EA Confident In Star Wars: Battlefront II Sales – And Casts Slight Doubt About Microtransactions

Star Wars: Battlefront II has seen its fair share of controversy leading up to its release last month, but now that it's been cleared away (for now), it could be time for the game to gain some traction through the holidays – especially with Star Wars fans.

Now that the first season of updates has arrived for the game, EA is getting into full swing with its free content, including stuff that will tie in with the forthcoming The Last Jedi film. And it's with that that the company feels that Battlefront II will be a big seller this holiday season.

While speaking at the 37th NASDAQ Investor Conference, Electronic Arts chief financial officer Blake Jorgensen noted that what happened with the game was a "great learning experience" for the publisher, and that people "love to play the game." As a result, it's seeing "great retention" with more players coming in, and it will "sell well into the holidays and throughout the end of the year and into next year."

He didn't provide exact sales expectations for the game, but with the removal of its controversial pay-to-play elements, players should definitely show more of an interest in it. Jorgensen expected sales numbers to show up "very differently" over other sports titles, but that won't stop the publisher from focusing on "trying to give consumers what they want."

What's interesting is how the microtransaction elements, which were taken out and promised to be returned, may not happen after all. Jorgensen noted that the game will get plenty of updates over the next few weeks, and even months, but there still wasn't a time frame for the Microtransactions to return.

He noted, "Over time, we'll address how we will want to bring the MTX either into the game or not, and what form we'll decide to bring it to."

This marks the first time that there's actually doubt over the microtransaction system for Battlefront II, after EA had sounded so sure about including them in the past. No doubt it's getting some pressure from Disney, which eventually led to their removal right before the game's launch.

Jorgensen has already noted that the $60 purchase of the game will provide "a lot of value for your money" and "increases excitement and the fun" for the product, and the team is devoted to giving consumers "what they really want and more of it." So, again, we'll have to see how those Microtransactions come into play, if at all. Who knows, EA might just push the idea aside in favor of getting more game sales. We'll see.

Star Wars: Battlefront II is available now for Xbox One, PlayStation 4 and Origin PC.