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[arhra]

This is what continues to baffle me. As a publisher you are saving costs going digital yet you charge them equal or greater for the digital version.

If you want digital adoption lower the price!!

You want to change the buying habits of consumers to adopt the more publisher friendly digital distribution model give them incentive to do so. If the consumer is giving up their ability to have a physical copy and to re-sell for a glorified long term rental that is dependent on the network it's attached to then you have to fairly price it to account for that.

Problem is, they have to sell at MSRP in order to keep GAME and co happy, but thanks to the hefty margin built in to the MSRP, larger retailers like Amazon/Tesco/etc who are happy to make minimal profits on an individual sale can undercut that significantly.

The only real way they'll ever be able to get close to competing with the supermarkets and online retailers is to set the MSRP closer to the wholesale price, and tell GAME to #DealWithIt.

 

[Nirolak]

Man that generational shift 360 to PS4.

Edit: what is with the pc drop?

I imagine Ghost Recon had a more PC centric split, along with catalog sales of Far Cry 3.

 

[Caayn]

Publishers set the prices on the PS Store.

True, but don't forget that Sony and Microsoft published games aren't different.

 

[Dysun]

Sony has to be happy if these platform splits continue 2:1 for all major multi plat releases

 

[Mpl90]

PC at 10-12% of sales overall?

In the case the game sold 6 millions out of the 8 millions shipment, it'd result in sales being between 600,000 and 720,000, with 420,000 to 504,000 of them being digital.

Playing with more concrete numbers, we know WD sold 1.3 millions in NPD May, with the following shares for all the consoles

WD Total - 1,300,000
WD PS4 (46%) - 598,000
WD One (29%) - 377,000
WD 360 (14%) - 182,000
WD PS3 (11%) - 143,000

Including digital sales for home consoles (let's up them by 1% since US digital sales > EU digital sales, so PS4/One ---> 11%; PS3/360 ---> 4%

WD Total - 1,434,046
WD PS4 (46.85%) - 671,910
WD One (29.54%) - 423,595
WD 360 (13.22%) - 189,583
WD PS3 (10.39%) - 148,958

Including PC now in the mix (let's use 10% figure)

WD Total - 1,593,384
WD PS4 (42.17%) - 671,910
WD One (26.58%) - 423,595
WD 360 (11.90%) - 189,583
WD PC (10%) - 159,338
WD PS3 (9.35%) - 148,958

 

[Replicant]

Waaait, there's physical copy of Valiant Hearts? I didn't know.

 

[arhra]

True, but don't forget that Sony and Microsoft published games aren't different.

Microsoft have generally been a bit more reasonable, at least in the UK. The highest price they've launched at has been £49.99, and most of the launch games have had digital price drops by now (ie, Forza 5 is £39.99 now, whereas third-party launch games like CoD:Ghosts and NFS:Rivals are still £54.99).

Still not competitive with retail, but a bit closer.

 

[Miles Quaritch]

Sony has to be happy if these platform splits continue 2:1 for all major multi plat releases

I'm almost positive they are in a far better position with splits than MS ever were with the 360.

Must be extremely grim reading for MS.

 

[alexandros]

So much for the idea that digital sales on console are enough to offset the retail decline. Digital downloads are practically non-existent on console if the Watch Dogs data is indicative of general trends.

 

[LiquidSolid]

This is interesting.

Wonder why the percentage of digital purchases is higher on the X1? More people taking advantage of the easy region change to buy cheaper games?

Pretty sure this already explains it:

Digital copies are bought more in the US than in Europe.

And who knows if they're counting the bundles as well.

 

[Follywood]

This is interesting.

Wonder why the percentage of digital purchases is higher on the X1? More people taking advantage of the easy region change to buy cheaper games?

I'd wager that a lot of early PS4 adopters were also a result of X1's marketing to "online always required... no used games". Early PS4 adopters tend to want physical copies more than digital. At least, that was the trend at the time

 

[Saty]

Yeah, checked again. He does say Valiant Hearts is 50-50 split. (19:45 mark). Though i did mishear a little regarding CoL, he says the 'rest' of the digitally focused games are split 75--85% in favor of digital. So i gather than means that CoL and Trials sold 75-85% of their copies digitally.

 

[Stumpokapow]

Kind of surprised more of the PC sales aren't digital - like 90% or more.

The reason is probably mostly the strength of PC retail in Europe, but I'm going to go ahead and blame UPlay anyway just because it serves my broader "UPlay sucks" agenda.

 

[geordiemp]

Watch Dogs sales: 2\3 on next-gen+PC , 1\3 on 360&PS3.

I shows many enthusiastic gamers who buy lots of games have moved on from last gen consoles.

Someone tell the makers of borderlands the prequel...

 

[Mpl90]

The reason is probably mostly the strength of PC retail in Europe, but I'm going to go ahead and blame UPlay anyway just because it serves my broader "UPlay sucks" agenda.

