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Watch Dogs sold 2/3rds of copies on PS4/XB1/PC, Ubisoft reveals digital sales ratios

As far as I know those numbers were released pretty soon after launch, before any discounts. I think it is pretty certain that PC SKU brings in around as much revenue as any other single console SKU.

Okay but do we know how much Ubi gets in either case?

How is the 750k deficit cancelled when such margins are unknown? Estimation?
 
As far as I know those numbers were released pretty soon after launch, before any discounts. I think it is pretty certain that PC SKU brings in around as much revenue as any other single console SKU.
So that is 1 million units on PC versus 1.75 million on each console (roughly), so considering that the average PC unit gives Ubisoft more revenue (due to prevalence of digital), all three platforms were fairly close to each other in revenue.
The bolded parts above are legit bs, imo. I'm certain the majority of the sales for Watch Dogs were NOT directly through Uplay. How many people do you know that actually buy games directly through Uplay, meaning Ubi would get 100% of the profit? I think I've done it one time ever. My point is, Steam, which is the platform that most will buy these games from, will take 30% (whatever the figure is) from the point of sale price so your point about more revenue due to digital doesn't make sense. Even if you say that retail console games takes bigger than 30% of the price that Steam does, you still have to consider that retail console games sell for higher prices and continue to be at a higher price for a lengthier amount of time (see response to MrNyarlathotep below).

There's only one big publisher where your point stands and that's EA because I'm assuming most of their PC digital sales are through Origin, but I bet you it's still a fraction of what the console versions sell.

There's no way to spin these numbers in the OP. 10-12% of all WD sales were on PC. That's rough and there's no way around it. This is why we get late ports and optimization issues because it's 10% of the market for most of these big AAA games.

The difference being that this time next year wash_doges will be selling nothing on consoles, and will have just sold a bunch in the steam summer sale.

PC games have longer tails.
Those tails are sub <$10 Steam sales. How relevant are longer tails when console versions are selling for $59.99 at launch and you can get the PC versions for $40-50 at launch. If you use GMG, you can get them for even less. I bet you it cancels out when you consider the revenue difference there.
 

ethomaz

Banned
61N8WeD.jpg
DAT PS4 36%
 

Kinthalis

Banned
The bolded parts above are legit bs, imo. I'm certain the majority of the sales for Watch Dogs were NOT directly through Uplay. How many people do you know that actually buy games directly through Uplay, meaning Ubi would get 100% of the profit? I think I've done it one time ever. My point is, Steam, which is the platform that most will buy these games from, will take 30% (whatever the figure is) from the point of sale price so your point about more revenue due to digital doesn't make sense. Even if you say that retail console games takes bigger than 30% of the price that Steam does, you still have to consider that retail console games sell for higher prices and continue to be at a higher price for a lengthier amount of time (see response to MrNyarlathotep below).

There's only one big publisher where your point stands and that's EA because I'm assuming most of their PC digital sales are through Origin, but I bet you it's still a fraction of what the console versions sell.

There's no way to spin these numbers in the OP. 10-12% of all WD sales were on PC. That's rough and there's no way around it. This is why we get late ports and optimization issues because it's 10% of the market for most of these big AAA games.


Those tails are sub <$10 Steam sales. How relevant are longer tails when console versions are selling for $59.99 at launch and you can get the PC versions for $40-50 at launch. If you use GMG, you can get them for even less. I bet you it cancels out when you consider the revenue difference there.

A million $10 sales >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> 0 $60 sales.

Also digital PROFIT (not revennue) from a PC sale is nearly twice as much as the profit from a retial console sale. So yes, in terms of profit I'd say the platforms are closer, though the PS4 is still likely larger.

That doesn't mean much though. Look at the same quarter last year, PC was responsible for a good chunk of Ubisoft's revennue then. The number are going to differe from game to game, from quarter to quarter. You also need ot think about this game and it's positioning. DId Ubisoft advertise this game as a PC game? Nope. If you';d ask Joe Gamer ont he street, he probably thought it was a next gen console exclusive. And there's also the fact that next gen consle owners were starving for games, meanwhile on PC you've got 10,000 to choose from.
 
