Titanfall 2 Sales Will Be "Substantially Disappointing," Analyst Says

Ahead of EA's earnings briefing next week, research firm Cowen & Company put out a report today with some projections about how two of the company's marquee titles, Titanfall 2 and Battlefield 1, may sell.

Titanfall 2 sales are going to be "substantially disappointing" and bad enough to offset how strong Battlefield 1 is expected to be, Cowen & Company said.

Based on its estimates, Titanfall 2 unit sales are expected to be in the 5 million to 6 million range, which is a decrease from Cowen & Company's previous 9 million forecast. Titanfall 2's quality is not the problem, the firm noted (indeed, the game is getting strong reviews), but the timing is tough.

"We think the game got squeezed between Battlefield 1 and [Call of Duty: Infinite Warfare]," it said. "We suspect EA believed that by launching two shooters next to Call of Duty it could put a large dent in its biggest competitor, but instead EA appears to have wound up shooting its own foot off."

EA CEO Andrew Wilson previously said that Titanfall 2 and Battlefield 1 cater to different types of shooter players, giving EA broad coverage of the genre.

"[Shooters are] a giant category in our industry, $4.5 billion, there's a very broad and diverse set of players who are looking to fulfill different gameplay motivations," he said in May. "Some people play very quick play, some people play more strategic, some people want both in different context."

By comparison, the original Titanfall reached around 11 million unique players, Respawn told PlayStation Lifestyle in September, though this is not a sales number.

Battlefield 1 and Titanfall 2 came out only one week apart, as the World War I shooter launched on October 21, while Titanfall 2 arrives today, October 28.

As for Battlefield 1, Cowen & Company is boosting its sales projections from 14 million to 16.5 million copies.

EA will report earnings for its latest financial period this coming Tuesday, November 1. The company may share more details on the performance of Battlefield 1 and Titanfall 2 at that time. We will have a full breakdown of EA's earnings report next week when it's announced.