First party games selling under 5 million.

[SmokedOut947]

I was listening to a podcast (Hate-Bit Podcast) and they had brought up that as of May 1st 2015 not one PS4 exclusive has sold above 5 million copies. It got me thinking, how is it that over 20 million consoles have been sold but not even a quarter of those people who purchased one bought any exclusives? They highest selling PS4 exclusive is inFAMOUS: Second Son with 2.22 Million sold according to VG Chartz. The highest selling game on PS4 is Grand Theft Auto V with 6.51 million sold. I'm not suggestion that Sony is making up sales projections or anything but it makes me wonder, do people just buy these things to watch Netflix? It appears this has always happened in every single console generation, I wonder why.

[DamagingRob]

One possible reason is a lot of gamers are afraid to step out of their comfort zones. Say you only like first person shooters. You wouldn't be buying either of the games you mentioned. Considering how many copies of Call of Duty are bought as opposed to anything else, I'd say this is a likely scenario. And I like the games some, don't get me wrong. They're just the best example of a series that sells ridiculously well, even to people who don't play a lot of games. 

[Manuelito]

Ps4 is selling a lot more than Xbox one because of the terrible choices that Microsoft made at the launch of Xbox one that's the only reason and most of this people are casual player and they play just cod FIFA GTA..

[Zenpai]

It got me thinking, how is it that over 20 million consoles have been sold but not even a quarter of those people who purchased one bought any exclusives?

 

Just because no exclusive games sold over 5 million copies, doesn't mean 75% of all PS4 buyers bought none of them. I'm going to bet most of them have at least one.

 

As for the reasons to the "poor" sales (2.2 million for a single game is still pretty good IMHO), it's simple: the PS4 is still in its early days. It's been only a year and a half since it's been released. Most of us are still holding onto their PS3. Not to mention PS4 games are considerably more expensive than their PS3 counterparts, so people could easily just be waiting for a price drop.

 

Sales are always dimmer when consoles are still in their infancy, and you can always buy games long after their release. I'm going to bet some of the already released games (namely Bloodborne) will easily surpass 5 million copies in a few months' time.

[DaivRules]

Because video games are no longer niche. They appeal to the masses now. The masses don't care about "exclusives." They don't have loyalty to only *one* thing. They treat gaming like going out to dinner. They pick what they want, when they want it.

 

With video games appealing to more people then ever, it will be even harder to predict what will happen. Almost pointless, really. I know lots of people who picked up PS3's JUST for MLB.tv and the blu ray player. I only know two people personally who have even bought PS4's and neither have any exclusives. Neither even considers themselves a gamer. All my self appointed gamer friends *still* haven't bought any of the new consoles and spend all their time on PS3's and 360's.

 

We live in a great time for video games. Old rules are out the window. Predictions are pointless. Sit back, enjoy the show and don't worry about so much stuff. Play some games.

[Tomato]

There hasn't been a single 'net gen exclusive' that sold over 5 million.

[ScutumMagister]

I was listening to a podcast (Hate-Bit Podcast) and they had brought up that as of May 1st 2015 not one PS4 exclusive has sold above 5 million copies. It got me thinking, how is it that over 20 million consoles have been sold but not even a quarter of those people who purchased one bought any exclusives? They highest selling PS4 exclusive is inFAMOUS: Second Son with 2.22 Million sold according to VG Chartz. The highest selling game on PS4 is Grand Theft Auto V with 6.51 million sold. I'm not suggestion that Sony is making up sales projections or anything but it makes me wonder, do people just buy these things to watch Netflix? It appears this has always happened in every single console generation, I wonder why.

 

I hope that podcast wasn't basing what they said entirely off VGChartz given it doesn't show 100% of sales and they do not track digital sales at all. In my estimation, based off sales figures announced by devs compared to what VGChartz shows for the same game, it's about 66% of physical sales. That means there is actually a possibility that some have indeed sold over 5 million copies. Plus, the fact that there was an Infamous: Second Son PS4 bundle is going to affect the sales data for just the game itself as well.