A million $10 sales >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> 0 $60 sales.
A million, really? I can't dignify that with a real response. And to think console versions just completely stop selling altogether is silly.

Whoops, I see you just edited in more.

Also digital PROFIT (not revennue) from a PC sale is nearly twice as much as the profit from a retial console sale. So yes, in terms of profit I'd say the platforms are closer, though the PS4 is still likely larger.
Where is your source for this? Steam still takes 30% of the point of sale price.
 
There's no way to spin these numbers in the OP. 10-12% of all WD sales were on PC. That's rough and there's no way around it. This is why we get late ports and optimization issues because it's 10% of the market for most of these big AAA games.

yeah it's "rough" if you compare PC sales to PS3+PS4+360+XB1 sales. what would be the point of such a comparison? you can see from the Ubisoft Q1 numbers PC revenue is as much as 360's, and only a little less than XB1 or PS3.
 

Denton

Member
Okay but do we know how much Ubi gets in either case?

How is the 750k deficit cancelled when such margins are unknown? Estimation?
Obviously, all we can do, all of us, is educated guessing. At least until they release all the necessary information, if it ever happens.
yeah it's "rough" if you compare PC sales to PS3+PS4+360+XB1 sales. what would be the point of such a comparison? you can see from the Ubisoft Q1 numbers PC revenue is as much as 360's, and only a little less than XB1 or PS3.

It is Heavy.
 
yeah it's "rough" if you compare PC sales to PS3+PS4+360+XB1 sales. what would be the point of such a comparison? you can see from the Ubisoft Q1 numbers PC revenue is as much as 360's, and only a little less than XB1 or PS3.
What is that revenue made up of? (Remember, Ubi still releases PC exclusives). My posts/points are referring to these large AAA games. We have numbers right in front of us for one of Ubi's biggest and most important new titles/IPs in years and the result is a paltry 10%.
 

Kinthalis

Banned
A million, really? I can't dignify that with a real response. And to think console versions just completely stop selling altogether is silly.

Whoops, I see you just edited in more.


Where is your source for this? Steam still takes 30% of the point of sale price.

You don't think PC can achive another million sales within a year, after 2 or 3 more Steam sales? I think there's a good chance of that. His point is precisely that PC games have long tails. Mods are released, performance is increased, new hardware comes out, sales hit, all of those things entice PC gamers who might not have given a crap about a new, mostly console console IP, to pick it up. Where as on console, no one will buy it, and if they do, it'll be a used copy for which Ubisoft wil not see any more money.

And this:

http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/entertainmentnewsbuzz/2010/02/anatomy-of-a-60-dollar-video-game.html

And my previous post in case you missed it:

I call them as I see them. He spews nothing but nonsense, and he has some real console wariror hatred for PC.

A Console retail sale should break down something like the folowing (and, these are estimates, deals on either side cna change things up):

-$60 retail console sale-
Manufactuer: ~$10
Cost of shipping and manufacturing: ~$4
Retail cut: ~$15
Cost of returns: ~$4
= $27

-$60 PC Sale Via Steam -
Steam cut: ~ $18
= $42

-$60 PC Sale Via UIbistore -
Cost of bandwitdh: ?? probably less than a dollar.
= $59

The PC Sale can underperform by half and STILL bnring in about as much profit as a a single console platform brings in. This is WHY Ubisoft releases PC games, why they have severla PC exlcusive franchises, and why just about EVERY SINGLE big and medium size publisher outside of Japan does the same thing. The breakdown of a single game or a single quarter and sales, not profit doesn't tell the whole story.
 
You don't think PC can achive another million sales within a year, after 2 or 3 more Steam sales? I think there's a good chance of that.

