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Elden Rings UK Sales Were 70~85% Digital. PS5 ~50% Digital - Xbox ~85% Digital - Breakdown By Platform Inside

IntentionalPun

Ask me about my wife's perfect butthole
He was a insider. He still have his source btw.
His "inside source" was working at Gamestop though.. one of maybe 12,000 retail managers in their employ..

It's really not a significant source since we get NPD numbers. it becomes less and less of a significant source as time wears on as well.
 
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DForce

NaughtyDog Defense Force
Ur assuming H2 did 3 million week 1. Everything is indicating it fell short of H1 launch numbers. Despite 130 million consoles out. It def has to do with releasing around a saturated ass market.

Destiny
Sifu
Elden ring
GT
Cyberpunk
Horizon 2

Stupid to release 5+ AAA games at once not expecting sales to be taken away from the other. It’s like Nintendo releasing Mario odyssey and then Zelda a week after? That’s stupid.
A difference in sales wouldn't be that significant if Horizon Forbidden West was released more than 3 weeks prior.

It appears that Horizon performed better than Elden Ring on PlayStation in the UK. The thing that's really hurting HFW sales likely has to do with PS5 stock. We'll just have to wait and see how the sales perform weeks down the road.
 

ethomaz

Banned
Lets make it clear here to everybody that are using the % with absolute number the wrong way.

If we assume PS and Xbox sales userbase to be around 8.5m and 6m.

Difference in user base: +41.6% in PS favor (6 to 8.5m).
Difference in ER sales: +41.3% in PS favor (41 to 29%).

The ratio in ER sales very close to the ratio in userbases.
 
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yazenov

Member
UK may be MS's second biggest market but Playstation has a pretty dominant lead in hardware sales especially counting both generations this game is being sold on.

The argument that the much lesser install base on the Xbox accounted for only 10% less sales is pleasantly surprising. The game seems to have similar demand on both eco systems, and doesn't seem to have been a game heavily associated with PS.

The Userbase arguments is flawed and shouldnt be used at all.

From the link the you posted

According to GSD's digital and physical numbers, 32% of sales were on PlayStation 5, 30% on PC, 29% on Xbox and 9% on PS4.

The PS4 user base vastly outnumbers the PS5 userbase, yet PS5 sales accounted for 32% of the sales vs only 9% on the PS4.

This is a new generation. Most people moved on from the old system or are dormant users. Also, the least popular console most probably has the most hardcore gamers (Xbox) opposed to the more popular console. SO these type of gamers are most probaly the target audiense for such games like Elden rings. (hard difficulty, not casual friendly).
 

IntentionalPun

Ask me about my wife's perfect butthole
I mean he still have friends to talk with him about numbers. Nothing new.

You really think "Yeah this game is gonna do well WW" is some inside info, when he's quote tweeting a report that the game is the best selling non-COD/FIFA game in years in the UK?
 

Banjo64

cumsessed
the one xbox console that's readily available for people to buy is the one that's digital only, and the one being scalped to hell and back with 0 stock in sight has a disc drive
is it any wonder why digital sales dominate on Xbox?
I’d say that’s a part of it however even during the One S/X years the digital to physical ration on Xbox was still higher than PS.
 

ethomaz

Banned
I find it fascinating that Xbox is basically becoming an all digital platform by user choice.
You can only find easy to buy the digital version (without need to fight bots) for Xbox.
The opposite for PS5 you can only find to buy (fighting against bots) the physical version.
 
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adamsapple

Or is it just one of Phil's balls in my throat?
Title needs fixing, it says almost 70% not 70-85%.

I included 85 as the higher end for the Xbox specific number but if a mod wants to edit, no worries !

The Userbase arguments is flawed and shouldnt be used at all.

From the link the you posted



The PS4 user base vastly outnumbers the PS5 userbase, yet PS5 sales accounted for 32% of the sales vs only 9% on the PS4.

