EA: ‘Battlefield 5’ By Holidays, ‘Titanfall 2’ And ‘Mass Effect: Andromeda’ By March 2017

Electronic Arts is spinning up another slate of AAA games for the PlayStation 4, Xbox One, and PC over the course of the next year. The mega-publisher gave an update Thursday on when the next entries in the Battlefield, Mass Effect, and Titanfall franchises should arrive.

The expected release of Battlefield 5, Mass Effect: Andromeda, and Titanfall 2 were shared during Electronic Arts’ fiscal 2016 third quarter earnings call. CEO Andrew Wilson set the stage for an interesting slate of games over the course of six months from October 2016 to March 2017.

“An all-new Battlefield game from DICE will arrive in time for the holidays, we’re excited to have a new Titanfall experience coming from our friends at Respawn and of course, Mass Effect Andromeda from the team at BioWare will launch later in the fiscal year,” Wilson stated during the call via Seeking Alpha.

Chief Financial Officer Blake Jorgensen added further details on the timing of the releases.

“You should assume that a Battlefield would come typically in the third quarter when we normally have it,” he explained. “We’re not yet announcing when Titanfall or Mass Effect Andromeda will come, but you should assume that’s in the back half of the year as well because of second quarter is so dominated by our sports titles.”

The last two Battlefield entries launched at the end of October in an attempt to get ahead of Activision’s Call of Duty franchise. Last year’s Star Wars: Battlefront release did extremely well by launching after Black Ops 3, however, the tie-in to Star Wars: The Force Awakens was a major contributing factor. It will be interesting to see which way EA decides to go with Battlefield 5.

Battlefield 5’s release in October or November likely pushes Titanfall 2 back to early 2017 to avoid both first-person shooters from cannibalizing each other’s sales. The first entry from Respawn Entertainment had a mixed reaction as an Xbox One exclusive thanks to its attempt to blend a campaign story and multiplayer into one. The sequel is expected to take a different approach as it opens up to the PlayStation 4, though, and Jorgensen was positive on its outlook without giving details.

“I would say having seen the game is it’s looking fantastic, our relationship with Respawn is extremely strong, we had great fight in that entire team to build a spectacular game and are really looking forward to sharing more details in the month ahead,” the CFO said in response to a question during the Q&A section of the earnings call.

Less was said during the call about Mass Effect: Andromeda than the other two titles. It could easily fit as a holiday 2016 release or early 2017 release due to the franchise’s following, so there’s less pressure to get it out in time for the holiday sales rush. BioWare carries enough cache within the Electronic Arts portfolio to release the next edition of the science-fiction role-playing franchise when it is ready.

Those hoping for news on close release dates for new Star Wars titles from Visceral Games, DICE, and BioWare will be disappointed. Electronic Arts did not have an update on any of those games, which means it will likely be later in 2017 at the earliest before those are released.

Visceral Games is working on an action role-playing title, as previously covered by the Inquisitr. Assassin’s Creed producer Jade Raymond and Uncharted producer Amy Hennig were both attached, and rumors point to a third-person adventure-styled shooter with RPG elements.

Meanwhile, Star Wars: Battlefront has been a bonafide hit, with more than 13 million copies shipped since it launched last November. DICE’s DLC plans for the shooter have more content through early 2017, but EA promises more installments in the future.

Rumors or news on BioWare’s Star Wars title have been extremely scarce. The studio’s work on Dragon Age: Inquisition and Mass Effect: Andromeda have likely pushed it out well into the future.

[Image via Electronic Arts]