And this:

http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/entertainmentnewsbuzz/2010/02/anatomy-of-a-60-dollar-video-game.html

I think you're greatly overestimating the unit sales numbers that result from these sales. And again, it's not like console versions stop selling altogether. They get discounted as well. We just don't have Top 20 daily console sales charts like we do on Steam.
 

impact

Banned
10% Seems really good for the ridiculous PSN/XBL prices. Imagine if those stores were more like PC price-wise... we'd be seeing 40/60 or even 50/50
 

Kinthalis

Banned
I think you're greatly overestimating the unit sales numbers that result from these sales. And again, it's not like console versions stop selling altogether. They get discounted as well. We just don't have Top 20 daily console sales charts like we do on Steam.

I don't think I am at all. But it does depend on the game.

This game probably didn't sell more than a million if that on PC, but games like Rust routinely sell 2+ million.

It's about the kind of game the community is drawn to more. A game like Watchdogs is just going to appeal a lot more to a console crowd than a PC crowd.
 
And my previous post in case you missed it:

I did miss it as it was on the last post on the page, sorry. My response to that is how many of us buy full-priced $59.99 PC games at launch? A lot of us use GMG and other huge discount sites to get games at launch, so I bet the average profit per blockbuster Watch Dogs-esque title is going to be a good amount less than $42.

This is one of those debates where it's basically impossible to prove either way unless we get a detailed sales breakdown that includes how many units were sold at X price, which these companies will never give us. All we can do is use educated guessing, conjecture, speculation...and even then it's kind of a waste of time.
 

Daverid

Member
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.

I'll be REALLY interested to see the sales on The Witcher 3. Series started on the PC, most popular in Europe and DRM Free, Physical copy goodies etc. If you ask anywhere whether you should buy a Witcher game on PC or Console you'll always be told PC.

I hope we'll somehow get the sales breakdown for it, should be really interesting. Bloody long way off though :(
 
I don't think I am at all. But it does depend on the game.

This game probably didn't sell more than a million if that on PC, but games like Rust routinely sell 2+ million.

It's about the kind of game the community is drawn to more. A game like Watchdogs is just going to appeal a lot more to a console crowd than a PC crowd.

Isn't Rust like a third the price of Watch Dogs?
 

Kinthalis

Banned
I did miss it as it was on the last post on the page, sorry. My response to that is how many of us buy full-priced $59.99 PC games at launch? A lot of us use GMG and other huge discount sites to get games at launch, so I bet the average profit per blockbuster Watch Dogs-esque title is going to be a good amount less than $42.

This is one of those debates where it's basically impossible to prove either way unless we get a detailed sales breakdown that includes how many units were sold at X price, which these companies will never give us. All we can do is use educated guessing, conjecture, speculation...and even then it's kind of a waste of time.

I would agree it's a waste of time.

I don't even know why anyone here cares about sales.

Does anyone here own Ubisoft stock? Is the CEO of EA posting?

I play GAMES. NOT Sales. As long as PC is doing well enough that every single publisher out there puts most if not all of their games on PC AND has PC exlcusive franchises (When was the last time you heard of more than 1 or two console exlcusive franchises outside Japan that aren't being moneyhatted by Sony/Microsoft???), then I'm not concerned.
 
I'll be REALLY interested to see the sales on The Witcher 3. Series started on the PC, most popular in Europe and DRM Free, Physical copy goodies etc. If you ask anywhere whether you should buy a Witcher game on PC or Console you'll always be told PC.

I hope we'll somehow get the sales breakdown for it, should be really interesting. Bloody long way off though :(

TW3 will probably be one of those exceptions.

It's obvious they're going for that huge 10-12 million Skyrim audience so who knows, maybe it'll be a blockbuster on consoles like Skyrim was but I don't think it has the brand power to do that like Elder Scrolls has. It's also a continuation of the first two games where Skyrim is mostly contained in itself. (I think, I'm one of the few that never bought Skyrim)
 

Kinthalis

Banned
TW3 will probably be one of those exceptions.

It's obvious they're going for that huge 10-12 million Skyrim audience so who knows, maybe it'll be a blockbuster on consoles like Skyrim was but I don't think it has the brand power to do that like Elder Scrolls has. It's also a continuation of the first two games where Skyrim is mostly contained in itself. (I think, I'm one of the few that never bought Skyrim)

Yep, TW3 is a likely candidate for having just as much or even mroe sale son PC than consoles.

