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[Lister]

Linky on stats, though the article here is not relaly abotu what this thread is about:

http://www.githyp.com/for-honor-player-and-viewer-count-launch-numbers/

We normally hear that Steam is responsible for about 75%+ of most game sales, especially at release (ruling out Steam only releases of course!), but here is a game available on Steam but with it's current online player base, at least, being almost fity-fity split among Steam purchasers and other purchasers.

Is this an anomaly or are PC gamers much more accepting of alternative store fronts on PC? This is also gotta be good news for Ubisoft who are probably making even more money per sale outside Steam, plus having all these gamers interacting directly with their client and store.

Or am I drawing too many conslusions from this bit of data, it is only counting current, active players, not actual sales afterall.

What do you guys think? Are you personally more willign to buy games outside Steam, even when they are available on Steam?

 

[CHC]

Different in this case because it just goes through uPlay anyway. So buying it on Steam basically just means you have to run TWO launcher platforms instead of one. Plus, all the third-party keys are directly activated on uPlay, so that might be a factor also.

Kind of no reason to buy it on Steam unless you're just really, really pedantic about having all your games viewable in one place.

As for being accepting? Personally I have no beef with uPlay anymore. The actual client is arguably more responsive than Steam is. It's fine.

 

[Cyryus]

Maybe because there were ALOT of sales for the uPlay only version of For Honor. Enough to knock the game near $30.00. And for a new franchise, I think its a safe bet to get the game at the best cost possible.

 

[M1nty]

Pretty interesting, 47% is a good chunk of the player base.

 

[Syril]

Since this is an Ubisoft game, I'm guessing that all the other versions just run through Uplay, while the Steam version needs to run through both Steam and Uplay simultaneously.

 

[kswiston]

Maybe because there were ALOT of sales for the uPlay only version of For Honor. Enough to knock the game near $30.00. And for a new franchise, I think its a safe bet to get the game at the best cost possible.

Ya. Ubisoft only sells the Steam version on Steam, and Steam always has the worst pre-order and launch deals.

 

[Teuoxton]

Wasn't it cheaper on Uplay too? I remember a post mentioning that.

 

[Skyzard]

I got the feeling more people than usual didn't buy it on Steam. They had decent sales on uPlay and companies selling uplay keys.

 

[Manac0r]

Just cross reference those figures with CDkeys... the uplay version was widely available for cheaper, as mentioned in the post above.

 

[kswiston]

This suggests that For Honor is closing in on 700k on PC.

The Steam version is around 350k.

 

[Smooth Operator]

You can find Uplay keys for something like 30-35 bucks, that's probably the only reason why so much people bought the Uplay version.

 

[Duxxy3]

Uplay isn't the piece of shit that it once was. In some ways I like it more than steam.

 

[Jawmuncher]

When you can save 50% or more, I know I'll play on uplay instead of paying full price for steam.

 

[LordRaptor]

For Honour was a videocard bundle promo item, right?

 

[Cyryus]

Ya. Ubisoft only sells the Steam version on Steam, and Steam always has the worst pre-order and launch deals.

Exactly, I only got the Steam version because I had about $40 worth of credit on my account so less then $20 for For Honor? SURE!

 

[AHA-Lambda]

This seems much in line with the beta stats too, wasn't it a little over 50% of the beta player base was through UPlay only and not Steam?

EDIT: yeah, here it is

Only 800,000 flagged on SteamSpy for the For Honor beta, implying 1 million tried it through uPlay only.

http://www.neogaf.com/forum/showthread.php?t=1344107

 

[Tensketch]

You can find Uplay keys for something like 30-35 bucks, that's probably the only reason why so much people bought the Uplay version.

This.

9 times out of 10 if I'm buying a game for cheap on a key seller website, it's normally uPlay only, I'm not too bothered as Steam lets me launch the game through it if I wanted.

 

[Nzyme32]

Much cheaper via Uplay / other stores providing Uplay keys.

 

[LelouchZero]

Wow that's awesome, I love seeing player counts for games! 80K+ on Uplay and Steam? That's awesome!

I wonder how many people are playing GTA V on the Steam and Rockstar Social Club version? There's frequently around 40-80K+ on steam during the week, it would be really awesome to see the total numbers!

 

[MUnited83]

The true story here is that it's 53% come from Steam. Steam has it at full price and the Steam store is the only way to get that version. Meanwhile Uplay is the version sold in every single other store and that already has big discounts in key sites and others.

 

[michaelius]

Boxed version of games like this usually come with codes to active on their own webstores (uplay, gog, origin). And all the promo bundles like current Nvidia one also have keys for those stores not steam.

 

[Dr. Zoidberg]

...unless you're just really, really pedantic about having all your games viewable in one place.

I've seen a lot of posters on this board who appear to be.

 

[Lister]

I've seen a lot of posters on this board who appear to be.

I am still Which is why I was curious.

 

[michaelius]

Kind of no reason to buy it on Steam unless you're just really, really pedantic about having all your games viewable in one place.

It's not about being pedantic - but it's very easy to forget you already bought game x on different store and then buy it again during sale on other one if that game is still in your backlog.

 

[Durante]

~50% seems to be a common launch ratio for games with this particular setup.
(That setup being all other sales as well as retail for another platform, and often also cheaper)

We saw roughly the same thing with The Witcher 3.

Personally, I don't believe that ratio quite holds up after a longer sale period.

 

[MUnited83]

~50% seems to be a common launch ratio for games with this particular setup.
(That setup being all other sales as well as retail for another platform, and often also cheaper)

We saw roughly the same thing with The Witcher 3.

Personally, I don't believe that ratio quite holds up after a longer sale period.

Yeah, I'd say the initial rush at release makes people be more proactive on finding deals elsewhere. As time passes those outside sales start selling less while Steam versions can still put it on the spotlight as new sales and updates happen.

