All purpose Sales and Sales Rumours and Anecdotes [2021 Edition]

[Parrish]

Well Bend Studio was 130 people and Santa Monica Studios work on a lot of projects (not just God of War) so the employee numbers aren't directly comparable. Days Gone definitely feels the much larger game.

As the article state, Bend was 130 people at the end of production, but just 50 at the start. I doubt that they started hiring from day one. They probably grown the most in the last couple of years.
Santa Monica has its name on a lot of "indie" production because it seems to have the same role that XDev has in Europe. XDev has apparently 13 employees. I'm sure SSM dedicate some more people in this external production, but I dubt the numbers are really note worthy

 

[iroboto]

I dont think this was posted
https://store.steampowered.com/sale/BestOf2021?tab=1

I'm not 100% sure if they are in order within the tiers, but if they are then the much hated battlefield 2042 was the biggest moneymaker of the year
It shows you the disconnect sometimes between ppls words on the net and their actions

Gross revenue is not an indicator of love for a multiplayer game, active Players are :

https://steamcharts.com/app/1517290

 

[Deleted member 11852]

As the article state, Bend was 130 people at the end of production, but just 50 at the start. I doubt that they started hiring from day one. They probably grown the most in the last couple of years.

So 130 to deliver the game. Terms generally do start out smaller during the concept development. You probably don't have many audio engineers or programmers, but lots of concept artists, story and script writers and leads for the engineering team to contribute on what's possible. Some studios manage the swell and shrink but having multiple projects on the go.

Just comparing employee counts in isolation doesn't guide the conversation. Most of what people want to know it's in the public domain. Like how long did Knack spend n development and how much did it cost? ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

 

[zed]

Gross revenue is not an indicator of love for a multiplayer game, active Players are :

https://steamcharts.com/app/1517290

true but remember you have to spend $60 for this game, players are not to far from eg halo infinite which launched the same time and is free to play (and on less platforms)

1. Counter-Strike: Global Offensive 690,221
41. Battlefield™ V 20,433
74. Halo Infinite 11,424
97. Battlefield™ 2042 8,599

Tried looking for far cry 6, new call of duty, but dont see it on steam

Gotta be embarrassing for EA that the previous entry in the series is being played more

 

[iroboto]

true but remember you have to spend $60 for this game, players are not to far from eg halo infinite which launched the same time and is free to play (and on less platforms)

1. Counter-Strike: Global Offensive 690,221
41. Battlefield™ V 20,433
74. Halo Infinite 11,424
97. Battlefield™ 2042 8,599

Tried looking for far cry 6, new call of duty, but dont see it on steam

Gotta be embarrassing for EA that the previous entry in the series is being played more

You need to look at 24 hour peak not current in hour. North America is barely waking up.
24 hour peaks - BF2042 is dead in comparison to BFV.

Counter-Strike: Global Offensive 827,372
Halo Infinite 48,000
Battlefield™ V 20,433
Battlefield™ 2042 13,000

And these are PC charts. When compared to the Xbox Charts
https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/store/most-played/games/xbox

As of this current time, because they update at the hour, Halo Infinite is 4th and is ahead of COD Vanguard, Apex, PUBG. I'm pretty certain Halo Infinite during prime NA hours is well near the very top of the list in front of Fortnite. BF 2042 is no where close to the top 20, it's got terrible reception. PC is the main base for BF, and it shows they have a big fan base that is willing to pay, but the title is pretty dead from it's glory of BF3/4

 

[Silent_Buddha]

I dont think this was posted
https://store.steampowered.com/sale/BestOf2021?tab=1

I'm not 100% sure if they are in order within the tiers, but if they are then the much hated battlefield 2042 was the biggest moneymaker of the year
It shows you the disconnect sometimes between ppls words on the net and their actions

They are in no particular order for that page. Also, BF2042 had a lot of pre-orders but sales dropped off sharply after the launch month. Those pre-order sales were also boosted by a 90 USD and 110 USD version of the game. That's important since Steam ranks titles based on revenue rather than units sold (otherwise DOTA 2 wouldn't be on the list).

That makes Valheim all the more impressive as it's a 20 USD title with no DLC other than the soundtrack. It had to sell a lot of units to make it into the best sellers on Steam.

Also, this is absolutely brutal.



At no point in time did BF2042 have more positive reviews than negative reviews.

Regards,
SB

 

[iroboto]

They are in no particular order for that page. Also, BF2042 had a lot of pre-orders but sales dropped off sharply after the launch month. Those pre-order sales were also boosted by a 90 USD and 110 USD version of the game. That's important since Steam ranks titles based on revenue rather than units sold (otherwise DOTA 2 wouldn't be on the list).

