EA has placed a lot of confidence in BioWare’s recently released looter shooter Anthem, which they’re expecting will have sold 5-6 million units by the end of March. And it seems it might have started off strongly- in spite of mixed reviews, the game topped this week’s UK sales charts. However, as far as raw numbers are concerned, the performance of the game might be a bit worrying for EA.
Writing on ResetEra, industry analyst Daniel Ahmad of Niko Partners reported that in its launch week, Anthem sold only around 10 per cent as much as Destiny did when it first launched in the UK in 2014. That would amount to roughly 40,000 units sold for Anthem during its debut week, and put it below launch week performances of Destiny 2 and Mass Effect Andromeda as well.
There are a few things that are worth noting here, though. For starters, UK charts only account for physical sales data, which means the aforementioned figures for Anthem (or any of the other games) do not include digital sales. EA themselves recently stated that nearly half their software sales come through digital purchases now. Additionally, any people who might have gotten access to the game through their Origin Access subscriptions on PC are also not included in these numbers. Accounting for all of that, sales for Anthem are bound to be stronger than we think- but there’s no way to conclusively say either way for now.
Anthem is currently out for PS4, Xbox One, and PC. BioWare recently laid out a detailed roadmap for the content they plan to add to the game over the coming few months- check it out through here. Meanwhile, make sure you read our review for the game as well.