EA expects Mass Effect: Andromeda to sell 3m copies on Week One

EA revealed its Q3 financial results last night, and shared its expectations for Mass Effect: Andromeda. The publisher believes the title will sell ‘around 3 million units’ in its early days, according to chief financial officer Blake Jorgensen.

During the earnings call, Jorgensen was asked about Mass Effect: Andromeda’s revenue and whether they will be accounted as part of Q4 (given the fact it releases just days before the end of the fourth quarter which runs until March 31st) or pushed to fiscal 2018. Here’s the full question astranscribed bySeeking Alpha:

"I just want to ask about the fourth quarter. Some of the titles and content you have scheduled to release, and as it relates to that digital revenue, you mentioned that Battlefield expansion pack late in the quarter. Mass Effect is March 21, I believe, in North America and March 23 in Europe. Given those dates and the revenue recognition – I think you recognize digital revenue 10 to 14 days in arrears – is it possible that that gets pushed to fiscal 2018?"

Jorgensen answered:

Our digital cut-off is typically about 5 to 7 days depending on the calendar more than the actual days, so we will get some digital from the first few days of sales for Mass Effect. We will get very little revenue just because the way we book the revenue for the DLCs on Battlefield 1. So, you can assume that’s close to zero, and assume Mass Effect is going to be anywhere between 30% to 50% of the lifetime of that title. And the last Mass Effect did close to 6 million units, so you’ll probably see something like around 3 million units in the quarter depending on exact timing.”

Mass Effect: Andromeda launches on March 21st in the US and March 23rd in Europe. Mass Effect 3 sold 900k copies in its first 24 hours back in 2012, while 2010’s Mass Effect 2 shifted 2m units worldwide in just a few days. Mass Effect: Andromeda is highly awaited, so 3m copies in a week seems to be a fair expectation.

It was recently announced that the new entry in BioWare’s franchise won’t have a season pass and that multiplayer will be optional. Players also shouldn’t expect the title to come to Switch and Scorpio.