In case you hadn’t heard, Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order has proven itself to be quite the hot property.
As part of a conference call with investors last week, EA CFO and CEOs Blake Jorgensen and Andrew Wilson revealed that Respawn Entertainment’s strictly single-player adventure set in a Galaxy Far, Far Away has wildly exceeded expectations. Released only last November, Padawan Cal Kestis’ personal struggle against the Galactic Empire has enticed more than 8 million would-be Jedi Masters to experience Respawn’s addition to the eternally popular sci-fi franchise, with total sales expected to reach an eye-watering 10 million by April this year.
A massive achievement for any game, but for EA, in particular, Fallen Order‘s performance serves as proof that a market for dedicated single-player titles still very much exists. The publisher has notably attracted criticism in the past for suggesting the contrary, as well as for its reliance on live service operational models accompanied by controversial (egregious, some would say) microtransactions. Given their success in the likes of FIFA and Apex Legends, it’d be naive to think that will change anytime soon, but Star Wars? That’s a special case.
Not only does IP owner Disney ultimately get the final say on such matters, but Fallen Order‘s success will serve as concrete proof that players want more of the same, including the continued banishment of microtransactions. The PR nightmare that followed Star Wars Battlefront II‘s release did, after all, force EA to completely disable the predominantly multiplayer title’s loot boxes until developer DICE had time to completely overhaul progression systems, with sentiment among the community only now, two years later, having finally recovered.
Nothing is set in stone, of course, but EA will undoubtedly be keenly aware of the ingredients that led to Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order‘s success. A fantastic game in its own right, it may be, but it’s certainly not without reason that the publisher went out of its way to trumpet the absence of in-game spending. For a potential Fallen Order 2 – and that’s looking incredibly likely, given recent job listings over on Respawn’s recruitment site – to imitate its predecessor’s success, EA would be smart to continue as it began.