As of Week 26 German chart, the PC SKU of Watch Dogs was in top 50, while the One SKU was not there at all

 

[Nirolak]

The reason is probably mostly the strength of PC retail in Europe, but I'm going to go ahead and blame UPlay anyway just because it serves my broader "UPlay sucks" agenda.

But if you buy it at retail you still get uPlay, but no Steam. >_>

 

[idlewild_]

Edit: what is with the pc drop?

I think the reason that Q1 skews so high towards PC is because publishers typically pick up a lot of back catalog sales due to the various summer sales (Steam, GoG, etc.) This year, however, several of their big movers were new releases.

 

[MrNyarlathotep]

So much for the idea that digital sales on console are enough to offset the retail decline. Digital downloads are practically non-existent on console if the Watch Dogs data is indicative of general trends.

This is the most important takeaway from this if these numbers are at all representative of other titles sales.

 

[Aquamarine]

Of the overall sell-through data of WD, PC represented 10-12% - of which 70% were digital.
PS4\XB1 digital share of is 10%, with the XB1 being a bit more than 10% and the PS4 a bit less than 10%.

=The digital share for 360\PS3 is only 3 to 5%.

Digital copies are bought more in the US than in Europe.

More physical-digital ratios:

Valiant Hearts - 50-50
Child of Light - 75% digital, 25% physical.

Watch Dogs sales: 2\3 on next-gen+PC , 1\3 on 360&PS3.

As I suspected...digital is still not very relevant for major blockbusters. It has a definite impact, but in this case, 90-95% of sales are still realised through physical retail.

 

[manual4]

Edit nvm

 

[Gurish]

This is interesting.

Wonder why the percentage of digital purchases is higher on the X1? More people taking advantage of the easy region change to buy cheaper games?

It doesn't seem to be higher by a significant number that's worth discussing over, both consoles digital sales are pretty poor, that's the main conclusion.

If they want digital sales to be a bigger factor the current model needs to change on consoles.

 

[Hamster Plugin]

Retail PC sales still strong in Russia/Eastern Europe I imagine.

They're fairly popular in Finland too. Sadly we lost platform-specific sales data earlier this year but quite many PC games were up in the top 20 because digital stores have really stupid Euro pricing. Steam is always more expensive than retail outside sales, sometimes even very highly so.

Watch Dogs launched at €45 on retail in PC, but Steam charges €60. Steam summer sale brought it down to €48, still more expensive than retail!

 

[Mpl90]

Yeah, digital sales aren't still that impactful overall for sales of big titles. In my estimate based on US launch sales, only 134,046 were the amount of digital sales across PS3, PS4, 360 and One, while 159,338 were the sales of the PC SKU alone.

 

[FeiRR]

Retail PC sales still strong in Russia/Eastern Europe I imagine.

Retail PC games here can be half cheaper than on Steam so no surprise.

 

[BurnOutBrighter]

Ha, didn't even know Child of Light had a physical version.

 

[Bgamer90]

I'm almost positive they are in a far better position with splits than MS ever were with the 360.

Must be extremely grim reading for MS.

Want to say that Call of Duty: Modern Warfare (2007) sold over 3 times more on the Xbox 360 than it did on the PS3 but that could have just been NPD... I remember the 3:1 stat for the game though.

 

[GitarooMan]

I think this is good news because it further confirms how quickly the core new console game buying market is moving to X1/PS4, which means this cross-gen stuff is going to fade out fast, as it should.

 

[KillerMan91]

Boxed copy of Watch_Dogs PC version from some internet shop: 45€
Digital copy of Watch_Dogs PC version from Steam: 60€

Zero reasons for me to buy new games digitally as this happens with pretty much every game. New game is a lot cheaper to buy boxed.

 

[Dragon]

Want to say that Call of Duty: Modern Warfare (2007) sold over 3 times more on the Xbox 360 than it did on the PS3 but that could have just been NPD... I remember the 3:1 stat for the game though.

You are correct that it's NPD.

http://www.gamespot.com/articles/npd-november-cooks-up-263-billion-in-game-sales/1100-6184008/

The month's top SKU was the Xbox 360 edition of Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare, with 1.57 million copies sold. Combined with the seventh-place PS3 version's 444,000-unit total, Activision's shooter went double platinum in one month on consoles alone.

 

[Hatchtag]

What time period was the sales data over? I wonder if the free gamestop xbox live bucks accounted for watch dogs having more digital sales on xbox live than for psn.

 

[chickdigger802]

Boxed copy of Watch_Dogs PC version from some internet shop: 45€
Digital copy of Watch_Dogs PC version from Steam: 60€

Zero reasons for me to buy new games digitally as this happens with pretty much every game. New game is a lot cheaper to buy boxed.

also nvidia promo codes are like $34 at launch.