 

It probably happens like that with every console generation because there are always bundles and that always skews the data.

[King_Chile]

Ignoring the fact that VGCHarz doesn't track complete sales figures and digital sales and bundles aren't tracked at all, exclusives are a niche of a niche. The Last Of Us is seen as one of the most successful games of last generation and, according to VGChartz, it only sold 5.5 million out of the 80+million PS3s sold. That's, like, 7 percent of the total user base and isn't even in the top 20 for sales figures. And yeah, some people do buy them just to watch Netflix. I know someone who bought one for Bloodborne way before it was even called that. Didn't buy any other games, just waited for Bloodborne. I assume there are plenty of other people doing that for other games, especially when a lot of people are still content not buying one at all. Sales figures = skewered

 

The more curious thing to me is the attitude of third party games. Sure, Sleeping Dogs selling 2.5-3 million was lower than they expected, but it had zero marketing and was in development hell for years as a True Crime game. What did they think would happen? Meanwhile over at Capcom, Resident Evil 6 sells over 5 million and is a disappointment, but Dragon's Dogma is a surprise hit at 2.5 million. Then, of course, to follow this up they more or less announce Resident Evil 7, but only announce Dragon's Dogma Online and announce it as Japan only. It just goes to show how irresponsible publishers and developers have become and how it pisses me off enough to derail a post completely off topic.

[Valkyreth]

This is a norm, 3rd party games are usually the biggest sellers on any console. Nintendo is probably the only developer with high first party sales.

 

The more curious thing to me is the attitude of third party games. Sure, Sleeping Dogs selling 2.5-3 million was lower than they expected, but it had zero marketing and was in development hell for years as a True Crime game. What did they think would happen? Meanwhile over at Capcom, Resident Evil 6 sells over 5 million and is a disappointment, but Dragon's Dogma is a surprise hit at 2.5 million. Then, of course, to follow this up they more or less announce Resident Evil 7, but only announce Dragon's Dogma Online and announce it as Japan only. It just goes to show how irresponsible publishers and developers have become and how it pisses me off enough to derail a post completely off topic.

Developers have higher expectations for established IPs, RE has been out since 1995 with a strong fan following so naturally they expected strong sales because of how well RE4 and RE5 sold. Dragon's Dogma is a new IP in a market that's afraid to stray far from its comfort zone so their expectations were low from the start.

[ExHaseo]

Games almost never have sales as high as 25% of their userbase. If they did, then games on PS3 would be selling around 20 million copies, which doesn't happen. Even The Last of Us, one of Sony's biggest PS3 exclusives in recent years, only sold about 5 million copies. Which is around 5% of the PS3 userbase. That game was a huge success. So, it's not surprising in the slightest that nothing has sold 25% of the userbase.

Edited May 23, 2015 by ExHaseo

[ZeroXOF]

Exclusives need to be unique but appeal to a wide range to be a heavy hitter. Halo, Gears, Uncharted and Nintendo First Party are the only ones that hit big numbers. 

[starcrunch061]

I was listening to a podcast (Hate-Bit Podcast) and they had brought up that as of May 1st 2015 not one PS4 exclusive has sold above 5 million copies. It got me thinking, how is it that over 20 million consoles have been sold but not even a quarter of those people who purchased one bought any exclusives? They highest selling PS4 exclusive is inFAMOUS: Second Son with 2.22 Million sold according to VG Chartz. The highest selling game on PS4 is Grand Theft Auto V with 6.51 million sold. I'm not suggestion that Sony is making up sales projections or anything but it makes me wonder, do people just buy these things to watch Netflix? It appears this has always happened in every single console generation, I wonder why.

I think it's a promising development. Gamers have become mindless automatons, which in turn triggered producers to sell the same stuff, over and over again, with a different name.

[Twistical]

I can tell you right now, when Uncharted 4 drops, oh damn are Naughty Dog going to have some sales. 

[Dantes_994]

Give it time. As far as I know Uncharted 1 became a hit like a year after it was released. Don't see why things like that can't happen again! 

