All purpose Sales and Sales Rumours and Anecdotes [2020 Edition]

[goonergaz]

Yes, actual digital purchase numbers are undoubtedly much higher than 50% when you look past just EA on consoles.

You said "Worth noting that at the beginning of this gen, digital download only accounted for around 5-10% on average. We are going into next gen with 50% digital to start with." Based off a chart from EA saying that it was currently 49% from the last quarter.

The implication is that 'digital sales have grown massively, big shift from physical to digital since 2013'.

I'm simply saying the data isn't clear cut because;

1) At the start of the gen all games were full price and there were not many to buy
2) At the end of the gen you can buy litterally hundereds of EA games in sales, this has been compounded by lockdown which was in place for over 1/3rd the quarter

So whilst digital sales are up (and I'm not saying otherwise) I'd like to see more detail, how many were full price? Because that's data that actually means something. That's data that will show how much digital purchases have increased because it'll be like for like...or certainly closer to a fair comparison - because it may be 50% going into next gen, but how much of that is cheap toot? EA don't see any figures from the 2nd hand physical market.

 

[AlphaWolf]

A dollar for EA on an 'on sale' digital purchase could well be worth more to EA than a full retail new box edition sale.

 

[goonergaz]

A dollar for EA on an 'on sale' digital purchase could well be worth more to EA than a full retail new box edition sale.

I don’t disagree, either we’re arguing about buying trends or overall profit?

I thought we were arguing buying trends and the implication that next gen will start at 50% of new games being sold digitally? Or at least a significant increase on last gens 5-10%?

Also is this units or money?

 

[Deleted member 2197]

Nintendo smashes Switch sales view; says Animal Crossing is device's fastest-selling game

Japan’s Nintendo Co Ltd (7974.T) said on Thursday its fourth-quarter profit soared 200% due to surging demand for its Switch games console, and that title Animal Crossing: New Horizons shifted a record 13.4 million units in its first six weeks.
...
Nintendo has defied scepticism over its ability to draw in consumers beyond a hardcore base in the Switch’s fourth year with the runaway success of Animal Crossing: New Horizons, which has become the console’s fastest-selling title since launching on March 20.
...
In the year ended March, Nintendo sold 21 million Switch consoles, well above its forecast of 19.5 million.

That breaks down as 14.8 million units of the hybrid home-portable device and 6.2 million units of the handheld-only Switch Lite, which went on sale in September.

https://www.reuters.com/article/us-nintendo-results/nintendo-smashes-switch-sales-view-says-animal-crossing-is-devices-fastest-selling-game-idUSKBN22J2B6?

 

[BRiT]

Also is this units or money?

Units. EA said "49% of our units sold through were digital rather than physical".

 

[Deleted member 11852]

You said "Worth noting that at the beginning of this gen, digital download only accounted for around 5-10% on average. We are going into next gen with 50% digital to start with." Based off a chart from EA saying that it was currently 49% from the last quarter.

I wonder what it was at the end of the 360/PS3 generation. I think that makes for a better comparison because, as you say, the dynamics of the console-buying public and decisions to be made, are very different at the start of a generation and years after it has matured.

edit: typos.

 

[goonergaz]

Units. EA said "49% of our units sold through were digital rather than physical".

So could be just 10% of income- I know it all adds up, but as I said, could just be lots of units from big sales (and there have been quite a few recently)

 

[Shifty Geezer]

So could be just 10% of income- I know it all adds up, but as I said, could just be lots of units from big sales (and there have been quite a few recently)

Nope.

 

[BRiT]

It's even possible that physical media is down to just 10% - 15% of total revenue.

 

[goonergaz]

Nope.

View attachment 3863

So in 2017 ~15% of income was from full game digital downloads?

 

[BRiT]

No, that says 59% of revenue in 2017 was already from Digital.

 

[PSman1700]

Physical media probably wont exist in the future, or be a niche market, which it seems to be getting already now.
I cant even imagine buying anything disc based anymore, both pc and console.
PC was first with this digital, like most things we see things happen there first and then the console following.

 

[AlphaWolf]

No, that says 59% of revenue in 2017 was already from Digital.

