Sarcastic commentary: So let's get this straight: EA finally releases a single player Star Wars game that has no microtransactions and it outsells all other EA titles in the franchise to become the fastest selling SW game to date. Well, surprise, surprise!
Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order has only been out for less than two weeks, and according to EA, it has already started breaking records. While the publisher did not release any specific numbers, it says that the game is the fastest-selling digital download of any other Star Wars game in its first two weeks. The company also claims that the PC version has sold more copies than any of its other Star Wars titles released on PC --- period.
While scoring mostly good to excellent reviews helped, there are a couple of takeaways from EA's announcement.
First, it seems that fans are more into the single-player Star Wars experience than the grindy, microtransaction-filled attempts EA has pushed out in the past. This should come as no big surprise. Gamers and governments practically across the board have denounced EA's tendency to over implement the pay-to-win strategy in its games.
Second, releasing Fallen Order on Steam has undoubtedly contributed to increased PC sales. The publisher had removed its games from Valve's storefront eight years ago due to a business dispute between Valve and Crysis 2 developer Crytek. Since then it has mainly been releasing titles on its Origin platform.
However, last month EA mended fences with Valve, formally announcing its return to Steam. In addition to selling games on Valve's marketplace again, the publisher is offering its subscription service EA Access on the platform as well.
With the latest Star Wars game already breaking records, it appears the combination of going to "where the gamers are" and moving away from the games-as-a-service model was a winning combination. We can only hope EA takes this to heart and releases future titles in this manner.