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BloodBorne Sales Expectations : What are yours? What Could Sony's be ?

Servbot24

Banned
Completely anecdotal but my Facebook feed is blowing up with Bloodborne praise. Most of my friends on there are concept artists, so not indicative of a general audience, but still seems to be doing well.

Obsidian Entertainment perhaps? Even that's a long shot for the combat mechanics. Who knows? I'd sure like to see more developers try though.

Obsidian is right near the top of my list of devs I don't want doing a Souls game.
 
Big name, big title but I don't see lots of people getting pulled in by hype and buying it. Maybe they do but I feel like the game itself is a massive barrier to casual play (go figure)

Hell, I've played all of these and I spend 5 hours playing last night without beating the first boss. If people thought that's the experience they would get, lots of them would not buy it.
 

WITHE1982

Member
Well I know at least 3 people who are buying it on Friday so can confidently say at least 3 copies.

Personally I think if it reaches 3m in sales it'll be a fantastic result for From Software. It is still kinda a niche game and the difficulty will put a lot of casuals off but on the back of the review scores alone I expect it to break 1m.
 

Ushay

Member
Dark Souls has always been a niche franchise so I'd say just over 1 million worldwide. Plus its on a single platform. Should be very respectable numbers as the reviews were excellent.

Should be Sony's best exclusive thus far, but who knows.
 
Big name, big title but I don't see lots of people getting pulled in by hype and buying it. Maybe they do but I feel like the game itself is a massive barrier to casual play (go figure)

Hell, I've played all of these and I spend 5 hours playing last night without beating the first boss. If people thought that's the experience they would get, lots of them would not buy it.

Yamagiwa (one of the producers) mentioned that the difficulty is one of the biggest challenges when it comes to simply getting people to try the game. I think it's one of the reasons that early on he mentioned that they were trying to make it more accessible, which of course caused fans to get upset. But right now the game has everything else going for it. It's basically the talk of all websites, it's tied with 3D world as being the highest rated game of the current generation (if you exclude remasters) and it's receiving a big marketing campaign.
 

Servbot24

Banned
Well I know at least 3 people who are buying it on Friday so can confidently say at least 3 copies.

Personally I think if it reaches 3m in sales it'll be a fantastic result for From Software. It is still kinda a niche game and the difficulty will put a lot of casuals off but on the back of the review scores alone I expect it to break 1m.

I think 3 mil is the cap. Barring a big bundle promotion or something like that down the road.
 

Carroway

Member
A small anecdote:

The local gamestop, had no more copies that wasn't already reserved. They had gotten people coming in all day wanting to buy the game that they simply couldn't keep up with demand. Heck i had to wait in line to just get my preorder and everyone infront of me was buying Bloodborne. Then again, this is a, relatively, small university town so take of it what you will.
 

Darksheik

Member
I bet they will sell a lot o copies. Here where I live (Switzerland) today it was almost impossible to find a copy that was not preordered. Assuming they haven't shipped few copies (and I don't think so), Bloodborne is going to sell a lot. I guess over 3M.
 
Yamagiwa (one of the producers) mentioned that the difficulty is one of the biggest challenges when it comes to simply getting people to try the game. I think it's one of the reasons that early on he mentioned that they were trying to make it more accessible, which of course caused fans to get upset. But right now the game has everything else going for it. It's basically the talk of all websites, it's tied with 3D world as being the highest rated game of the current generation (if you exclude remasters) and it's receiving a big marketing campaign.

True, which will help the game quite a bit. I worry about people buying this game because of the hype and no being able to get close to completing it. More accessible or not, I think it's the hardest 'souls' game so far. But that won't stop sales.
 

E92 M3

Member
True, which will help the game quite a bit. I worry about people buying this game because of the hype and no being able to get close to completing it. More accessible or not, I think it's the hardest 'souls' game so far. But that won't stop sales.

That's great to hear. I am hoping for it to be super-brutal. Souls games got popular because it gives zero fucks for mass appeal and just does it's own thing. Hopefully Sony doesn't try to push BB to be more accessible.
 

hydruxo

Member
Went to two different Targets yesterday, both were sold out. Not sure how many copies they had but I was surprised that it's so popular in my area.