That does include revenue other than full games which is what he wants to make it about.

It also includes PC and mobile, so the chart isn't in sync with your earlier quote other than to say digital has been increasing dramatically in every category.

To goonergaz's point. Digital full game downloads had increased by 230% for the period 2014 to 2017.

 

[Shifty Geezer]

So in 2017 ~15% of income was from full game digital downloads?

Looks like it. That doesn't change what's happening here though and you're drifting between arguments (making points without really specifying what the argument is for them). 50% of unit sales is digital. Portion of revenue from those digital sales is something else, but with packaged goods costing more, the overheads of those may see more or less profits for EA than the download titles.

Here's another one:



Net revenue from Full Download games is 40% of net revenue from (Full Download + Packaged Goods And Others). Live services would include download games as part of a subscription sale.

No matter how you cut it, digital is at least the equal of disc sales going into this generation, and the greater part of profitability. It's the money maker for the console companies too.

 

[goonergaz]

Looks like it. That doesn't change what's happening here though and you're drifting between arguments (making points without really specifying what the argument is for them). 50% of unit sales is digital. Portion of revenue from those digital sales is something else, but with packaged goods costing more, the overheads of those may see more or less profits for EA than the download titles.

Here's another one:

View attachment 3864

Net revenue from Full Download games is 40% of net revenue from (Full Download + Packaged Goods And Others). Live services would include download games as part of a subscription sale.

No matter how you cut it, digital is at least the equal of disc sales going into this generation, and the greater part of profitability. It's the money maker for the console companies too.

Sorry, I took the original comments as 'at the start of next gen, when games are released 50% of sales will be digital' - which is kind of implied (depending how you read it.

Anyway, the data was in the other post I just didn't do the math;

2012 6.5%
2013 5.6%
2014 8.8%
2015 9.3%
2016 11.4%
2017 14.9%

Be interesting to have 2018 & 2019 data to complete the picture.

 

[goonergaz]

That does include revenue other than full games which is what he wants to make it about.

It also includes PC and mobile, so the chart isn't in sync with your earlier quote other than to say digital has been increasing dramatically in every category.

To goonergaz's point. Digital full game downloads had increased by 230% for the period 2014 to 2017.

I thought that was the implecation from the original post, soirry...I just am interested in the buying trends of new games - this for me is the important
data that truely shows buying trends.

 

[Deleted member 11852]

On digital vs. physical, from Sony's 2019Q4 financial released yesterday:

It's worth remembering that for physical software, unless a game is bought directly from Sony (or a Sony store), in most cases Sony will only take a traditional publisher cut for the games they publish - which is obviously not all, i.e. EA, Activision, Ubisoft and many others self-publish. For digital, Sony will take their publisher cut (caveat as before) and the retail cut for all games sold through the PS Store.

I.e, they are not directly comparable, but the trend (sales income from physical down, sales income from Digital up) is clear.

 

[Deleted member 7537]

Stolen from resetera:

Gaming Revenue : ¥1977.6bn / $18.19B
Gaming Operating Profit : ¥238.4bn / $2.19B

PS4 sell-in : 13.6m (vs 17.8m - FY2018)
PS4 LTD : 110.4m

Software sold : 244.9m (vs 257.6m - FY2018) --- (not including "download only software titles")
Software digital ratio : 51% (vs 37% - FY2018)
Software sell-in LTD (minimum) : > 1.207 billion games

PS+ Members : 41.5m

PS4 close to reaching gameboy in units sold (118M) . Probably won't be able match DS or PS2 (155M).

 

[Xbat]

Fantastic op on resetera with all the info needed. They may not get to PS2 numbers sold but there profit is already superior unless I'm making a boo boo somewhere.

It means to me that these next gen consoles are going to be subsidized, it's just to important to get people into your eco system not to in my opinion.

 

[Shifty Geezer]

PS4 close to reaching gameboy in units sold (118M) . Probably won't be able match DS or PS2 (155M).

All depends on if they can engineer a super-cheap device. Although I don't feel that has the selling power of the PS2 super-slim which I think sold to a different audience for SingStar, EyeToy, and other odd titles, rather than selling on the strength of traditional console games.