Look at Diablo 3. 16 million sales on PC. That's ridiculous. IT shows that if you get PC gamer's attention, they will come.. in droves. But you have to catch their attention.

A hardcore, gritty RPG that caters to PC gamers and started out on PC, an established and legendary ARPG franchise on PC, a gigantic, deep, exploration driven AAA RPG with a ton of support for mods, an innovative rough around the edges survival game? YEP.

A AAA game made moslty for a console audience.... maybe not so much.
 

Almighty

Member
Ten to twelve percent for the PC seems to be about in line with what I imagined. Watch Dogs isn't exactly the kind of game PC gamers go crazy for. Though I would like to think that if Ubisoft actually had a history of putting some effort into their ports they would of picked up a few more sales on the PC.
 

Daverid

Member
TW3 will probably be one of those exceptions.

It's obvious they're going for that huge 10-12 million Skyrim audience so who knows, maybe it'll be a blockbuster on consoles like Skyrim was but I don't think it has the brand power to do that like Elder Scrolls has. It's also a continuation of the first two games where Skyrim is mostly contained in itself. (I think, I'm one of the few that never bought Skyrim)

Nah I doubt it'll get those kind of sales. I know there's a lot more hype behind it but I think it's just because there's so much more hype this time compared to the previous 2 games it seems like a lot.
I think it'll do well, quite well, but not Skyrim-well. I'll just be very interested to see its PC sales VS Console - and how much of an 'exception' it is compared to other AAA multiplats. Normally I couldn't care much about this kind of sales related stuff, but TW3 will be the odd occasion where I'm totally intrigued to find out.
 
Those tails are sub <$10 Steam sales. How relevant are longer tails when console versions are selling for $59.99 at launch and you can get the PC versions for $40-50 at launch.

1) No, those tails are at $50 launch point, then at $35 at first discount tier, then at $25, then eventually at $10. Thats how long tail pricing works, and it picks up more customers.

2) PC titles should always be less than console titles at initial launch, because the PC has no platform holder that has to be paid royalties.
 
Even at 10% Sony/MS are making a pretty penny on full priced digital games. They get the 30% online retailer cut, as well as the per unit royalties. That is a substantial bit of money when it is all said and done..
 

Reg

Banned
1) No, those tails are at $50 launch point, then at $35 at first discount tier, then at $25, then eventually at $10. Thats how long tail pricing works, and it picks up more customers.

2) PC titles should always be less than console titles at initial launch, because the PC has no platform holder that has to be paid royalties.

Well if it's on steam then Valve becomes the platform holder. Not to forget GOG or Humble.
 
Even at 10% Sony/MS are making a pretty penny on full priced digital games. They get the 30% online retailer cut, as well as the per unit royalties. That is a substantial bit of money when it is all said and done..
They collect the platform fee in addition to the 30% cut? Are you sure about that? I always assumed the digital cut would be in lieu of the platform fee.
 
Well if it's on steam then Valve becomes the platform holder. Not to forget GOG or Humble.

not the same, Steam takes a cut (as a retailer) only if you buy from the Steam store, buying Steam keys from Amazon/GMG/GOG they don't take a cut.
 
Well if it's on steam then Valve becomes the platform holder. Not to forget GOG or Humble.

No, Valve is a retailer not a platform holder.

To release a game on a console, you need to pay a percentage to that hardware manufacturer of every game sold. This is why consoles traditionally used the razor blade model, because software licencing fees were expected to offset hardware losses.

To release a game on the PC - on any storefront; Steam, Uplay, Origin, GMG, Direct2Drive, whatever - there is no platform holder and you do not pay any licence fees for certification.
EDIT: There is arguably a 'certification fee' for putting a game onto Steam Greenlight, but its there to prevent abuse rather than a core part of their business model and is IIRC refundable after your first sales

They collect the platform fee in addition to the 30% cut? Are you sure about that? I always assumed the digital cut would be in lieu of the platform fee.

