Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment and Monolith Productions have had some issues with Middle-Earth: Shadow of War, whether it’s selling people on the Loot Boxes or micro-transactions for the online mode. However, speaking to MCV UK, SVP of international Olivier Wolff said that the pre-orders were currently higher than Batman: Arkham Knight, which sold 5 million units in its four months. That’s keeping in mind the launch troubles it had for PC.
Wolff noted that, “[Our sales expectations] are massive. Top Five or Top Ten massive. We’ve never had such an investment in one game and in a marketing campaign, and we believe that we have the right product in order to seduce a mass audience.” He then revealed that, “Pre-orders are pretty strong. They are above what we had for Batman: Arkham Knight and we are very happy with what we have.”
As for whether Warner Bros. had any concerns, what with the competition that would be present in Q4 2017, Wolf said, “Not at all.” Which might seem a little crazy but considering how strong the pre-order numbers are, there is some kind of reasoning behind it. Even with all the controversies, enthusiasm for the title is fairly high.
Middle-Earth: Shadow of War was originally slated to launch in August but was delayed to October 10th. It will release on Xbox One, PS4 and PC with support for Xbox One X and PS4 Pro.