EA will be happy with November’s Star Wars: Battlefront release, as analysts like Wedbush Securities’ Michael Pachter have revealed that the game has sold in excess of 13 million copies. In October, EA expected the game to hit the 13 million mark by March 31, but analysts claim it has far surpassed that in a shorter period of time.
The sales will primarily be attributed to the holiday rush, as the NPD Group reported Battlefront was only behind Call of Duty: Black Ops 3 in retail units sold in the U.S for the month of December. Developer DICE has already released their Battle of Jakku DLC, connecting to The Force Awakens last month, and it seems they are set to release their second piece of free post-launch content coming this month.
After EA explained that free DLC would come alongside the paid content in the games season pass, their branch in Brazil - from a video translated by Wccftech and Reddit user Exsound - has confirmed that one of the free maps will be set on Tatooine and new outfits will be available for Leia and Luke. Private matches, one of the most requested community features, will also makes their way to the game along with daily challenges and special community events. In a forum post, a community manager that goes by SledgeHammer70 also mentioned that the rewards earned from EA’s mobile game Star Wars: Galaxy of Heroes will be given out this month as well.
EA has stated the first of the four major expansions included in Battlefront’s season pass will release in ‘early 2016’, although no information has been shared on what maps will be included or when the expansions will release. Players who purchase the season pass instead of the individual map packs will get two weeks early access as well as a ‘Shoot First’ emote.
Along with the 16 maps included in the season pass, the 12 present at launch, and whatever is released in the January update alongside the previous Jakku DLC, the game will have nearly 30 maps which may finally put to rest criticisms over lack of content - though EA will have to release the expansions in a timely manner to quell criticism. Fans will take heart from the fact that DICE is still releasing maps for 2013’s Battlefield 4 as recently as October of last year. This may be a blueprint they leave behind, as the sequel to EA’s Battlefront was confirmed to exist in November as well as the return of Battlefield this holiday. The studio is pretty jam-packed with projects.
Star Wars: Battlefront launched on November 17 for PlayStation 4, Xbox One, and PC.
Source: VG247