Also last night out of the 70 people that were online on my friends list, 46 of them were playing Bloodborne. Seems like it's doing pretty damn well.
 
While I do feel rather vindicated with my prediction, isn't an 18.6% attach rate rather high?
Look at the current lineup of games that are available and the previous reported attachrate of 4 games per system sold and 18.6% seems less crazy.

So you have two primary targets to look at...

1. Existing base: I would say it's safe to assume that the existing user base owns Destiny (remember not gaf, typical users, I don't consider us typical), GTAV, AC: U (It sold very well, broken or not), Sports title 2015. Then look at the recent titles competing for shelf space and it seems even less crazy, Borderlands remaster, Battlefield, DmC: DE, a typical Target shopper is going to go looking at games and see Bloodborne in the sea of remasters/established IP's and it becomes attractive. Now that user goes looking for reviews and they're more likely to take a chance early in the lifecycle because there has not been much to hold the attention of a console only gamer.

2. Console buyer: Bloodborne has hype at the moment and a typical user purchasing 4 titles, I don't think it's crazy to say there is a 25% percent chance Bloodborne is one of those titles bought.

I hope you're right, but realistically I think we're looking at maximum 3 mill lifetime, unless the critical reception of BB convinces gamers to finally give this type of game a chance.

As much as I love the souls games, and GAF loves the souls games, they have never sold as well as I expected them to. With Dark Souls the marketing was there, the word of mouth was there, the quality and positive reviews were there, and it was distributed (eventually) to all platforms. The attach rate wasn't close to 18.6%. Bottom line, it still qualifies as niche. There is a limited interest for this type of game that hasn't changed for three installments.
In addition to the above elaboration, we are EARLY in the lifecycle right now and the last big title was Destiny. This is a huge advantage for the Bloodborne, every other large release has been a trickle to Destiny's downpour. Every console player have an outlet game to their online community game (I.E Destiny), Bloodborne launched at a very good time considering that.

I agree with you that Souls games are very niche, but I was not surprised at ALL when they didn't use the Souls tag on this title. This is their attempt at dropping that niche and I promise you it's already working. Last night I had a friend on PSN party up with me saying "I caved in, I got the last copy of Bloodborne at Target". He has NEVER touched or had interest in a Souls game, but wanted to try it because he wanted something that wasn't a shooter. He is very much a typical gamer also, Destiny, COD: AW and he bought it purely off seeing the commercials for it.
 
Went to two different Targets yesterday, both were sold out. Not sure how many copies they had but I was surprised that it's so popular in my area.

Also last night out of the 70 people that were online on my friends list, 46 of them were playing Bloodborne. Seems like it's doing pretty damn well.

Looks like whatever Sonys initial projections for the game were, it's drastically outstripping it. Wouldn't be shocked to see a million sales by the end of the month.

Thank god for digital distribution though, Sony would be leaving a lot of money on the table otherwise.
 
That's great to hear. I am hoping for it to be super-brutal. Souls games got popular because it gives zero fucks for mass appeal and just does it's own thing. Hopefully Sony doesn't try to push BB to be more accessible.

More accessible isn't always on the same coin as difficulty. Thee effort to make it more accessible had to do with reducing the total number of stats, weapons and how the combat works. They want to make it less confusing and less about hiding, cheesing and turtling.

To me, the game is just as hard (if not more so) than the previous titles. I can see people playing this as their first one having an easier time only because of how the combat is a bit different. I currently can't deal with not having my shield since I play these games very slow.

It's about being fast, hitting, dodging and using a parry attack which feels much more like how games like Bayonetta and DmC handle things.

Don'y worry, this could not be more of a 'souls' game though.
 

Krakn3Dfx

Member
Millions will buy, millions will cry. Probably a million will rage quit 45 minutes in and go back to something easier.

1395135553432.jpg
 

Servbot24

Banned
True, which will help the game quite a bit. I worry about people buying this game because of the hype and no being able to get close to completing it. More accessible or not, I think it's the hardest 'souls' game so far. But that won't stop sales.

