Though the end of the year typically marks the busiest time for game releases, it also means fans have a number of big sales to look forward from Black Friday to Steam’s annual Winter sale. While it’s rare to see major AAA titles included in most sales so soon after launch, things could be a little different this year. Star Wars Battlefront 2 isn’t even out on store shelves yet, but it appears that EA is already planning on slashing the retail price.
During its second-quarter earnings call with investors, EA CFO Blake Jorgensen responded to a question asking if the company has plans to take advantage of the big sale seasons like Black Friday considering how close Star Wars Battlefront 2’s release date is. Ultimately, Jorgensen confirmed that EA doesn’t have plans to discount the game, saying that if the title is on sale, it’ll be the retailer taking the hit. Instead, the company is looking at lowering the price a few weeks later to coincide with the release of Star Wars: The Last Jedi.
If EA follows suit and lowers the price, this news could be fairly damaging to the title’s first month sales. Knowing that a potential sales price is only a few weeks away could influence potential buyers to ultimately hold off on purchasing the title, especially in an overly crowded holiday game market. While its predecessor saw a similar discount with the release of The Force Awakens, EA didn’t broadcast that it was thinking about a sale prior to the game’s release.
While the news may not be too thrilling for fans who have already pre-ordered the title at full price, EA seems willing to listen to potential customers. While the beta was well-received and showed a lot of promise, loot boxes and their effect on game balance continued to dominate the conversation.
We will most likely discount the game like we did last time around the movie launch, and maybe you’ll even see some selected discounts around the holidays, either Thanksgiving or Christmas. That’s the way the games business always has worked.
DICE has since taken action and made a number of major changes to the loot box system to try and level the playing field. Gone is the ability to craft higher tier star cards from materials gained through loot boxes, and Epic Star Cards will no longer appear in loot boxes. Players will simply need to play the game to earn these items now.
Star Wars Battlefront 2 is set to launch on November 17, 2017 for PC, PlayStation 4, and Xbox One.