That makes Valheim all the more impressive as it's a 20 USD title with no DLC other than the soundtrack. It had to sell a lot of units to make it into the best sellers on Steam.

Also, this is absolutely brutal.

View attachment 6179

At no point in time did BF2042 have more positive reviews than negative reviews.

Regards,
SB

It's unfortunate. I really love battlefield, but after BF1, the series has fallen off for me. I couldn't get that BF experience I was looking for anymore, just a lot of random walking and dying.

 

[BRiT]

"At this point, we’ve sold more of this generation of Xboxes, which is Xbox Series X / S, than we had any previous version of Xboxes."

https://www.nytimes.com/2022/01/10/opinion/sway-kara-swisher-phil-spencer.html

https://twitter.com/i/web/status/1480597509428944908

 

[dobwal]

"At this point, we’ve sold more of this generation of Xboxes, which is Xbox Series X / S, than we had any previous version of Xboxes."

https://www.nytimes.com/2022/01/10/opinion/sway-kara-swisher-phil-spencer.html

https://twitter.com/i/web/status/1480597509428944908

Well at least there will be no claims of stuffing the channel with a "first 10 million" assertion. LOL.

 

[Silent_Buddha]

Interesting, the percentage gap between PS5 and XBS consoles is shrinking. Using VGChartz numbers just because we've got nothing else available.

Through week 58:

• PS5 - 16.68 million units sold
• XBS - 11.00 million units sold

PS5 ahead ~1.52:1

Through week 59:

• PS5 - 17.251 million units sold
• XBS - 11.477 million units sold

PS5 ahead ~1.50:1

Nothing to get excited about, but I just found the numbers interesting. Just prior to the holiday season starting, PS5 was ahead a little over 1.6:1.

It's going to be interesting to see how sales trend once one or the other or both are no longer supply constrained. Nothing but a gut feeling, but I suspect that demand relative to supply is currently greater for PS5 than for XBS. That said, as the generation goes on, enthusiasts willing to pay a high price for a console start to give way to more cost conscious buyers. I do wonder if XBS-S will allow MS to sustain higher sales as the generation goes on versus PS5 as it will always be able to be sold at a cheaper price.

NOTE: When I say higher sales, I mean higher sales (or lower declines) relative to itself and not in comparison to the competition on a YoY basis. So, XBS compared to XBS or PS5 compared to PS5 but not XBS compared to PS5.

Regards,
SB

 

[PSman1700]

Didnt expect BF2042 doing that well as it does, seeing how much of mess it is.

 

[dobwal]

Interesting, the percentage gap between PS5 and XBS consoles is shrinking. Using VGChartz numbers just because we've got nothing else available.

Through week 58:

• PS5 - 16.68 million units sold
• XBS - 11.00 million units sold

PS5 ahead ~1.52:1

Through week 59:

• PS5 - 17.251 million units sold
• XBS - 11.477 million units sold

PS5 ahead ~1.50:1

Nothing to get excited about, but I just found the numbers interesting. Just prior to the holiday season starting, PS5 was ahead a little over 1.6:1.

It's going to be interesting to see how sales trend once one or the other or both are no longer supply constrained. Nothing but a gut feeling, but I suspect that demand relative to supply is currently greater for PS5 than for XBS. That said, as the generation goes on, enthusiasts willing to pay a high price for a console start to give way to more cost conscious buyers. I do wonder if XBS-S will allow MS to sustain higher sales as the generation goes on versus PS5 as it will always be able to be sold at a cheaper price.

NOTE: When I say higher sales, I mean higher sales (or lower declines) relative to itself and not in comparison to the competition on a YoY basis. So, XBS compared to XBS or PS5 compared to PS5 but not XBS compared to PS5.

Regards,
SB

Not going to happen. My VGAnon source tells me that Sony and MS have employed AI online shopping bots throughout their data centers and its the manufacturers who are manufacturing the shortages so they can resell at a profit. Once the after-market prices reaches equilibrium with MSRP, newer 5-nm based skus with lower MSRPs will be released to start the whole process all over again.

I'm hearing MS and Sony are dumping their illicit profit into the crypto market to hide their profits from SEC regulators and will use their digital currency to fund their soon to be announced metaverse platforms with plans to engage in NPC trafficking.

 

[AlphaWolf]

Not going to happen. My VGAnon source tells me that Sony and MS have employed AI online shopping bots throughout their data centers and its the manufacturers who are manufacturing the shortages so they can resell at a profit. Once the after-market prices reaches equilibrium with MSRP, newer 5-nm based skus with lower MSRPs will be released to start the whole process all over again.

