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[Gamesindustry.biz] In Europe 44% of Elden Ring Sales Were on PC

reksveks

Member
Lol at the either the trolls or xbots regarding the 60%.

But going back to the 40:16 ratio.
We know France is 3:1 basically, Spain is 3.5:1, need to know the other key markets.
 

hlm666

Member
probably average dollar amount per copy is higher on PS with no keys available on PS.
Valve doesn't take a cut from those keys.

"The reason for the discrepancy is Steam keys, which developers can generate pretty much at will to sell through non-Steam storefronts and brick-and-mortar retailers. While these key-based purchases are still redeemed through Steam and can take advantage of Steam's suite of features, Valve actually takes no commission from sales that don't take place directly through its own storefront."


Then ontop of that it has probably sold enough to also reduce steams commission to 20%.

 

SlimySnake

Flashless at the Golden Globes
Nah, Dark Souls isnt a PC franchise like Bethesda and CD Project games. PC gamers just dont like that kind of melee games. If that was the case, half of the Japanese hack and slash would be biggest on PC.

What you are seeing here is a direct result of the migration/exodus of console gamers that Andrew House feared so much. Sony and Microsoft have shown these gamers that going to PC and giving Steam their money is OK with them. Dark Souls is a hardcore franchise that targets the most elite git gud gamers on consoles. Now those gamers are on PC because why would they invest in two different console eco systems when both MS and Sony are encouraging them to buy their games on PC?

Expect more of these splits going forward. It's shocking to me that the biggest game of the year in Sony land only gets Jimbo a 40% cut of the total sales. Even Demon Souls only sold 1.4 million on the PS5. This game has literally sold 10x that. It's obvious that the souls audience has left Playstation in droves.
 

kingfey

Banned
Nah, Dark Souls isnt a PC franchise like Bethesda and CD Project games. PC gamers just dont like that kind of melee games. If that was the case, half of the Japanese hack and slash would be biggest on PC.

What you are seeing here is a direct result of the migration/exodus of console gamers that Andrew House feared so much. Sony and Microsoft have shown these gamers that going to PC and giving Steam their money is OK with them. Dark Souls is a hardcore franchise that targets the most elite git gud gamers on consoles. Now those gamers are on PC because why would they invest in two different console eco systems when both MS and Sony are encouraging them to buy their games on PC?

Expect more of these splits going forward. It's shocking to me that the biggest game of the year in Sony land only gets Jimbo a 40% cut of the total sales. Even Demon Souls only sold 1.4 million on the PS5. This game has literally sold 10x that. It's obvious that the souls audience has left Playstation in droves.
Its because the company is located in Japan, and the consoles were popular.
That is the reason, why people associate souls games with consoles.


That is dark Souls 3.

Demons souls and bloodborne were console exclusives, and didn't have a pc release.

Xbox also had souls games, but weren't popular due to how weak xbox was in Japan.

From this moment, souls games has more users on pc, compared to consoles.
 

Three

Member
Expect more of these splits going forward. It's shocking to me that the biggest game of the year in Sony land only gets Jimbo a 40% cut of the total sales. Even Demon Souls only sold 1.4 million on the PS5. This game has literally sold 10x that. It's obvious that the souls audience has left Playstation in droves.
I'm not sure what you're saying here. 10x that on a single platform? If not it sold 40% on Playstation. So 40% of 14M would be still higher than 1.4M. The issue is optics and FOMO. Demon Souls was brushed off by some fanboys as a PS3 game. Elden Ring is getting a lot of hype. Hopefully those who play Elden Ring become souls fans and give Demons Souls on PS5 a go though.
 

reksveks

Member
Its because the company is located in Japan, and the consoles were popular.
That is the reason, why people associate souls games with consoles.


That is dark Souls 3.

Demons souls and bloodborne were console exclusives, and didn't have a pc release.

Xbox also had souls games, but weren't popular due to how weak xbox was in Japan.