Pretty sure that that is not the case.
 

LCGeek

formerly sane
This time last year PC was responsible for about the same share of sales as any other console though...

Not only that, but this represents sales, NOT profit. Given that 70% of sales are digital on PC, the share of profit for PC is larger than it's shar eof sales would indicate.

Finally, this probably varies from game to game. Watchdogs isnt exactly a big title on the lips of PC gamers, especially after the issues with performance.

I wouldn't be surprised ot see a nice bump up for this particular title on PC after the Xmas Sales hit.

Thank you for saying this better than I could.

Heavy when the companies you mention put out crap especially in terms of performance you drive out any pc gamer. If low to midrange gamers can't play a title they don't want to buy and when these titles don't go enthusiast much options or even parity of console titles they don't sell.

Watchdog deserves the sales it got for the stuttering never mind the downgrade issue.
 

Reg

Banned
not the same, Steam takes a cut (as a retailer) only if you buy from the Steam store, buying Steam keys from Amazon/GMG/GOG they don't take a cut.

Very interesting. But then does Amazon or anybody else get a cut from the sale of a steam key? If the game sells for 60, then would Amazon get a percentage from that?
 

Nirolak

Mrgrgr
2 thirds sold on next gen though.
While it's obvious there soon won't be a real vent market for 360/PS3 games, over 2.6 million copies is a very strong argument for crossgen.

Crossgen seems to be generally dead starting in Q1 2015 based on announced games, which seems about right.

Tomb Raider being crossgen in Fall 2015 is crazy though.
 
Yea, I really have no incentive to go digital. With retail I can resell it later if I'd like, doesn't affect my bandwidth caps and I have a friend that I loan games with back and forth. Picking up used games for almost half price a few months later is awesome too.

Works out great.

I basically came here to post this.

The only time I go digital is if there are crazy sales. My digital cutoff price for sales is a strict 75% off, $10 max price. I've let that slide exactly once with Puppeteer on PSN when I bought it for $13 a few months back as my small attempt to reward the devs for a beautiful, under-appreciated game.

My buying strategy generally works great. I pick up most digital games for $5 or less on all platforms. Many are double-dips of games I already have on physical simply for the convenience of digital juke box gaming. For new/newish releases I stick to physical 100% and only rarely buy on release day if there is a nice discount and its a guaranteed cant miss game with good to great reviews day before release. BB's GCU helps out quite a bit in this regard. Everything else I just wait and pick up on heavy discount a few months later or used for a lot cheaper. Example: just snagged ACIV Black Flag (Xbone) for $9 (GCU)..."used" but essentially looks brand new like it was never played. Theres no way I'd have paid full price for yet another AC release, but at $9 its a no brainer. I imagine it'll be a few months at best before we see the digital price hit $10 or less...if ever...so this is a prime example of why physical is still my go-to for all console releases.
 

Saty

Member
There's no way to spin these numbers in the OP. 10-12% of all WD sales were on PC. That's rough and there's no way around it. This is why we get late ports and optimization issues because it's 10% of the market for most of these big AAA games.

You are the one who's spinning the numbers using the gang-up mentally of 4 skus against 1.
Let's say PC sold 10% of total, that leaves the rest 4 platforms with 22.5% each. I'm not seeing what's outrageous with a 12% difference between your PC sku and the next best selling sku, in an industry where multiplatform games are designed and heavily marketed to capture the console audience. With all the noise you and others make about consoles vs pc and how inconceivable it is for people to play and buy games on pc, you'd expect a gulf between the pc sku and the next console sku. There isn't one.

And now, we all know the 4 console platforms weren't evenly split so that means the different between the PC sku and the next console sku is even smaller and probably a single-digit %.

And then you factor in PC players past experience with Ubisoft open-world games; the higher-than-normal system requirements and questioning what kind of a beast system you'd need to play it properly; the technical\performance mess at launch (that still exists i think); bad word of mouth etc.

And then factor revenue from each copy.

And we saw it with Far Cry 3 where the difference between the PC sku and the next console sku was less than 750k copies.

