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The Witcher 3: Digital copies are 50% of rev, 30% PC/70% console, 25% dig/75% retail

Nzyme32

Member
They sold more copies on GOG than steam. They disclosed that in an other thread.

Yep. GoG is one of the few services that has the power to do this to the point where it could net them a significant portion of their total revenue. Not only is GoG a great service that people are happy to use thanks to their great policies, their approach to pricing globally was pretty great
 

Bolivar687

Banned
PC is 30% split but total digital sales were only 25%? Considering some people must have purchased the game digitally on consoles the amount of physical purchases for PC is pretty high.

That's the version I got. The Witcher 3 was such an event, I wanted to have some physical goodies for it and it came with a bunch of cool stuff. I've also heard on here that PC retail software is much bigger in Europe?

Anyway, I have to imagine this will reinforce publishers having their own DD platforms going forward, while still selling on as many as possible. I believe I even saw W3 on UPLAY.
 

Kyougar

Member
Annd that's why you expand to consoles.

Tell that Crytek,

They are dead after expanding to consoles. or Egosoft, they tried to consolify the X Franchise.

Going to Console worked here but it is no statement that should be made for every Situation.
 

4Tran

Member
Yep. GoG is one of the few services that has the power to do this to the point where it could net them a significant portion of their total revenue. Not only is GoG a great service that people are happy to use thanks to their great policies, their approach to pricing globally was pretty great
A game on GOG will only sell a fraction of what it would sell on Steam. The main exceptions to this are old school titles and the Witcher games. Still, GOG offers certain advantages so people like me are willing to pay a premium to buy a game there rather than on Steam.
 

Nzyme32

Member
That's the version I got. The Witcher 3 was such an event, I wanted to have some physical goodies for it and it came with a bunch of cool stuff. I've also heard on here that PC retail software is much bigger in Europe?

Anyway, I have to imagine this will reinforce publishers having their own DD platforms going forward, while still selling on as many as possible. I believe I even saw W3 on UPLAY.

W3 was sold at a slightly higher price on Uplay, Steam and Origin, available for pre-order but not available anywhere else until after the game launch (greenmangaming got in trouble for trying to mess with CD Projekt's plans by getting retail copies and attempting to sell the keys, but were forced to stop). The mentality behind that was to steer people towards GoG, emphasising that customers would be helping support the makers of the game better that way. I imagine Uplay and Origin were a part of that as a gesture of good will towards the publishers, while Steam is a bit of a no brainer.

Overall it seems the game has sold well on all platforms (although the console split isn't known)

A game on GOG will only sell a fraction of what it would sell on Steam. The main exceptions to this are old school titles and the Witcher games. Still, GOG offers certain advantages so people like me are willing to pay a premium to buy a game there rather than on Steam.

As I said above. The difference here was the better pricing vs other services, more goodies provided, promoting directly supporting the developer and generally being very pleasant in how they discussed it all - no overzealous dlc, pricing, drm, good PC version etc etc
 

Grief.exe

Member
Hmm I wish there were specific numbers of PC/consoles sales split in digital sales and retail sales separately.

That would fill in the final gaps. Sales wise the platforms are fairly even, but revenue is weighted towards PC due to the higher profits from digital sales.

CD Projekt has already been vastly more open than the majority of publishers.
 

JJD

Member
Annd that's why you expand to consoles.

Yeah, I still don't understand all the vitriol that thread about CDPR saying that current TW3 wouldn't exist without consoles created. Cyberpunk 2077 wouldn't either.

No third party AAA can afford platform exclusivity these days, be it PS4, Xbone or PC.
 
No third party AAA can afford platform exclusivity these days, be it PS4, Xbone or PC.

Agree absolutely with this. Its not just about expanding to console. Its also the other way around. That's why you expand to PC. Look at games like MGSV for example which has already sold 650k copies on PC. Any of the 3 major platforms are too big to ignore
 
Annd that's why you expand to consoles.

I didn't expect this sort of childish platform war argument from you. The same argument with the platforms reversed can be made for traditional console series like Dark Souls. Both cases reflect the current market reality which is that you need to target as many platforms as possible in order to reach all of the potential audience.
 