From this moment, souls games has more users on pc, compared to consoles.
the 2nd comment on that URL

This is a complete lie. Trying to make the pc gaming look good. Unfortunately for you the developers know where their money is coming from. That is why pc is an afterthought and the pc ports just keep on getting worse. Official Dark souls 3 physical sales numbers from UK just came in to light and pc covered 3% of those. THAT IS ABSOLUTELY PATHETIC. Meanwhile millions is lost to pc piracy. You know the thing that doesn't exist on the new consoles. Sure you can say that most of the pc sales come from digital. But guess what? Even if that cover 200% more than the physical the pc numbers still look pathetic. Oh and those numbers look good only years after the games have been released when Steam and other places hand out the games for practically free. 2$ a download doesn't pay the development costs. Meanwhile console digital sales are growing too but a dumb pc fanboy just tries to ignore those.

Like i said these numbers are imaginary and THERE IS ZERO CHANCE PC SOLD 40% of the copies.
Fucking 6-7 years ago
 
Demon Souls was brushed off by some fanboys as a PS3 game.
I mean, it is a PS3 game with PS5 graphics. That was the entire point of the remake. I can imagine someone whose first Souls game was Elden Ring would have a pretty hard time adjusting to DeS. Still worth playing though.
 

kingfey

Banned
What im saying on ps5 theres gt7 and hfw as factor you should consider as competition to elden ring

Without those two the numbers will be much higher
Each system have something that is holding them down.

PC= Minimum hardware requirements
Xbox= Not enough numbers in Europe
PS=1st party game release

They all have fair battle, except Xbox, which is very weak in Europe.
 

Three

Member
I mean, it is a PS3 game with PS5 graphics. That was the entire point of the remake. I can imagine someone whose first Souls game was Elden Ring would have a pretty hard time adjusting to DeS. Still worth playing though.
If your point is that 5M (14x40%) people played it on a PS3 already and that's why they weren't interested on PS5 you should know that it only sold 1M copies on PS3. I doubt the people calling it a PS3 game actually played or cared that it was on a PS3. It's a very good souls game fanboys brushed off.
 
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I mean its almost 50/50 between playstation and pc and playstation had two major games come out before and after it lol

Kind of proves the point. Fromsoftware could have also comfortably skipped x-box with a money hat and been ok. This just kind of supports the idea of Fromsoft doing another playstation/pc exclusive in the future
 
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Topher

Gold Member
Isn't it a single SKU on Xbox?

Ah.....seems so. That explains it.

81cY7DwfO+S._SL1500_.jpg
 
If your point is that 5M (14x40%) people played it on a PS3 already and that's why they weren't interested on PS5 you should know that it only sold 1M copies on PS3. I doubt the people calling it a PS3 game actually played or cared that it was on a PS3. It's a very good souls game fanboys brushed off.
My point is that mechanics wise, it's an old Souls game and that someone who only knows Elden Ring might be accustomed to all the QoL Elden Ring provides and thus going back to DeS might be a little daunting. Idk what numbers you're using there, must be a different conversation.
 

Three

Member
My point is that mechanics wise, it's an old Souls game and that someone who only knows Elden Ring might be accustomed to all the QoL Elden Ring provides and thus going back to DeS might be a little daunting. Idk what numbers you're using there, must be a different conversation.
The numbers in the comment you replied to. DS provides more QOL than Elden Ring for better or worse. Nothing really daunting about it.
 

yurinka

Member
Expect more of these splits going forward.
shocking that after a decade of From games historically not running that well on consoles, customers prefer the pc version to brute force issues instead of paying more for an inferior version.

on the other way around, have a look at the state of Fifa on pc vs consoles

Besides this just shows Europe
These are only launch sales for a period around the same time when two major PS exclusives have been released and in the most PS friendly market.

Meaning that many people in the world, but more in Europe than let's say USA, will have bought this month Horizon or GT and will save Elder Ring for later.

These numbers already show a majority of Elder Ring players buying it in console, but when looking at global sales (I'm thinking specially of places like Japan) instead of Euro sales and specially when looking at a long period of time instead of only these few days, PS very likely will be the top 1 platform.

