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UK: Destiny 2 is year's biggest retail launch, but retail down 58% from Destiny 1
- Thread starter Kenzodielocke
- Start date
ethomaz
Banned
I paid $90 for my digital copy of the game... same for D1.
The à¹ÛBronx
Member
Since you seem to have missed the discussion around jt in the thread, I'll repost an earlier post giving some insight:
It's not that ridiculous a notion.
Diablohead
Member
There's going to be a bigger chunk that go digital this time around plus people waiting for the pc version, so that's two big portions of players not buying a retail copy easily.
Diablohead
Member
I can understand it for Destiny, less disc swapping when playing other games, all the dlc later on means the retail disc is just the base content but you still need it to boot the game so a small fee to keep everything neat, tidy and instant isn't too wild.
I buy nearly all my games retail but I bought splatoon 2 digital so I could play it whenever I felt like it without swapping the switch cart, since splatoon 2 is an online shooter I wanted it to be always ready.
RedAssedApe
Banned
probably also less console bundles sold due to people already owning ps4s? that og destiny/white ps4 sold like hotcakes.
was there just a ps4 pro bundle and no separate slim one? console bundling seems to vary by region. i can never keep up.
was there just a ps4 pro bundle and no separate slim one? console bundling seems to vary by region. i can never keep up.
The à¹ÛBronx
Member
Not sure where I said that..
BanjoLayleeYookaKazooie
Banned
The ๖ۜBronx;248596676 said:
I don't really get what the point is with this 'but digital' debate. Even if we extrapolate that Destiny 2's digital ratio in the U.K. is close to industry standard estimates of 25-30% that gives you around 35-40,000 sales. That's fine OK, but digital was a thing in 2014 also and even if we assume the ratio was like 10% or something really low, that'd give 30,000+ even if we exclude the PS3/360 entirely. We're talking about 10-15k increase in sales, very trivial in the grand scheme of things.
Just as someone who was popping in and out of Destiny 2 threads before launch and hearing talk about how this game was going to be a monster, I find these numbers extremely underwhelming, not just for Destiny 2 but for the industry as a whole, or at least in the UK.
I don't have figures at all but I'm sure by the time the PS3/360 hit their stride we were seeing multiple 100,000-200,000 FW sales on both platforms, even in the U.K.
Maybe I should wait till after all the other games come out but I dunno, I just look at this and all I can expect is the exact same scenario for Battlefront 2, and no 20% boost in digital sales should mask these concerning sales.
Alpha Phoenix
Member
Some people apparently forget the massive market advantage Destiny 1 had going for it. Off the top of my head:
- It was a new IP from a much-loved studio.
- It spanned two console generations, and launched months into the start of a new one.
- It had no real competition at the time of its launch. The thirst for a fresh next-gen shooter was through the roof.
- It had an absolutely huge marketing campaign.
Meanwhile, Destiny 2 lacked all of the above. So I don't see why this should be surprising to anyone. D1 simply had a bigger head start, even if its launch was polarizing and messy.
- It was a new IP from a much-loved studio.
- It spanned two console generations, and launched months into the start of a new one.
- It had no real competition at the time of its launch. The thirst for a fresh next-gen shooter was through the roof.
- It had an absolutely huge marketing campaign.
Meanwhile, Destiny 2 lacked all of the above. So I don't see why this should be surprising to anyone. D1 simply had a bigger head start, even if its launch was polarizing and messy.
Interficium
Banned
A lot of crow will be served in this thread, soon 
Raven77
Member
Exactly, digital is becoming more of a factor but it is definitely NOT accounting for that large drop in physical sales.
Posts like these don't connect with the mentality of people who actually play destiny though. When D1 came out, adoption of digital wasn't as strong, and a lot of people bought it physical. Over the years, many of these people realized that having to stay attached to one disc for 3 years was just miserable, and that it's probably better to just go digital. Everyone in my friends list who bought D1 physical bought 2 digitally. Even hardline physical only friends went for it digitally. Also, a significant amount are waiting for the PC release.
For your average game this logic might work, but for D2 specifically the digital ratio is likely to be higher than average.
for games that are 100% online anyways.....whats the point of buying physical when the servers go down its trash. Destiny is one of the very, very few games I bought digitally because there is no need for the physical version
BanjoLayleeYookaKazooie
Banned
Yeah all that makes a lot of sense, you're right in that I'm not big on digital myself, but I'm still not convinced about seeing these games as stepping stones to an all digital future and that physical sales data is becoming irrelevant. Like I said I think I'm jumping the gun in my concern about the holiday games but as has already been pointed about there's been loads of games where this 'drop of x%' has happened in the U.K., and yes digital is important and increasing slowly but I still can't look at Watch Dogs 2, Titanfall 2, Dishonoured 2, and others and wonder why these great games aren't retaining audiences the first games got.