This is a new generation. Most people moved on from the old system or are dormant users. Also, the least popular console most probably has the most hardcore gamers (Xbox) opposed to the more popular console. SO these type of gamers are most probaly the target audiense for such games like Elden rings. (hard difficulty, not casual friendly).

Ok that's a lot of assumptions in your last two lines, but if you purely want to talk current generation numbers, then the PS5 still has a lead on the Series in hardware sales as well.

The difference in over all sales of the game seems to be proportional to the hardware differential between the two consoles.

i-e the old adage that From's games are heavily associated with PS is wrong in this case, as a proportionally equal number of folks who own either console seem to have bought this.

All the above is just for UK only, of course. I don't think ER is gonna sell 1/10th of PS5 sales in Japan, for example.


So that UK physical charts does not mean shit nowadays?

Color me shocked.


Here's the thing, it never did. But "PS5 accounts for 80% of sales" reads like a good buzz-line to a lot of folks out of context.
 
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postaboy

Member
41% of sales vs 29% of sales

Roughly 60mil XB1/ Series consoles vs roughly 130mil PS4/PS5 consoles.

I think Xbox is doing great and punching well above its weight.
People can keep changing the goalposts now hard data is showing you were wrong in those cringy boxed sales threads (funny how we havent had one since the 90% digital Vanguard sales on Xbox data too), but it doesnt change the fact that it was wrong, and most of you already knew it at the time.

LMAO this guy think there are 60 million XB1/Series consoles vs 130 million PS4/PS5 consoles in the UK alone.

this sales is for UK market only; not all markets.

Wait for Elden Ring announcement of world wide sales. I expect PS4/PS5 with 50% of sales for all markets.
 

ethomaz

Banned
That is your reply to my post?
You posted that.

"So without including the PS5 and Series S/X, which we know Sony has sold more of their console than Microsoft has theirs, the PS4 has ~35% higher install base. At the very minimum we’d be looking at a 40% higher install base for PlayStation than Xbox overall, agreed?

Wouldn’t it be fair to assume then that a game would sell at a minimum 40% more copies on PlayStation than on Xbox, purely because the install base is a minimum of 40% higher?"

I did not assume anything... I give you data... the game in question sold 41.3% more in PlayStation than Xbox.

Your question was very weird to be fair.
You probably wanted tome agree with the first question and after kind of disagree with the second question because you trough the diference was smaller lol
But in fact both of your questions are actually true.
 
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Godot25

Banned
Two observations
1. Claim that Xbox users are just Game Pass shills who won't buy games full price is just funny
2. Microsoft is probably happy Chapy since they get more money from digital then from physical sales. It just shows how far in digital realm are Xbox users in comparison to PS users
 
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Banjo64

cumsessed
You can only find easy to buy the digital version (without need to fight bots) for Xbox.
The opposite for PS5 you can only find to buy (fighting against bots) the physical version.
I bought 2 digital PS5s in the middle of 2021 with a week of each other, no problem.
 

ethomaz

Banned
I bought 2 digital PS5s in the middle of 2021 with a week of each other, no problem.
Yeap... and still Sony only produces less than 20% of that version.
While Series S is probably 80% of Xbox production.

I mean what you buying 2 PS5 DEs have to do with what I said? I can only congrats you for beating the bots twice in a row :D
 
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IntentionalPun

Ask me about my wife's perfect butthole
The interesting thing to note is that it's estimated that a publisher gets roughly half of the revenue from a physical sale. They get 70% from digital.

Not sure how you factor in that the sales happen to the retailer and not all copies are sold though. My understanding is that unsold units are sometimes returned to distributors though; I know that's how it worked in the world of CD's and music stores in the 90s as I worked at one.
 

Stuart360

Member
LMAO this guy think there are 60 million XB1/Series consoles vs 130 million PS4/PS5 consoles in the UK alone.

this sales is for UK market only; not all markets.

Wait for Elden Ring announcement of world wide sales. I expect PS4/PS5 with 50% of sales for all markets.
Nope but certain people would like to troll in the UK Boxed Sales threads and say the UK was a big enough pool to get a sense of whats happening worldwide (which was also wrong).
I'm just using their flawed reasoning against them.
If people are going to be knowlingly disengenous with this shit, they need to realize it can come back and bite them on their arse.
 