Since your mind was made up regardless of data, you'll do your best to manufacture one - which means always taking at least 2 platforms to compare to a single one.
 
Obviously, all we can do, all of us, is educated guessing. At least until they release all the necessary information, if it ever happens.


It is Heavy.

Yes but where are we have we gotten insight to the breakdown of costs ever? I'm curious. Has anyone in the industry or publisher given us hints or are we just making numbers?
 
You are the one who's spinning the numbers using the gang-up mentally of 4 skus against 1.
Let's say PC sold 10% of total, that leaves the rest 4 platforms with 22.5% each. I'm not seeing what's outrageous with a 12% difference between your PC sku and the next best selling sku, in an industry where multiplatform games are designed and heavily marketed to capture the console audience. With all the noise you and others make about consoles vs pc and how inconceivable it is for people to play and buy games on pc, you'd expect a gulf between the pc sku and the next console sku. There isn't one.

And now, we all know the 4 console platforms weren't evenly split so that means the different between the PC sku and the next console sku is even smaller and probably a single-digit %.

And then you factor in PC players past experience with Ubisoft open-world games; the higher-than-normal system requirements and questioning what kind of a beast system you'd need to play it properly; the technical\performance mess at launch (that still exists i think); bad word of mouth etc.

And then factor revenue from each copy.

And we saw it with Far Cry 3 where the difference between the PC sku and the next console sku was less than 750k copies.

Since your mind was made up regardless of data, you'll do your best to manufacture one - which means always taking at least 2 platforms to compare to a single one.

Comparing it to the worst-selling console is comparing it to a console version that won't exist soon. Companies are already starting to ditch cross gen, in announcements at least.

Your mind is just as made up regardless of data.
 

Saty

Member
The quick drop in 360\ps3 sales caught everybody surprised. When all the business decisions were made the old-gen portion was expected to be higher.

Though i'm not sure what's the big difference, still a 80-90M users console that most console-minded people wouldn't pick to sell less than a pc version of AAA game. Whatever the split between ps4-xb1-pc it doesn't change the fact that your typical AAA game is still designed and marketed towards the console base so you shouldn't be taken back when the console version outsells that of the PC, especially if you are going to combing all the console skus. Per SKU discussion is the only reasonable way to discuss sales.

You've seen how much the co-marketing deal with Sony has impacted the sales split of the game even compared to the other big console, so think about the PC sku that gets next to no mainstream media.

I'm not sure what people are expecting in terms of pc split for a console-focused game on 4 other console platforms.
 

Tunesmith

formerly "chigiri"
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.

Another factor is that game keys that are sold digitally online by all unauthorized/non-official sites are counted as retail keys because they come from retail shipments originally. So to the customer it's a digital purchase but to Ubisoft it's a retail purchase, the perception that PC digital should be huge is therefore skewed.
 
More digital sales in US then EU seems right, our digital prices are inflated as fuck compared to buying the disc in a store for £15~ cheaper.
 

CorrisD

badchoiceboobies
I highly doubt this is true. It may be for some cases like CoD, but I doubt the split was that large for most games.

Just going on my memory of discussions from the previous gen the 360 versions of CoD didn't come near to doubling the PS3 versions, the 360 ones were always a few million ahead but both we're doing 10m+
 

bj00rn_

Banned
Yeah, I haven't bought a CD since I bought MS Flight Simulator X a couple of years ago (there's no digital version)..

Anyway, some still didn't buy WD due to

1. The grotesque 60 eur/gbp price
2. Steam AND Uplay required for the Steam version
3. Console-itis
4. GTAV-inferior-itis PC wait-itis.
 

Game Guru

Member
The quick drop in 360\ps3 sales caught everybody surprised. When all the business decisions were made the old-gen portion was expected to be higher.

Oddly enough, I think it should have been obvious in retrospect. In a gaming industry that encourages consumers to buy games Day One, why would those same consumers wait to pick up a console instead of also buying their console Day One? What ends up being left is the people who don't buy Day One, and that usually means they are buying their console games used.
 
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