EA Targets Sales Of 9-10M Units For ‘Star Wars Battlefront,’ Offline Play Depends On PS4 And Xbox One Restrictions

Public reception to “Star Wars Battlefront” has generally been overwhelmingly positive since the first full trailer, revealed during last month’s “Star Wars Celebration 2015.” EA has announced that it expects to sell between 9-10 million copies of the game by the end of March, 2016.

The sales targets come via a post-earnings financial call, covered by GameSpot, which notes that because the “Star Wars” property is owned by Disney, the publisher will have to pay a royalty fee. Despite this, EA Chief Financial Officer, Blake Jorgensen expressed his optimism and excitement at the game’s potential.

Elsewhere, DICE developer Jesper Nielsen took to Reddit to explain that the developer fully intends to support offline play. However, he warned that while “Battlefront” itself may support offline play, the ability to do so would ultimately depend on any restrictions put in place on Xbox Live and PSN.

“I think this is more up to how the Xbox One is setup and configured; I’m on PS4 now, so I’m not up-to-date on what restrictions are currently in place. From our perspective, we support offline play – but we can’t override any restrictions set by the system,” he said.

Ironsight aiming, or Aim Down Sights has become a standard feature in most modern first-person and third-person shooters. However, EA has announced that “Star Wars Battlefront” will not feature an ironsights, or ADS. The news may prove divisive, but it goes some way to assuring that “Battlefront” carves out a distinct identity, amid fears the game will feel too similar to DICE’s other massive action war game, “Battlefield.”

The news comes via GamesRadar, who quoted DICE Executive Producer Patrick Bach, speaking in an interview with the latest issue of OXM. Bach said that scoped weapons would offer the ability to zoom in, but in general, weapons like blasters would feature no ironsights, whether in first or third-person mode.

Bach added that while some features would naturally resemble other shooters the developer has worked on in the past, they wanted to ensure “Battlefront” felt unique. “Star Wars Battlefront” is set for release on Xbox One, PC and PS4 on Nov. 17. It represents the first Frostbite-engine powered title developed exclusively for current-gen consoles and PC.