EA are bold as brass these days. With their stellar hits in Battlefield 1 and Titanfall 2 continuing to impress as well as their annual FIFA game doing well around the world, I suppose they have good reason to be feeling bold. With Mass Effect: Andromeda just around the corner, EA obviously feel that they are on top of the gaming world, and I for one can’t help but agree to a point. I’ve been playing a ton of FIFA 17 and Battlefield 1 lately; and Mass Effect: Andromeda is without a doubt my most anticipated game of 2017.
Truth be told I’ve been looking forward to Mass Effect: Andromeda ever since BioWare first announced they were working on the next Mass Effect game back when everyone was…shall we say miffed about those Mass Effect 3 endings.
In any case, Daniel Ahmed, an “Analyst at Niko Partners. Covering the digital games market in China & Southeast Asia.” who goes by the Twitter name @ZhugeEX was on a conference call with EA yesterday who made the following bold claim…
EA:
Last Mass Effect sold 6 million units.
Expect Mass Effect Andromeda to sell in 3 million in first week.
— Daniel Ahmad (@ZhugeEX) January 31, 2017
Now I’m as big a Mass Effect fan as you can get and firstly, I was a little surprised that Mass Effect 3 only sold 6 million units, it was for me as solid a title as the previous 2 games, but maybe was a little light in depth – however the setting was vastly different to the first 2 in that the Reapers weren’t just a myth or a low-enough risk as to not give them any credence, they were invading in full force. Still I’m not here to talk about Mass Effect 1-3, although I probably could all day.
EA have such high hopes for Mass Effect: Andromeda that they are predicting that it will sell 3 million copies in its first week. Proving I’m not just a pretty face, that’s 50% of the total life-time sales of Mass Effect 3, this isn’t just a bold claim – it’s absolutely staggering. I know however that a lot of us in RGM Towers are super hyped for Mass Effect: Andromeda, (with one heathen being told to play through the trilogy before he goes anywhere near Andromeda) and these kinds of numbers would be massive for BioWare and I would just hope that they have the goods to back up what looks from the various trailers and interviews like a potential GOTY. I would imagine that EA are basing their numbers on the amount of pre-orders they’ve already processed as well as how well the Mass Effect trilogy has sold after each games (specifically Mass Effect 3′s) initial release – they wouldn’t make such a claim without some serious though having gone into it.
Mass Effect: Andromeda is released on PC, PlayStation 4 and Xbox One in North America on March 21 and in Europe 2 days later on March 23.
So with my purchase (and my leave at work already scheduled for March 23 – 28 to dedicate the time to it) in the bag, there’s another 2,999,999 to go for EA to hit their projected first week sales target.
Have you already pre-ordered Mass Effect: Andromeda? Do you think 3 million is a realistic target? Or do you think they are playing it up or down? Let us know in the comments below, the RGM Forums or on Twitter.