Edited May 24, 2015 by Johnathan994

[LastPisTolman]

People don't purchase games as often as you would assume - looking for statistics;

 

“Sony also confirmed that the attach rate is just over four games per console, with global software sales at 81.8 million units worldwide as of January 4, 2015, with 17.8 million sold over the holiday period.”

 

Which, at the time of that article, was 1 game per quarter per person.  There's a lot of people that buy one game per year that counteract your one a month people - pick a sport or competitive shooter and you have your entertainment for the year.  Whilst Sony excel at offering varying genre exclusives, the more specialised something is, the smaller the market for it becomes.

 

Drawing from an outside example, most tabloid newspapers sell better than the broadsheets because the broadsheets are less able to appeal to as many people as the tabloids.  Does that make the tabloids better than the broadsheets for your news because they sell more? Definitely not, but appeal speaks more than quality.

 

This is what Sony have, the higher qualitative marker and by extension higher specialisation the lower the appeal you garner.  Make something more generic, more people can take to it.  I won't go into the psychology behind it, but for the most part that will always ring true.  

 

Games like Bloodborne are fantastic, but will touch relatively few people because it is a very acquired taste.  

 

This isn't an ironclad rule, there will always be outliers, but for the most it is applicable, and is why the attach rate would seem low to you.  Whereas in actual fact, it is quite high.

[DrBloodmoney]

The vast majority of people didnt buy a PS4 for the exclusives - they bought it because the 3rd party games run better on it.

[Dr_Mayus]

 

I know someone who bought one for Bloodborne way before it was even called that. Didn't buy any other games, just waited for Bloodborne. I assume there are plenty of other people doing that for other games, especially when a lot of people are still content not buying one at all. Sales figures = skewered

The saddest customer I had was a guy who came in and wanted to buy a PS3 and Move bundle because Tiger Woods games weren't being released for Wii anymore. I was talking to him about some of the other games as well and he said "no point I just want Tiger Woods".

People don't purchase games as often as you would assume - looking for statistics;

 

“Sony also confirmed that the attach rate is just over four games per console, with global software sales at 81.8 million units worldwide as of January 4, 2015, with 17.8 million sold over the holiday period.”

 

Which, at the time of that article, was 1 game per quarter per person.  There's a lot of people that buy one game per year that counteract your one a month people - pick a sport or competitive shooter and you have your entertainment for the year.  Whilst Sony excel at offering varying genre exclusives, the more specialised something is, the smaller the market for it becomes.

 

Drawing from an outside example, most tabloid newspapers sell better than the broadsheets because the broadsheets are less able to appeal to as many people as the tabloids.  Does that make the tabloids better than the broadsheets for your news because they sell more? Definitely not, but appeal speaks more than quality.

 

This is what Sony have, the higher qualitative marker and by extension higher specialisation the lower the appeal you garner.  Make something more generic, more people can take to it.  I won't go into the psychology behind it, but for the most part that will always ring true.  

 

Games like Bloodborne are fantastic, but will touch relatively few people because it is a very acquired taste.  

 

This isn't an ironclad rule, there will always be outliers, but for the most it is applicable, and is why the attach rate would seem low to you.  Whereas in actual fact, it is quite high.

This is actually why I like Playstation more. If you don't like Uncharted, maybe you will like God of War, LBP, Ratchet, Heavy Rain, Gran Turismo, inFAMOUS, Ico collection ,Journey, etc. etc. etc. Meanwhile on Nintendo and Xbox if you don't like Mario, Zelda, Pokemon, and Halo then why did you pick up this console. That is why those 4 sell way better than any Sony exclusive but you aren't getting the huge variety that you would get on a Sony console.

[quintriplet]

Why have they chosen 5 million/25% of user base  as the marker for success of a game? It seems arbitrary, like you could just pick any number and say it's a success or failure based on that. Wouldn't a better measure of console support be the percentage of PS4 users who bought at least one exclusive? I'm sure that's gotta be much harder to determine, but it would account for people having different tastes. For example, I can see how someone might buy Uncharted or Infamous, but not Bloodborne.