4Tran

Member
Yeah, I still don't understand all the vitriol that thread about CDPR saying that current TW3 wouldn't exist without consoles created. Cyberpunk 2077 wouldn't either.

No third party AAA can afford platform exclusivity these days, be it PS4, Xbone or PC.
That's not entirely true. There are a number of PC exclusive AAA games that will never show up on console. The difference is that these games use control schemes and interfaces that aren't compatible with console controllers.
 

Madness

Member
I don't quiet get how digial can be only 25% of sales, but 50% of revenue. How many people are buying products more expensive when buying digital?

Almost everyone? How many digital games have you seen drop in price as opposed to physical? Digital only is a far more costly venture this gen. I could've swore Witcher 3 went down a few times on Amazon or Best Buy where people could get almost half off.
 

Kinthalis

Banned
I didn't expect this sort of childish platform war argument from you. The same argument with the platforms reversed can be made for traditional console series like Dark Souls. Both cases reflect the current market reality which is that you need to target as many platforms as possible in order to reach all of the potential audience.

At least with AAA titles for sure. I think smaller titles CAN afford to remain in one or two platforms, so long as theya re catering to a hungry audience there - and some genres/games can do this, even if their costs are AAA in size.

LoL doesn't need consoles. GTA doesn't need PC. And yet, NOT doing either is leaving money on the table. Of course with GTA it doesn't amke sens enot to port to PC, but with LoL you have the user interface to consider.
 
I didn't expect this sort of childish platform war argument from you. The same argument with the platforms reversed can be made for traditional console series like Dark Souls. Both cases reflect the current market reality which is that you need to target as many platforms as possible in order to reach all of the potential audience.

That is only if it worth the ROI which of course is the case with AAA games.
 

viHuGi

Banned
Agree absolutely with this. Its not just about expanding to console. Its also the other way around. That's why you expand to PC. Look at games like MGSV for example which has already sold 650k copies on PC. Any of the 3 major platforms are too big to ignore

This.
 

Kinthalis

Banned
I didn't expect this sort of childish platform war argument from you. The same argument with the platforms reversed can be made for traditional console series like Dark Souls. Both cases reflect the current market reality which is that you need to target as many platforms as possible in order to reach all of the potential audience.

To be fair, I don't think he meant it as platform warry as it sounded. Shinobi don't do that (I don't think).
 

JJD

Member
I didn't expect this sort of childish platform war argument from you. The same argument with the platforms reversed can be made for traditional console series like Dark Souls. Both cases reflect the current market reality which is that you need to target as many platforms as possible in order to reach all of the potential audience.

I think you're seeing too much into his post. He is talking about a franchise and a dev that have always been PC oriented so why he would talk about then expanding to PCs?

Not every post praising consoles is a dig at PCs. I've never seen shinobi getting into silly video game wars.

With all due respect one could even say that he expected this kind of childish argument from you considering your history here.

Just chill my friend.
 
I didn't expect this sort of childish platform war argument from you. The same argument with the platforms reversed can be made for traditional console series like Dark Souls. Both cases reflect the current market reality which is that you need to target as many platforms as possible in order to reach all of the potential audience.
The hell are you talking about lol? As an owner of dozens of consoles and gaming PCs over the years, I'm the last person you should be shoveling that crap at. In this specific case, a studio saw a massive sales increase by expanding to consoles. If it was the other way around in another thread I'd say the same exact thing for PC expansion.
 
The hell are you talking about lol? As an owner of dozens of consoles and gaming PCs in my life, I'm the last person you should be shoveling that crap at. In this specific case, a studio saw a massive sales increase by expanding to consoles. If it was the other way around in another thread I'd say the same exact thing for PC expansion.

Yeah your a good bro. No one should take that as in you dissing on PC gaming. Some of us were just expanding on your comment saying thats why if you are AAA you should expand across all 3.

