In what can be described as an incredibly baffling move, EA has confirmed, before the game has even launched, that they will be discounting Star Wars Battlefront 2, the upcoming Star Wars multiplayer action game from DICE, about a month after it has launched, to coincide with the release of Star Wars Episode 8: The Last Jedi.
“On discounting, let me just make it really clear right now so all you guys don’t have anything to write about on Black Friday,” Electronic Arts CFO Blake Jorgensen said during a recent investors’ call. “We bring the game out right before Black Friday so you will most likely not have discounts at Black Friday that we pay for. That doesn’t mean that you might not see some stores choose to discount games on Black Friday out of their own pocket.
“We will most likely discount the game like we did last time around the movie launch, and maybe you’ll even see some selective discounts around the holidays, either Thanksgiving or Christmas. That’s the way the games business always has worked. And so if you see the title on discount, don’t read anything into that other than the fact that that’s the way you sell games in the holidays.”
So, basically, here’s the deal- if you want Star Wars Battlefront 2, you can pay $60 for it right upfront, and get it a few weeks early. Or you could wait a few weeks, and basically get it at a discounted price, because EA has already indicated that it intends to do that. It’s really baffling why they have confirmed their intent to sell it at a reduced price before the game is out- I suspect this will have a dampening effect on sales.
We’ll know for sure when the game is actually out. Star Wars Battlefront 2 launches on the PS4, Xbox One, and PC on November 17.