Elder Ring launch is a rare case where many things made it work specially well in PC: hardcore medieval setting and open world is something that works specially well in PC, it got insanely good reviews and at launch it didn't have during these days other super sellers to compete as happened in PS wih GT7 and specially Horizon 2. It had one of the best releases ever seen in the history of Steam, a very rare case, and even considering that had pretty much similar numbers in EU than in PS where it was competing with other two big seller releases. So no, it won't be common to see this split.

MS owns Windows and Xbox. And they both use similar OS and APIs. So one could make an argument they could be grouped together.
Well, people people group console in one side and PC in other one because they are different markets. Even if consoles are different, they share many things in terms of market, demographics, usage, etc compared to PC.

PC/Windows and Xbox not only have this difference. MS only gets money from PC games when sold in their store. MS doesn't get money when sold in Steam or in a retailer.
 
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Three

Member
It does? Afaik, they only improved the rolling to the current standard.
Yes, a lot of QOL things were improved including menus, rolling mechanics, and loading times. It's a modern game now not a PS3 one like you're trying to make it out to be.

I think it's easier to ask though what QOL things do you think Elden Ring players would struggle with if they played Demon's Souls on PS5?
 

kingfey

Banned
You really are incapable of keeping a train of thought. Amazing. If the game is 50/50 console/pc it’s not a pc leaning game. Are you this dense?
You arent getting this arent you?
The game managed to sell that much on pc, despite Fromsoft cutting out alot of pc players.

Elden Ring system requirements
  • Operating System: Windows 10.
  • Processor: Intel Core i5-8400 or AMD Ryzen 3 3300X.
  • Memory: 12GB RAM.
  • Graphics: Nvidia GeForce GTX 1060 3GB or AMD Radeon RX 580 4GB.
  • DirectX: Version 12.
  • Storage: 60GB available space.
  • Sound Card: Windows-compatible audio device.
 

Swift_Star

Banned
You arent getting this arent you?
The game managed to sell that much on pc, despite Fromsoft cutting out alot of pc players.

Elden Ring system requirements
  • Operating System: Windows 10.
  • Processor: Intel Core i5-8400 or AMD Ryzen 3 3300X.
  • Memory: 12GB RAM.
  • Graphics: Nvidia GeForce GTX 1060 3GB or AMD Radeon RX 580 4GB.
  • DirectX: Version 12.
  • Storage: 60GB available space.
  • Sound Card: Windows-compatible audio device.
Still not a PC leaning game. I’m sorry this hurts you.
You don’t know what leaning means.
Cary Elwes Disney Plus GIF by Disney+
 
I think it's easier to ask though what QOL things do you think Elden Ring players would struggle with if they played Demon's Souls on PS5?
Spirit Ashes, flask replenishments after killing a group, and Statues of Marika being right at the boss entrance would be the main ones. All of these make the game much more comfortable to play. Saying that DeS provides more QoL is frankly an absurd statement.
 

Swift_Star

Banned
Spirit Ashes, flask replenishments after killing a group, and Statues of Marika being right at the boss entrance would be the main ones. All of these make the game much more comfortable to play. Saying that DeS provides more QoL is frankly an absurd statement.
DeS is way easier than ER though. I barely died at any bosses. The levels were the challenge and you can always save scum which is essentially the same as having Marika statues close to bosses.
 

winjer

Gold Member
Well, people people group console in one side and PC in other one because they are different markets. Even if consoles are different, they share many things in terms of market, demographics, usage, etc compared to PC.

PC/Windows and Xbox not only have this difference. MS only gets money from PC games when sold in their store. MS doesn't get money when sold in Steam or in a retailer.

Consoles and PC are not that different anymore. Almost all games that are released on PC, are also released on consoles, and vice-versa.
In fact there is more in common with PC and Xbox, than with Playstation.
PC an Xbox use the same OS and APIs. The OS on the Xbox is trimmed and DirectX has a level down, but the basis is the same.
The PS5 uses a variant of FreeBS and very different APIs.
They both have access to gamepass, although PC has a few less titles.
The Xbox controller is recognized instantly by almost all games on PC. The PS controllers can be used but it's not recognized by all games and apps.
Both Xbox and PS use UWP. And Xbox probably can run Win32 apps as well.

