In the midst of Electronic Arts proclaiming that Bioware’s Anthem hasn’t been “delayed”, the company’s CFO Blake Jorgensen noted to The Wall Street Journal (via Sarah E. Needleman) that a new Battlefield game would be releasing in October 2018. The decision to shift Anthem’s release date was to have it release in a “quieter quarter”.
Aside from the whole logic of saying a delay is not a delay, this isn’t a bad approach for Electronic Arts. Given how packed the Fall season usually is, especially with the next Call of Duty and Destiny 2’s rumoured September expansion releasing then, having a new IP along with the next Battlefield might be poor timing.
It certainly didn’t help Titanfall 2’s case when it released in October 2016 so at least EA is learning something. As for Anthem, it will now be releasing in Early 2019 as opposed to Fall 2018. Jorgensen denied Kotaku’s recent report about development issues.