 

[Suzushiiro]

The last-gen:current-gen split probably explains why the rumored last-gen-only AC isn't happening. They probably made plans for that under the expectation that last-gen versions of cross-gen titles would continue to outsell current-gen for a year or so after launch.

 

[Bgamer90]

You are correct that it's NPD.

http://www.gamespot.com/articles/npd-november-cooks-up-263-billion-in-game-sales/1100-6184008/

Alright thanks.

The last-gen:current-gen split probably explains why the rumored last-gen-only AC isn't happening. They probably made plans for that under the expectation that last-gen versions of cross-gen titles would continue to outsell current-gen for a year or so after launch.

It is very interesting how quiet they are being about the last gen AC.

 

[nynt9]

Man that generational shift 360 to PS4.

Edit: what is with the pc drop?

New players in market divides up percentages and awful PC ports/Uplay problems push people away.

 

[VSynk]

i bought PC retail version. I am from Europe my bandwidth is 100mb i simply just like having the boxes.
You know owning the game, not just renting it.

 

[GifGafIsTheBestGaf]

Do you think it's hard to open session with your US PSN account and go to PS Store?

making and opening a session isnt the problem, is the geo/region lock bullshit sony has set even for the checkout process

you really have to go through a bunch of hoops and loops to buy codes sometimes you even pay a fee for a code

 

[endresults]

Bookmarking until charts show up. OP gave me a headache.

 

[Turin Turambar]

Kind of surprised more of the PC sales aren't digital - like 90% or more.

Sometimes you can get a game cheaper on retail (through internet shops in zones with less taxes) than in digital.

 

[DieH@rd]

I wonder why?

 

[Chill Penguin]

Buying digitally is still not good value. When i buy retail, i have the option of re-selling and making back $20-40 depending on the game. Whereas digitally, i sink $60 into it and never see another penny. For digital to take off it needs to be priced lower, otherwise there's no real incentive.

 

[The Spoony Hou]

And it sold 0/infinity on WiiU because they delayed it.

Spoiler

Yeah, I know what you're all gonna say. I'd buy it though.

 

[RoboPlato]

There was a physical release of Valient Hearts?

 

[bigboss370]

so out of 8 million sales for WD, over 5 million were on next gen. Nice.

 

[Momentary]

This is actually a huge increase in terms of digital sales. People who can't see that it's taking off are only lying to themselves. The younger generation have way more interest in having their media purchases stored digitally. Having physical copies for them is more like a collector's thing rather than being the only go to option. I remember people believing DVDs wouldn't take off.

And people talking about European countries and bandwidth, I just came back from Poland and we didn't have caps at the residence that I stated at and the speed was blazing fast. So I'm sure that if there are companies that place caps in Europe, then hopefully that practice is coming to an end.

The thing that I don't get is why people aren't more in an uproar about digital pricing. Punblishers don't have to worry about shipping, pressing, printing, and assembling game cases, yet it's being sold at the same price. At least in on the PC side of thing pre-purchase a game usually runs for 36-48 bucks on sites like Green Man Gaming instead of 50-60. I rarely see pre-order prices like that on consoles. That would enrage me to no end if I were a console only gamer.

 

[terrible]

Strong current gen sales is a good thing. Makes me hopeful that we'll see a decline in cross gen games sooner rather than later.

edit: Oops, I'm late to that party lol.

Hopefully those low last-gen sales encourage the cut-off of cross-gen.

So basically this.

 

[Guymelef]

You can get download cards/coupons from stores, handy if you either don't trust online transactions or don't have a usable debit/credit card.

So that must be retail Valiant Hearts.
http://www.game.co.uk/en/valiant-hearts-the-great-war-for-playstation-4-302035?pageSize=20&searchTerm=Valiant%20Hearts&catGroupId=

 

[Omega]

I wonder why?

wat

why dont these companies just go on google and type in currency converter instead of just "herp derp. switch this dollar sign to a pound or euro, its the same thing"

 

[Magnus]

Really interesting how low Next-Gen console digital sales are. I would have guessed a lot higher. Like, under 10% on PS4? Wow!

I guess we really weren't ready for an all-digital future.

Yep. I had no interest on gambling on a new property without being able to resell or trade.

 

[RdN]

It's no wonder why there are so few digital sales... Nobody wants to pay the full price when they can always get discounts on physical discs.

 

[Barack Lesnar]

Of the overall sell-through data of WD, PC represented 10-12%

This is the most notable number for me. We never, ever get this kind of breakdown. It's exactly what I suspected, about 10% of all multi-platform sales for these AAA games are on PC. This is why we get late, unoptimized ports. (I know WD released around the same time, I mean in general). At the most, maybe a more PC-friendly genre AAA game would sell 15% total on PC but 10-12% is about right for most of them and what I've always suspected. The PC market is doing well but it's still a drop in the bucket for the big publishers like Ubi, EA, Take Two, and Activision for their big releases, which is why we get late ports.