I'm hearing MS and Sony are dumping their illicit profit into the crypto market to hide their profits from SEC regulators and will use their digital currency to fund their soon to be announced metaverse platforms with plans to engage in NPC trafficking.

Where does JFK jr fit in?

 

[zed]

You need to look at 24 hour peak not current in hour. North America is barely waking up.

Thats one way to look at it but not the best way, ideally you want to look at the average number of people. Halo seems to be much more up and down than battlefield, not sure why? Surely they appeal to the same sort of players

Halo (green) destiny 2 (orange), battlefield 2042 (blue)

Destiny 2 is prolly the game most similar to halo, both free to play, space shooters (started by the same company even).
Why does battlefield have a more stable playerbase? The other two are similar, Halo is more erratic though (ave = ~26k, destiny= ~45k)

 

[Shortbread]

https://www.eurogamer.net/articles/...console-generation-despite-supply-constraints

Microsoft's Xbox Series X and S are outpacing sales of previous Xbox console generations - despite the fact that supply has been unable to meet demand.

On the surface, this may not be too surprising - Microsoft has effectively doubled its chances this generation with two very different console models, each of which offers its own proposition. This was not the case with the launch of the original Xbox, Xbox 360, or Xbox One.

But Spencer went on to say that Xbox Series X/S had achieved this fastest-selling feat despite the much-reported supply shortages hitting chip manufacturers, production delays due to the Covid, and various global distribution bottlenecks.

Spencer concluded that Microsoft now spent "a lot of time" solving logistical issues such as "how do we move consoles from A to B location and securing chips". He also touched on another recent problem: scalping. "how do you actually manage so that real customers are buying our consoles and it's not a bunch of scalpers and bots that are securing the capacity? It's multi-step and it's kind of a 24-7 job for the team right now."

https://twitter.com/i/web/status/1480856801688047617

 

[iroboto]

Thats one way to look at it but not the best way, ideally you want to look at the average number of people. Halo seems to be much more up and down than battlefield, not sure why? Surely they appeal to the same sort of players

Halo (green) destiny 2 (orange), battlefield 2042 (blue)

Destiny 2 is prolly the game most similar to halo, both free to play, space shooters (started by the same company even).
Why does battlefield have a more stable playerbase? The other two are similar, Halo is more erratic though (ave = ~26k, destiny= ~45k)

That's time of day seasonality. The most players for Halo are in North America. This is also the case for Xbox where Halo Infinite is often the 4th most played Xbox title in all of live.
Halo doesn't do as well as BF and Destiny which has had a much longer tail as franchises as being a cross platform title.

I wouldn't say either game is close to Halo. Destiny is looter shooter, 90% of it's player base is entirely PVE. Halo Infinite has as single player but it's main player base is arena.

 

[iroboto]

https://www.eurogamer.net/articles/...console-generation-despite-supply-constraints

https://twitter.com/i/web/status/1480856801688047617

I'm still confused as to what the particular bottleneck is here for them (all of them). Is it the SOC?

 

[Deleted member 11852]

https://twitter.com/i/web/status/1480856801688047617

Which begs the question, could Microsoft have sold more consoles if they had only launched Series S...

 

[Silent_Buddha]

a

https://www.eurogamer.net/articles/...console-generation-despite-supply-constraints

https://twitter.com/i/web/status/1480856801688047617

Here's something interesting to think about.

If MS wanted to make the most money possible, would they make more XBS-X consoles (meaning fewer overall XBS consoles) or more XBS-S consoles (meaning more overall XBS consoles)?

If the hardware itself was a profit generater then it might be more biased towards the XBS-X console as higher end electronics usually command a larger profit margin. However, since profits are made via software sales because this is the console market, the goal would be to have as many consoles as possible in consumers homes, so it's likely that chip manufacturing is biased towards XBS-S consoles.

To think of it another way, MS might be more interested in having XBS-S supply be closer to XBS-S demand than they are in having XBS-X supply be closer to XBS-X demand. The result is that over time, XBS-S consoles will be more easily found on store shelves than XBS-X consoles with XBS-X consoles not being easily found on store shelves until there's relatively normal channel supply for XBS-S consoles.

When you factor in that within the Xbox ecosystem, Game Pass subscribers spend more money than non-Game Pass subscribers, then XBS-S being a far more affordable Game Pass consoles means the profit potential is potentially larger for the XBS-S console. Enough so that it may potentially upset the traditional thought that "core" console gamers spend more money than more "casual" console gamers.

Regards,
SB

 

[iroboto]

Which begs the question, could Microsoft have sold more consoles if they had only launched Series S...

power is such a critical component of the hardcore group, and the Xbox player base is so much about power, I can't imagine them going through another cycle of Xbox One. They would lose their player base.