PC and consoles are not different markets. They are the same market, but with a diferent aproach.
Consoles offer a closed, curated user experience to play games. PC offers an open, choice free user experience, to play the same games.
 

Denton

Member
Impressive, especially considering on PC most copies sold are digital, and Namco gets lot more money from average PC copy the they do from console copy, where digital share is significantly smaller and other middlemen take their cut.

Of course, it just makes it all the more unforgivable how low quality the PC version is, from inconsistent performance to UI (dat quitting the game...) to lack of standard features like ultrawide, or advanced features like raytracing.
 
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reksveks

Member
I mean its almost 50/50 between playstation and pc and playstation had two major games come out before and after it lol

Kind of proves the point. Fromsoftware could have also comfortably skipped x-box with a money hat and been ok. This just kind of supports the idea of Fromsoft doing another playstation/pc exclusive in the future
Napkin maths here so alot of quick assumptions:

~10m units sold
1.6m units on Xbox
$60 ARPU
digital sales is 60%+ so about 1m units sold digitally = $42m revenue assuming MS takes a 30% cut

$42m - the cost of developing for Xbox = the amount that Sony would have to pay for assuming FromSoftware/Bandai don't have cashflow issues.
 

yurinka

Member
Consoles and PC are not that different anymore. Almost all games that are released on PC, are also released on consoles, and vice-versa.
In fact there is more in common with PC and Xbox, than with Playstation.
PC an Xbox use the same OS and APIs. The OS on the Xbox is trimmed and DirectX has a level down, but the basis is the same.
The PS5 uses a variant of FreeBS and very different APIs.
They both have access to gamepass, although PC has a few less titles.
The Xbox controller is recognized instantly by almost all games on PC. The PS controllers can be used but it's not recognized by all games and apps.
Both Xbox and PS use UWP. And Xbox probably can run Win32 apps as well.

PC and consoles are not different markets. They are the same market, but with a diferent aproach.
Consoles offer a closed, curated user experience to play games. PC offers an open, choice free user experience, to play the same games.
PC and consoles continue having the same relevant differences they always had:
  • People play with the console plugged to the tv mainly in the living room and have a low hardware cost.
  • People play PC on a gaming pc or laptop mainly in the bedroom and has a bigger hardware cost.
  • In PC there's the minimum specs, drivers, settings etc stuff while in console is a more plug and play experience.
  • Retail has been almost dead in PC for years, in consoles is decreasing but still important. Retails means different things like 2nd hand market etc.
  • PC has way more different stores, sources to get free games and more aggresive discounts or game bundles.
  • Depending on the country the usage of consoles vs PC is radically different.
  • Gamepass is being used by a tiny percentage of console and PC players so isn't relevant.
  • Most players don't know or care about OS, APIs, hardware and so on. It doesn't affect their gaming habits, they care about if they have available the game they want for their device, if they can afford it and if it runs decently there. It doesn't affects devs either because game engines already cover almost everything related making multiplatform development (not only for Xbox) easier and faster than ever.
 
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winjer

Gold Member
PC and consoles continue having the same relevant differences they always had:
  • People play with the console plugged to the tv mainly in the living room and have a low hardware cost.
  • People play PC on a gaming pc or laptop mainly in the bedroom and has a bigger hardware cost.
  • In PC there's the minimum specs, drivers, settings etc stuff while in console is a more plug and play experience.
  • Retail has been almost dead in PC for years, in consoles is decreasing but still important.
  • PC has way more different stores, sources to get free games and more aggresive discounts or game bundles.
  • Depending on the country the usage of consoles vs PC is radically different.
  • Gamepass is being used by a tiny percentage of console and PC players so isn't relevant.
  • Most players don't know or care about OS, APIs, hardware and so on. It doesn't affect their gaming habits, they care about if they have available the game they want for their device, if they can afford it and if it runs decently there. It doesn't affects devs either because game engines already cover almost everything related making multiplatform development (not only for Xbox) easier and faster than ever.

