As Jedi: Fallen Order Nears 10 Million Sales, EA Warms To More Single-Player Star Wars Games
by Alex Walker
There's absolutely no doubt about it now: Jedi: Fallen Order has been a huge success for EA. And not only has Jedi Fallen Order now done as well as some of EA's live service titles, the company has told investors that they'll continue looking at more single-player experiences in the Star Wars universe to service the various "motivations" for fans.
EA confirmed during its earnings call on Friday morning that Fallen Order has surpassed its original expectations of 6 million to 8 million copies sold, which means the game already has sold more than 8 million copies. That's a huge win not just for fans - who have been screaming at EA to make more single-player Star Wars games for aeons - but also an immense vindication for developers Respawn.
EA's expecting Fallen Order to sell 10 million copies by the end of March this year, which is a massive plus. But the most important part of the game's success was the effect it's had on how the company views Star Wars and what the fanbase wants. EA likes their live service games, but Fallen Order showed the company that not everyone wants their games to be a social experience.
"As we think about making games, we think about the motivations of why people want to play: inspiration, escape, social connection, creation, self-improvement, all these types of things," EA CEO Andrew Wilson said, adding:
As we start to look at the broader player base and each of the cohorts within that, we're looking to build experiences that satisfy their needs and motivations. And what we've come to understand, particularly with Star Wars, it's a really, really big fanbase. And while social interaction, competition and multiplayer is really important for a large portion of that fanbase, what we have seen through the last quarter is also that inspiration and escape model, that the living the Jedi journey, living the Jedi story.
As we think about this on a go-forward basis, you should imagine that we'll continue with the breadth and depth across the IP in order to meet the needs and motivations of that broad playerbase.
Jedi: Fallen Order is due to be added to the basic tier of Origin Access "months from now," according to EA's chief financial officer Blake Jorgensen. In a follow-up question about whether Fallen Order would get more DLC or some kind of live service add-on, EA CEO Andrew Wilson said Fallen Order would be one of the publisher's strongest "catalogue sellers" over the year and would help drive more subscribers to EA's subscription offerings on PC and consoles.
The earnings call is currently still live, but a full transcript of the conference will be posted on EA's investor page later today.