Physical sales down 60% yoy is far from the industry norm [1]:

2016: down 17% (5 percentage points)

2015: down 18% (8pp)

2014: down 13% (7pp)

2013: down 15% (8pp)

(this isn’t a perfect comparison, because the battlefield number is change in count while the industry numbers are change in share, but it’s a starting point)

(edit: despite the industry-wide decrease in share, physical sales have actually been increasing in count since 2013 [2], making the Battlefield decline in physical sales look even worse)

Unless they significantly changed how they sell in different channels (news to me), there has to be something title-specific beyond delivery format cannibilazation going on. Hard to speculate if that’s primarily the PR backlash or a combination of things (title fatigue, short release cycle since last edition, quality…).

I imagine EA is pretty resilient against a single title underperforming though, be it SimCity or Battlefield or whatever else.

[1] https://www.statista.com/statistics/190225/digital-and-physi...

[2] https://www.statisticbrain.com/video-game-yearly-sales/