Triple-A game sales will recover when next-gen launches, says EA

Publisher EA has dismissed concerns over falling sales of this year’s biggest games.

Battlefield 4, Assassin’s Creed IV, Call of Duty: Ghosts and, to a lesser extent, FIFA 14, have all suffered steep declines in sales over their predecessors.

But EA Studios EVP Patrick Soderlund says the difficult few weeks is due to consumers saving up and waiting for the launch of PS4 and Xbox One.

It is always going to be difficult to sell games on an older platform when something new is coming,” he told MCV. More now than previously, it feels like people are really waiting for something new. I think with the games we have and our competitor games, you will see a big attach rate on the next-gen.

There’s a lot of people waiting for the new, just like when a new iPhone comes out, and they hold off buying an iPhone 4S before the iPhone 5 comes out.

I think it is that simple. There are people waiting, they will get a machine, and look at the games and say: ‘If I want a shooter and I want the best one. If I want a racing game and I want the best one. If I want a soccer game and I want FIFA.’

Soderlund adds that the hype behind Titanfall also points to gamers craving new types of games.

The reaction to that is telling us that gamers don’t want to play the same game every year, we have to give them new experiences. And even the games we build on an iterative basis, we have to keep on innovating and push for new things so that people have a reason to play them.”