Titanfall delay about boosting FY 15 earnings, analyst claims

EA’s decision to delay the Xbox 360 version of Titanfall has got nothing to do with development polish, according to one US analyst.

The SKU was yesterday delayed by two weeks, with EA saying that the move "[gives developer Bluepoint] the time they need to put the finishing touches on the current-gen version of the game”.

Michael Pachter, however, believes that the decision is purely financial. He has told investors that the game’s high pre-orders mean that the delay won’t negatively impact sales, and by releasing later EA’s 2015 financial year will get off to a strong start.

We have modelled 3.5m units of sell-in for the game in its release quarter, with the bulk of sales likely occurring on the Xbox 360 platform,” he stated.

We suspect that pre-order demand for the game is above this figure, and believe that EA expects to sell more than 7m units overall in the game’s first three months following launch.

We believe that by delaying the launch of the Xbox 360 version until several days before quarter end, EA can manage its sell-in of units to around 3.5m and still largely satisfy demand. This will allow EA to sell sufficient units to hit its Q4 revenue and earnings guidance, and ensure that its FY:15 starts on solid footing.”

Titanfall will be released on Xbox One and PC on March 14th and then on Xbox 360 on March 28th.