, it’s still not a guarantee that it will work. Aside from Fortnite and Warzone, multiplayer gamers also have mainstays such as Marvel Rivals, Overwatch 2 and more to keep them occupied.
Let’s hope that when EA finally reveals the new Battlefield game this summer, they knock it out of the park. Perhaps then, we can start talking about lofty player counts.
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