There was a time, when games on PC and on consoles where vastly different.
And even when a console game was released on PC, or vice-versa, it would be very different.
Now, it's the exact same games on PC and consoles. Only some extra graphics settings.
Yes, PCs are mostly connect to monitors. But there are plenty of gamers that connect their PCs to a TV. Be it through a cable, or a streaming device.
There are also console players that connect their consoles to a monitor. The fact that we can connect PCs and consoles to whatever we want, shows how similar they have become.
Gamepass might be in it's infancy, but it's growing. And let's not forget that there is also PSNow on PC.
True, most gamers don't care about hardware, OS and API's. But the fact remains that the Xbox and PC are very similar.
And let's not forget that a lot of game engines, middleware, etc, are identical on PC and consoles.

Once again. A console is just a gaming machine, closed and curated. PC is open and free.
But they serve to play the same games.
 
Napkin maths here so alot of quick assumptions:

~10m units sold
1.6m units on Xbox
$60 ARPU
digital sales is 60%+ so about 1m units sold digitally = $42m revenue assuming MS takes a 30% cut

$42m - the cost of developing for Xbox = the amount that Sony would have to pay for assuming FromSoftware/Bandai don't have cashflow issues.

Thats not really how it works. Sony already have stake in the the parent company and they deduct cost for marketing. It would be significantly less and probably sell significantly more with sony marketing
 

reksveks

Member
Thats not really how it works. Sony already have stake in the the parent company and they deduct cost for marketing. It would be significantly less and probably sell significantly more with sony marketing
Who pays for the marketing? Dev or the publisher? I am significantly confused about this point. How much do you think Bandai are paying on paid media?

You really think it would sell more with additional marketing? How much more?
 
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mckmas8808

Mckmaster uses MasterCard to buy Slave drives
Not that it really matters in the end, but... It's the single platform with the largest user base. What's so hard to grasp? After a certain point it almost looks like some of you guys are trying to act dense on purpose.

Who care about the bolded point when it's PC vs. Console. At least that's the game that yall are setting this out to be. So in the game yall created here, it's 56% vs. 44%. So why ignore the Xbox console as if it doesn't exist?
 

Three

Member
Spirit Ashes, flask replenishments after killing a group, and Statues of Marika being right at the boss entrance would be the main ones. All of these make the game much more comfortable to play. Saying that DeS provides more QoL is frankly an absurd statement.
That isn't even QOL though. Spirit Ashes is a gameplay mechanic. I like the fact that you used 'comfortable' instead of easier because you can lay back and do literally nothing with that mechanic.

Frankly it's absurd to suggest that players would struggle to play a modern PS5 game because of 'QOL' then to mention spirit ashes as QOL. Would people struggle to play Halo 5 now because there is no grappling hook? Did people not play MCC because of all that QOL it was missing?
 
That isn't even QOL though. Spirit Ashes is a gameplay mechanic. I like the fact that you used 'comfortable' instead of easier because you can lay back and do literally nothing with that mechanic.

Frankly it's absurd to suggest that players would struggle to play a modern PS5 game because of 'QOL' then to mention spirit ashes as QOL. Would people struggle to play Halo 5 now because there is no grappling hook? Did people not play MCC because of all that QOL it was missing?
Remove the Spirit Ashes if you want, my point still stands. The only thing modern about DeS is the graphics. Everything else is From's first Souls game (at least Bluepoint added omnidirectional rolling).
 

Thirty7ven

Banned
Who care about the bolded point when it's PC vs. Console. At least that's the game that yall are setting this out to be. So in the game yall created here, it's 56% vs. 44%. So why ignore the Xbox console as if it doesn't exist?

PC is a market, like console is a market, and mobile is a market. If people want to group every PC box into 1, then do the same with consoles.
 
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Three

Member
Remove the Spirit Ashes if you want, my point still stands. The only thing modern about DeS is the graphics. Everything else is From's first Souls game (at least Bluepoint added omnidirectional rolling).
But it isn't the only thing. They updated menus and HUD to make it user friendly by todays standards, they added omnidirectional rolling as you said, they removed loading times entirely. There are no QOL things that are dated in it even if you were to say ER is easier. The mechanics are slightly different but I just don't see why somebody would find playing it daunting if they are accustomed to ER.
 
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