I don't think every game should necessarily be able to be reasonably completed by everyone.

Remember in the 90s when your friends were impressed if you beat certain games at all? Or if you found a secret it was a huge deal? I liked that.
 

Mrbob

Member
Went to two different Targets yesterday, both were sold out. Not sure how many copies they had but I was surprised that it's so popular in my area.

Also last night out of the 70 people that were online on my friends list, 46 of them were playing Bloodborne. Seems like it's doing pretty damn well.

Yeah, the last time I saw so many people playing one game on PS4 was the Destiny release. Now it won't sell as much as Destiny, but it seems a lot of people are playing it. Definitely going to outsell FF Type 0 in my mind, by a decent margin.
 
I don't think every game should necessarily be able to be reasonably completed by everyone.

Remember in the 90s when your friends were impressed if you beat certain games at all? Or if you found a secret it was a huge deal? I liked that.

Lol! Pretty sure people don't get more than halfway though even the most casual games. That phenomenon is well discussed here. Most gamers never see the final stages of the games they buy.

That being said the games aren't THAT hard. You can call in help and gamefaqs is just a click away. We're nowhere near 'NES HARD' with these games.
 

E92 M3

Member
More accessible isn't always on the same coin as difficulty. Thee effort to make it more accessible had to do with reducing the total number of stats, weapons and how the combat works. They want to make it less confusing and less about hiding, cheesing and turtling.

To me, the game is just as hard (if not more so) than the previous titles. I can see people playing this as their first one having an easier time only because of how the combat is a bit different. I currently can't deal with not having my shield since I play these games very slow.

It's about being fast, hitting, dodging and using a parry attack which feels much more like how games like Bayonetta and DmC handle things.

Don'y worry, this could not be more of a 'souls' game though.

To me, having obtuse game mechanics is part of the charm. I think the path towards accessibility is a slippery slope which leads to homogenization. Nonetheless, glad to hear you're enjoying it.
 

klaushm

Member
So, my guess is 1.2m this month.

I really would like to belive that the sales increase on the next month to 1.4m.
It is possible with mouth to mouth marketing, fix patches and good reviews.
Gamers that were not convinced or confident about the game quality, or even people who wouldn't even bought it get aware.

But, that prediction makes my year prediction fail. At march 2016, I think they will sell 4.3m.

If my escalating prediction is right, they will do waaaaaaaay better than 4.3m.

If people don't make my prediction true, I will.

Just bought 2 copies:

all hail the savior of PS4 gaming

jk; One is a birthday present.
 
I don't think every game should necessarily be able to be reasonably completed by everyone.

Remember in the 90s when your friends were impressed if you beat certain games at all? Or if you found a secret it was a huge deal? I liked that.

I agree with you but I think things have changed since back in the day.
People expect to be able to beat a game, and that's not unreasonable. People getting this as their first 'souls' game are in for the same shock the rest of us got. What kind of challenge you get from trying to beat a game your 3rd time on the hardest difficulty is what you get out of the box here. It's not something people expect. I think it can turn people off, but right now it's a great game with lots of great scores and marketing behind it and that will push it.
 
D

Deleted member 752119

Unconfirmed Member
I didn't see any on the shelf at the Best Buy I picked up my online order yesterday. I did see six or so in another Best Buy today when grabbing some other stuff.
 
To me, having obtuse game mechanics is part of the charm. I think the path towards accessibility is a slippery slope which leads to homogenization. Nonetheless, glad to hear you're enjoying it.

To a point. TOO obtuse is definitely a bad thing. World tendency in DES and how covenants worked in DAS were good examples of what not to do.

DS2 was largely free of stuff like that though, so it looks like FROM learned the right lessons there.
 
True, which will help the game quite a bit. I worry about people buying this game because of the hype and no being able to get close to completing it. More accessible or not, I think it's the hardest 'souls' game so far. But that won't stop sales.

If it is more successful than some think it can be it'll be interesting to see if it impacts other games by showing publishers that there's a mainstream market for difficult games as well as games that don't hold your hand.