I know you didn't mean anything ill about your comment :)
 
The hell are you talking about lol? As an owner of dozens of consoles and gaming PCs over the years, I'm the last person you should be shoveling that crap at. In this specific case, a studio saw a massive sales increase by expanding to consoles. If it was the other way around in another thread I'd say the same exact thing for PC expansion.

Did you?
 
Oh wow consoles are 70%, did not expect that for W3, one of the biggest (former) pc franchises, but only makes up 30%. No wonder CDPR were saying this

"If the consoles are not involved there is no Witcher 3 as it is," answers Marcin Iwinski, definitively. "We can lay it out that simply. We just cannot afford it, because consoles allow us to go higher in terms of the possible or achievable sales; have a higher budget for the game, and invest it all into developing this huge, gigantic world. "Developing only for the PC: yes, probably we could get more [in terms of graphics] as there would be nothing else - they would be so focused, like if we would develop only on Xbox One or PlayStation 4. But then we cannot afford such a game."

People sound so silly now when when they say consoles held back W3 when in reality it wouldn't exist without consoles.

Annd that's why you expand to consoles.
.

PC exclusivity doesn't fund games with this budget, unless you let the fans buy virtual ships worth 100s, 1000s with real $.

Hmm I wish there were specific numbers of PC/consoles sales split in digital sales and retail sales separately.

US/UK was 65% in PS4 favor, expand to other markets where PS4 is stronger, that nr should increase to 70-80%. So probably:
PS4: ~50%
PC: 30%
XBO: 20%
 
And this is why so many games and studios are expanding their platform base. Dark souls did it, MGS did it, and both were well rewarded for doing so. In future I expect more devs to open their franchises to every gamer. No platform holder, whether it be Sony or Microsoft, can offer enough money in place of such a wide audience.
 
CDPR has been planning and doing pre-production for Cyberpunk for a long time, however expecting Witcher 4 anytime before 2020 is wishful thinking.
 

Ampsicora

Member
In this thread seems some guys have forgot the PC version more likely sold the majority of the copies in DD, and the DD are the 50% of the revenue.
Also it's pretty obvious two platforms sold better than one. The point is the PC is now a proper contender in sales, not like 10 years ago which it was really almost dead.
 

Klendathu

Member
I bought mine digitally because I wanted to play the game the moment I woke up and not have to wait for the postman/courier to arrive or go to the nearest game store, which is bleeding miles away!
 
Do we know if any of these numbers factor in Nvidia codes? Gotta figure at least a million or so copies were "sold" that way.
 
I would still bet that Steam sold more copies than GOG did though.

It might sell more copies, but I am pretty sure CDPR cares more about the revenue than the # of copies sold for this particular game. Steam will sell more because it will put it up for sale for 10 bucks.

Obviously, long term it is nice to have more fans to buy future games.

Tell that Crytek,

They are dead after expanding to consoles. or Egosoft, they tried to consolify the X Franchise.

Going to Console worked here but it is no statement that should be made for every Situation.
expanding to consoles will not save you, IF you are terrible or down right extremely average at making average shooters. Crytek issues had nothing to do with moving to consoles, their only claim to fame was making a game very few could actually play.
 

Durante

Member
There are still good reasons for PC exclusives depending on what type of game you're making, but yeah... Multiplatform is just where we are now. You can't make games like this without going big. Single platform RPGs look more like Pillars of Eternity, smaller budgets that target a very specific audience that will come to the product rather than need the product to come to them.
Yeah, if you are selling an "AAA" game with broad appeal you'd be stupid not to release it on as many platforms as possible without compromising the basic design. And Witcher 3 clearly is that kind of game.

On the other hand, the same has yet to be demonstrated for smaller, more focused titles. In that regard, it will be interesting to see how the platform splits for Divinity:OS or Wasteland 2 work out (if we get that information). We know (or rather, we can infer) what happened with XCOM.
 

Kill3r7

Member
That digital revenue # is pretty interesting. I'm sure we will discuss it for a long time. Also, fantastic sales numbers on consoles. IIRC, they offered a 10%off discount on consoles for pre-ordering the game. One of the few games to have such an offer this spring and it looks to have paid off. Well deserved.
 
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