Tanks for the memories
As it turns out, people really want to turn the clock back to 1914. Or, they really want to get a sneak peek at one of this year’s biggest video games. It’s one or the other.
Whichever it is, EA DICE’sBattlefield 1had a wildly successful beta. From August 30 through September 8, some 13.2 million players got a preview ofBattlefield 1. AsEA outlineson the game’s site, this resulted in 62.2 million kills while on a horse, 23.8 million road kills, and 28.9 million melee kills. There’s no word on how many people died of a broken heart because their love never made it back home.
While EA calls this the biggest beta in company history, it might actually be one of the biggest betas in video game history. For comparison’s sake,Overwatch‘s betahad 9.7 million players,Star Wars Battlefront‘s had9.5 million, andThe Division‘s was at6.4 million. Those are some extremely popular titles, andBattlefieldbested them all by at least 3.5 million.
A glance at some recent history reveals why this is fantastic news for EA. AfterBattlefront‘s successful beta, the publisher shifted its expectations for theStar Warsgame from 10 million units shipped to 13 million units shipped. Itended up surpassing thatand shipping 14 million. Assuming people are similarly smitten byBattlefield 1, this marketing event may mean that it’ll end up a bigger cash cow than EA previously imagined.