Went to two different Targets yesterday, both were sold out. Not sure how many copies they had but I was surprised that it's so popular in my area.

Also last night out of the 70 people that were online on my friends list, 46 of them were playing Bloodborne. Seems like it's doing pretty damn well.

Amazon was also sold out, but they've received more stock. The digital code started creeping up the charts because the physical version wasn't in stock.
 
Well, I went out to get my copy after work and it's sold out everywhere on launch day around here (GER). So there is that. Though I have no idea how many copies MM and Saturn got, but one clerk told me Sony undershipped the game.
 
I'm expecting a 500k+ NPD, and hopefully a lifetime 3million. Anecdotal, I had a bunch of friends who still played destiny and raided weekly decide to all take the plunge and buy Bloodborne to tie them over until the next Destiny update. All 6 of them have never played a souls game in the past but were willing to give this a try due to reviews, hype and boredom with Destiny's hardmode raids and multiplayer.

I'm just happy they're willing to try the game, nothing beats getting in a party chat and hearing them rage and cry over lost souls :D

side note, all but 1 of them are still stuck on the first boss. The one that didn't had me tell him tips and he got the first boss in one try with me feeding him tips :D
 

E92 M3

Member
To a point. TOO obtuse is definitely a bad thing. World tendency in DES and how covenants worked in DAS were good examples of what not to do.

DS2 was largely free of stuff like that though, so it looks like FROM learned the right lessons there.

I agree that there is a balance and DaS2 headed in the right direction.
 

Chobel

Member
Sticking with my >400K in NPD prediction.

I remember someone said it might come in under the Orders numbers (lololol)

That's me, I certainly didn't think the hype will blow up like it's happening now. But i doubt it will reach 400K for March NPD, 350K tops.
 
Just to give an idea of how Dark Souls 2 performed early on

UK First Week - 38-43k
Japan First Week - 260k
US First Month - 350k

I think Bloodborne has a shot of topping DS2 in the US and UK. Japan seems more of a question of userbase. Dragon Quest Heroes on the PS4 is at 327k, so it's possible.
 

Rand6

Member
Bloodborne after 1 month (end of April) :

Japan : 200/250k
US : 350/450k
EU : 350/450k
Other : 50/100k

After 1 year (with bundle) :
Japan : 250/300k
US : 500/750k
EU : 500/750k
Other : 200k

LTD (with Goty edition, and PSN discount at 10$)
Japan : 350k
US : 1M
EU : 1M
Other : 250k
 
When I went to Gamestop to pick up my Majora's Mask 3DS the guy told me this when I asked how Bloodborne's release went.

"If they would have released it on Xbox One in addition to PS4 they would have easily sold a couple million copys, but without XB1 or a PC release I bet they'll barely hit 1 million".

To which I asked "Really? What about the large user base of Playstation 4 owners that are still looking for a killer game? Don't you think that should move at least a 10% share of the current user base? What about potential clients on the edge that are long time Souls fans, wouldn't they be more inclined to jump into a system now, especially with the current results from reviews and looking at the upcoming fiscal year don't you think the trend is going up? Surely they could manage 2 million plus sales with those figures?"

He stared at me like a deer in headlights and said "Oh man, do you like, you know, do this stuff?"

I'm a financial Risk Analyst, I love hearing other people tell me their analysis sometimes, this was not one of those times. Bloodborne: Gamestop Financial Analyst edition... Reminds me of Michael Pachter.

***EDIT*** I would say based on the consoles sold through and projections by EOM Bloodborne hits 3 million WW by August with lifetime sales of 4 million putting it at a 18.6% attach rate to user base by E3.

^ ew
 

Skux

Member
2 million by the end of the year.

This is probably the best example of a game that will sell by word of mouth. The Souls games did too but they didn't also have Sony's marketing behind them and an art style which captures people at first glance (the Souls games look bland by comparison and can be easily mistaken for a lot of other RPGs).
 

LowSignal

Member
I feel like best buy is carrying a smaller amount of games at release, yesterday Bloodborne was down to 2 left at 8pm. I bought one out of impulse
 
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