So, COD IW is way less than its predecessor, but is still topping the chart for 3 weeks straight? Or am I reading that wrong? I’m really questioning the value of the chart that only takes into account physical copies.
I mean, I know I bought both these games, and did so digitally. Don’t most folks do that these days on consoles? Everything about physical copies is a huge hassle for consoles now.
Ubisoft responds to the soft sales.
[quote]
We’re incredibly happy with critics’ and players’ very positive reception of Watch Dogs 2, which should bolster support for the long-term success of the game. It is true that first-day and first-week sales for a number of big games, including Watch Dogs 2 and titles from our competitors, are comparatively lower than previous versions in previous years.
However, we expect both week-two and week-three sales to be above traditional sales patterns. There is a trend toward games, especially high-quality games, having stronger and longer ‘tails’ as favorable reviews and word of mouth spread. Watch Dogs 2 is already considered a tremendous addition to the open-world action adventure series and we’re confident that millions of players are going to love it.[/quote]
Is that like the first time ever that a company as big as Ubisoft (or even company in general) addressed low sales publicly like this ? I don’t recall seeing this.
I like their optimism, even if I do not share it. But hey, maybe next game won’t feature hipsters anymore. Yay :)
But will they love it at full retail price?
I doubt it’s unrelated to the situation with Vivendi. They’re particularly sensitive to anything which might weigh on their share price or make shareholders unhappy with management at the moment.
Console game sales are still only around 20-25% digital. It’s probably due to price, physical tends to be way cheaper. To use the example of COD:IW in the UK, Amazon has the basic edition for £40, the PS store for £55. The discrepancy just gets worse for the fancier editions.
Of course just the physical sales from some subset of retailers from one country doesn’t tell the whole story. But it does at least give a trend, and can be combined with other sources of data. When both Steamspy and UK physical sales show COD:IW selling half of what COD:BLOPS3 did, the narrative is pretty clear.
A comment from an EA executive mentioned ‘30% digital’ some months ago. We can imagine EA / Ubisoft / Activision games are all around the same percentage.
I imagine the biggest problem is the first Watch Dogs was terrible. Even getting it for free I thought it controlled poorly, didn’t look particularly good (or bad), and was just in general kind of … boring. At least, that’s why I skipped WD2.
Wow, that’s crazy. I literally have not bought a physical copy of a game for years.
It’s just such a pain in the ass, needing to actually put the disc in the machine and crap.
I think the difference is that the digital price is always the MSRP price while in retail it’s easier to search a place with some offer. That’s a big reason of why people still buy mostly on retail. edit: and Scott says, the second hand market. It’s their equivalent to ‘steam sales’, it’s the way to get cheap games/get some money back.
The biggest reason I can think of, and this is why I always went physical, was the idea you could sell the game when you were done. I’d buy and sell PC games if I could, but I can’t so I have an embarrassing Steam library. At any given time when I have a console, I have one or maybe two games at a time. If Gamestop or Amazon or other places that bought and traded in used games all evaporated, you’d probably see a lot more digital downloaded games.
Hmm. I guess that’s a good point.
I never sold my games, so I guess that would explain the lack of appeal of physical copies.
Gosh, you’re welcome :P
I’d maybe feel bad if were on the dev team, instead of getting a free copy with your video card. :)
Hey, look at Watch Dogs 2 trying to get all cosmetic on us:
The $19.99 Ultimate Pack is the bundle for all the cosmetic items. That’s a $25 savings over buying them all separately! BEST DEAL!
well at least the high-res pack is free :p
Oooh! Nvidia’s tweak guide is up.
Really liking this game so far. The Dedsec group are charming. The voice acting is VERY good and funny! Lots of memes and references, which I actually do like…it creates a more deeper feel to reality.
Hoping this game sells well. I like this series. and i know people have an issue with ‘hipster’ hackers… but its a game and its likeable so far. Also most of the hacking is close to believable, its like playing a more clean version of Mr Robot so far.
Also the whole thing feels like it was made for pc… they didn’t go cheap on it imo.
I love these! I’ll read it even though I don’t have the game. :)
edit: huh, the temporal filtering is pretty awesome.
I agree. Ubisoft did not skimp on PC options. I dare say it’s as good as GTAV when it comes to the graphics settings.