The advertisements were basically "Destiny IS Fixed!" Typically word of mouth for sequals needs something like a new race or class. I almost say they probably needed one of those.
Uno Venova
Banned
#DestinyIsOver party??
Mister Megative
Banned
A lot of crow will be served in this thread, soon
Yeah?
Yet every single one of those "actual good games" released this year sold less.
I wouldn't count on it. It'll be one of the 3 top selling new games this year most likely for the UK. FIFA #1 obvz, then either D2 or COD taking second.
You never talked with my cat.
Uno Venova
Banned
For the people extrapolating these sales for worldwide sales.....most likely.
That extra £15 got my Brother a copy too, so yeah, for something like Destiny I'd pay that premium. I'd imagine plenty of people are in a similar situation.
Seganomics
Member
It's an interesting point. It would be interesting to see how Battlefield and COD have fared over the last few years with regard to whether the physical sales have declined but the online participation has been maintained/ increased.
SpinningBirdKick
Banned
Fool me once, shame on me.
Fool me twice, shame on you.
Fool me twice, shame on you.
Seganomics
Member
I'm curious, what is the great need for Destiny fans in particular to go digital? I mean, the fans seem pretty hardcore, so I guess they don't think too much about putting much else in the disc drive while they are getting stuck into Destiny.
Wouldn't it make more sense to go digital for lighter games so the time spent swapping discs isn't totally out of whack with the time you are spending actually playing?
I think for a lot of folks it was the pre-load. People wanted to start as soon as the servers opened.
The best case scenario is that digital and PC would cut the gap and that would still be disappointing for any publisher as sequels are expected to grow and sell more. Unless Activation release a statement about how good the game is selling like they did with crash and previously COD, then it's fair to presume the game undersold. With GaaS as model, MAU and DAU will matter much more to Destiny 2 compared to the original.
Alpha Phoenix
Member
I think the assumption is fans of the original game will be playing D2 more often than others, over a period of a few years, as the game grows and gets more updates. Therefore, digital is simply more efficient.
I'm a fan of the first game, but I'm considering buying D2 physical, just because I like collecting things.
Actually it's the opposite.
Once you're 'done' with the leveling and the story, you go back to play any other games but want to be able to get into destiny right away any time your friends go online to shoot stuff.
My game ecosystem is all digital nowadays due to xbox's gameshare program. If I buy the digital version, my friend gets to play for free. If I buy physical, only I get to play it.
The long download times based on large sizes of games/patches/updates is the one thing that is a negative (oh, as well as the lack of sales).
So it's a no-brainer for me to buy digital.
? No it isn't, unless you think that people moved to digital en masses.
It's down on PS4 and Xbox 1 by themselves as well.
Trickster
Member
A lot of crow will be served in this thread, soon
You say that as if it would be a good thing though
Maintenance
Member
formasymphonic
Member
Won't get fooled again
I was expecting something like this off of personal experience. Lots of people I know who are super interested in the game are waiting it out for reviews and post-campaign impressions to see whether this game is worth it or not in the long run.
Still bought the physical copy due to a big discount, but if I like the game enough post campaign, I'll be selling this off and buying the game digitally. The post campaign events and stuff, booting up the game for the occasional grind/farming session, digital is ideal for.
For me, I prefer to go for the disc based versions of most games, but they way they handled destiny and the expansions (where the expansions weren't actually on disc even in repackaged versions and it was always the vanilla destiny disc shipping) I am inclined to get it digitally.
Still bought the physical copy due to a big discount, but if I like the game enough post campaign, I'll be selling this off and buying the game digitally. The post campaign events and stuff, booting up the game for the occasional grind/farming session, digital is ideal for.
That's why you order physically with simplygames.com and you get the disc a few days before the digital version even unlocks.
Interficium
Banned
Dubya? Is that you?!
ExtinctionEvent
Banned
Destiny 2 is really good though. What is it about Destiny that brings the hate?
Yeah that comment wasn't particularly measured in retrospect. Destiny is totally fine, but loot has no effect on me at all in almost anything. What you have left without that is good shooting and a very small amount of playable content around which is wrapped a load of very mediocre, sci fi trope-ass lore.
It's essentially a better Borderlands, and by golly I very much dislike Borderlands.
ExtinctionEvent
Banned
Its absolutely nothing like borderlands, but whatever.