The game broke the rules and is in a unique situation. God forbid something else be unique to TF and not EA's standard playbook.  That's just illogical.  

Glad we can finally agree it's an illogical assumption, much like the assumption that a lack of evidence otherwise, must be evidence that the game was an internal flop.

obviously that last statement isn't 100% true otherwise this thread woudn't exist...

the real quesiton is why are they talking about it at all??

It is true, they didn't report any numbers. They were asked a question and they answered. The only hard numbers they have given were during an investor call.

I don't think your sarcasm meter is working. 

bwahah.. on one hand, one side says no numbers = disappointment regardless what EA says.. basis? on low npd numbers and low install base compared to other 3rd party IPs. The other side says no numbers = success because that's what EA says... basis? TF was in a unique situation and that's what EA said. Lol.. here's the facts..

EA thought the PS4 was going to flop = TF exclusivity (http://www.cinemablend.com/games/Titanfall-Was-Exclusive-Xbox-Because-EA-Thought-Xbox-One-Would-Dominate-61946.html). EA's CFO made a comment that the exclusivity deal struck up due to gen7 market analysis. They thought the X1 was going to blow the PS4 in sales.
How do we know it was before gen8 console launch? 10/30/13 - Media broke the news that exclusivity deal in place to ensure the ps4 never sees TF. (http://www.forbes.com/sites/insertcoin/2013/10/30/microsoft-ensures-titanfall-will-never-come-to-sonys-ps4/).
Why did EA & MS think they had a hit on their hands? Because of all the freakin previews and gloating about TF in the summer/fall of 2013. (custom google search Titanfall preview between 1/2013 & 10/2013). touted as the show at gamescom, eg expo, E3, etc.

Sure.. you can say they weren't seriously expecting TF to outsell BF or COD, but you would think that they weren't expecting less than what they are selling now. Even Patcher (yes, i know) believes EA's expectations were between the 6-10 mil unit range (http://www.igameresponsibly.com/2014/01/09/michael-pachter-forecasts-titanfall-sales-and-eas-expectations-for-the-title/)... then to come out of the gate with a low gamer base, you know EA had to pull back their realistic expectations for TF sales. And as 4 months moved on and NPD has retail for x1 as under 1 mil and the 360 as a little over .5 mil, I mean seriously? You think digital sales = 100% of retail sales? at most, TF is close to breaking 2 mil (over/under for retail+digital sales) on all platforms in 4 months. Sure EA can say TF sales have met expectations without giving you a number, but at the same time, expectations were probably pulled back due to seeing the ps4 outsell the xb1 almost 2:1 7 months in, the ps4 outselling x1 on TF launch month, and seeing other 3rd party IPs outsell SW on PS4 vs X1. With all that hype and promo build up prior to launch, you'd almost expect TF was going to blow away the FPS scene and sell millions.. it hardly made a dent and most TF communities are already dwindling down. PC community is basically dead. X1 and 360 gamers are going back to COD. Good luck on even getting to 4 mil unit sales range with a dying community.

Spin it all you want, but the facts are there. TF exclusivity was sold because EA gambled wrong. Had jack to due with MS funding or TF's "unique" position. Knowing you had the makers of the original COD MW1 & MW2 making TF , the huge dudebro shooter crowd, and massive hype and ads months before launch, only to sell ~2 mil in 4 months time. Yea.. TF met EA sales expectations alrighty.

Edit: Sometimes it's what EA is not saying that is a true indicator of their expectation.  Seriously.. you have a hit on your hands with underwhelming sales.. are you going to publicly say you are disappointed?  Especially when a company like MS also sells your games for their platform?

If anyone provides any more spin after that post right above this one, anyone who reads this thread will get motion sickness.

I can't find anything about PS4 flopping in the link you provided. Can you please show me where it says anything about PS4 flopping? Or even Xbone dominating? Actually don't bother, I see your next link is Pachter LOL.

spin what you want..

Exclusivity deal was put in place before gen8 console launches.  why?  because EA thought that MS had a leg up on Sony for gen8 based on gen7 data.  Reality?  Gen8 is being dominated by the PS4.  EA gambled wrong.  Sorry, but saying TF met sales expectations 4 months after release is pure damage control.  you really expecting TF sales longevity going in multi-years?  the hype is deflated and gone.

And who said anything about flopping?  If there were to be any flop, it was EA's expectations that the X1 would generate the sales need to cover the cost of not going multiplat.  Somthing they do out of the blue because they truly had to believe their analysis.. not because TF IP was "unique".. lmao.

If common sense can't make you see.. keep on the dribbling.. it's not hard to look up the history of TF pre-release and make 1 and 1 after release.  i'm done here.. defend away.

I doubt they expected the Xbone to have a userbase of this size already, atleast until it had launched and they saw that the demand for nextgen consoles was really there.

EDIT: considering that it has outsold the 7th gen consoles in the same timeframe, and it also outsold the Wii U, which although it had lackluster sales, was the only reference point for 8th gen.

I agree, but when they signed the exclusivity deal with Microsoft, they expected the X1 to be doing better and winning North America. When you think about it like that then I think EA was not very happy that they made it exclusive.