 

[Boudica]

Is the promo through nVidia counted in the total? Because that was all uplay codes.

 

[patapuf]

I think more than the specific client, it's the prevalence of stores that sell codes cheaply that help these numbers. Publishers with their own clients usually only distribute keys from that client - and not steam keys. That's true for retail copies as well

 

[Memory]

Duh, those on Steam are waiting on sales.


Not even joking.

 

[danmaku]

I think more than the specific client, it's the prevalence of stores that sell codes cheaply that help these numbers. Publishers with their own clients usually only distribute keys from that client - and not steam keys. That's true for retail copies as well

This. If you want the cheapest price you need to buy FH outside Steam and I'm actually surprised the majority of the players is still not doing it.

 

[Durante]

Duh, those on Steam are waiting on sales.

Not even joking.

Actually, because everything other than direct Steam purchases are Uplay codes for this game, we know for a fact that at least 360k people already bought it on Steam for full price ($60).

Despite cheaper alternatives being available.

 

[TankRizzo]

Duh, those on Steam are waiting on sales.


Not even joking.

$5 steam sale

 

[Nishastra]

I bought it directly for UPlay because it was cheaper and the Steam version runs through UPlay anyway. The only thing you actually get from the Steam version is trading cards.

 

[Lister]

Actually, because everything other than direct Steam purchases are Uplay codes for this game, we know for a fact that at least 360k people already bought it on Steam for full price ($60).

Despite cheaper alternatives being available.

Yeah as someone mentioned above, it does seem like that's the real story here, even with upto 50% off sales, Over 50% of users would rather pay full price to get the game on Steam (or are unaware of some other way of getting the game).

 

[grandwizard]

Of the ~25 regular Rainbow Six Siege people I regularly play with I think only 2 or 3 have the Steam version. Everyone else got it on Uplay because it was cheaper there for a long time. That's why we always knew the player numbers were much more than what only Steam was reporting, there was just so many people who had it only on Uplay.

 

[jediyoshi]

You can find Uplay keys for something like 30-35 bucks, that's probably the only reason why so much people bought the Uplay version.

This.

9 times out of 10 if I'm buying a game for cheap on a key seller website, it's normally uPlay only, I'm not too bothered as Steam lets me launch the game through it if I wanted.

Gray market is $45-50.

 

[TheSeks]

Maybe because there were ALOT of sales for the uPlay only version of For Honor. Enough to knock the game near $30.00. And for a new franchise, I think its a safe bet to get the game at the best cost possible.

Exactly. Non-Steam keys were firesaled. Is anyone surprised folks would pay $30 over $60 on Steam?

 

[Gattsu25]

Actually, because everything other than direct Steam purchases are Uplay codes for this game, we know for a fact that at least 360k people already bought it on Steam for full price ($60).

Despite cheaper alternatives being available.

Yeah, talk about burying the lede. The real story here is that 53% of For Honor PC gamers purchased the game at full price on Steam despite 50% off sales outside of Steam.

 

[Matt]

I don't think this is particularly crazy for a Ubi game.

 

[ViolentP]

What do you guys think? Are you personally more willign to buy games outside Steam, even when they are available on Steam?

If the price is right, sure.

 

[cleveridea]

I tend to buy GMG due to the discounts so they have EA games with origin key and ubisoft games with uplay key.

Since both ubi and EA have must-have games for me, I've come to not care about having everything on steam - though would prefer steam if its an option like for their refund policy. But I wont pay a higher price for steam.

 

[hanspampel]

This is normal for many unbisoft games and games like gtav, that are not steam only

 

[Hamster Plugin]

Key sellers being a factor, and Steam being overpriced in Europe (retail copies are cheaper) can affect this.

 

[DarkestHour]

Different in this case because it just goes through uPlay anyway. So buying it on Steam basically just means you have to run TWO launcher platforms instead of one. Plus, all the third-party keys are directly activated on uPlay, so that might be a factor also.

Kind of no reason to buy it on Steam unless you're just really, really pedantic about having all your games viewable in one place.

As for being accepting? Personally I have no beef with uPlay anymore. The actual client is arguably more responsive than Steam is. It's fine.

Bingo. If I am forced to use uPlay then I just buy the game there.

 

[atr0cious]

I'm willing to bet seige or even more skewed. It's always cheaper to go to a key seller instead of going through steam for day 1 uplay games, and steam is barely worth it, since you get sent to uplay either way. This statistic will be reversed with 47% on steam by the time they put in ranked, especially when i can currently find Nvidia keys for $35.

 

[Durante]

If the price is right, sure.

That's what it ultimately comes down to.

At equivalent prices, I believe very few people will choose anything other than Steam. If there's a <$10 difference, then you might get ~20% of the initial sales outside Steam. In cases where the effective price discrepancy is $15 or higher, such as this, you can expect 40%+.

 

[Animator]

I am pretty sure it is a much bigger gap favoring uplay for rainbow 6 siege.

 

[Vigilant Walrus]

TBF The new UI for Uplay is a lot better than the old one, but it still isn't as responsive as it needs to be.

But I dislike it a lot less compared to the old one.

 

[atr0cious]

Uplay isn't the piece of shit that it once was. .

This isn't true. Still garbage with a worthless app that must connect to a webpage. And constant consistent server outages every month.

 

[Not Spaceghost]

I used to really hate uplay until recently, the launcher is really clean, handles updates and patches well and is easy to navigate. Still has a shit ton of issues related to consistency of the service though.

MORE THAN CAN BE SAID ABOUT THE CURRENT ITERATION OF ORIGIN HOLY SHIT HOW DID THEY FUCK THAT ONE UP?!?!

Steam isn't as much of an undisputed king as it used to be.