IntentionalPun

Ask me about my wife's perfect butthole
Yeap... and still Sony only produces less than 20% of that version.
While Series S is probably 80% of Xbox production.

I mean what you buying 2 PS5 DEs have to do with what I said?
Where are you even getting these numbers from?

Reports were that the launch stock was more like 25% PS5 DE and I dont think anyone knows beyond that.... we have no idea if production went up for digital vs. physical past launch.

Also all analysts have been suggesting Series X vs S sales are closer to 50/50.

Either way we have no idea what the breakdown would be if Sony had made an unlimited amount of both editions. Plenty of people bought a disk version who wanted a DE. Lots of disk owners are actually all digital buyers.
 
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I expect these new games will have long ass legs as people wait until they have a current gen console before buying. It's been hectic on the PlayStation side. Sifu, Horizon II, elden ring and GT7 all within weeks of eachother. That's a Shitload of software sales for sony.
 

MrFunSocks

Banned
You made a question.

"Wouldn’t it be fair to assume then that a game would sell at a minimum 40% more copies on PlayStation than on Xbox, purely because the install base is a minimum of 40% higher?"

I did not assume anything... I give you data... the game in question sold 41.3% more in PlayStation than Xbox.

Your question was very weird to be fair.
The question was a basic question, not weird at all.

Given that the PS install base is at least 40% higher than Xbox’s, isn’t it safe to assume that games will sell at least 40% more on PS than Xbox?

You then replied with “it’s not 40%, it sold 41% more!” Lol

So the given sales figures prove my point, which is that the sales split is proportional to the install base split. This means that the game didn’t sell significantly better on PlayStation than it did on Xbox given their relative install bases.
 
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Stuart360

Member
Where are you even getting these numbers from?

Reports were that the launch stock was more like 25% PS5 DE and I dont think anyone knows beyond that.... we have no idea if production went up for digital vs. physical past launch.

Also all analysts have been suggesting Series X vs S sales are closer to 50/50.
He doesnt know, unless he has been tweeting people in the know which he likes to do.
The last info we got i believe was 55/45 split for XSS and XSX, and PS5 digital was around 20% of PS5 sales.
Of course if this info is true or not is anyones guess.
 

Fake

Member
You really think "Yeah this game is gonna do well WW" is some inside info, when he's quote tweeting a report that the game is the best selling non-COD/FIFA game in years in the UK?

Yes. Why would I doubt? The guy in question still get some things right.
 

ethomaz

Banned
Where are you even getting these numbers from?

Reports were that the launch stock was more like 25% PS5 DE and I dont think anyone knows beyond that.... we have no idea if production went up for digital vs. physical past launch.

Also all analysts have been suggesting Series X vs S sales are closer to 50/50.

Either way we have no idea what the breakdown would be if Sony had made an unlimited amount of both editions. Plenty of people bought a disk version who wanted a DE. Lots of disk owners are actually all digital buyers.
At launch reports from some retailers were from 15% to 30% for DE.
But Sony with supply issues basically focused in the Disc version... so I believe the number dropped but you can use 25% or 30% if you wish.

Also all analysts have been suggesting Series X vs S sales are closer to 50/50.
In wafers.

You can produce over twice amount of chips with 50% of Wafers for Series S than you can with 50% of Wafers for Series X.
 
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IntentionalPun

Ask me about my wife's perfect butthole
So the given sales figures prove my point, which is that the sales split is proportional to the install base split. This means that the game didn’t sell significantly better on PlayStation than it did on Xbox given their relative install bases.
Yeah the narrative is always that XBox gamers don't buy games, which has never fit the actual sales data.

In general, worldwide, 3rd party sales on Xbox actually outpace the install base difference, as there are over twice as many PS4's out there than Xbox One's. The game sales difference is rarely "2 to 1", it's usually more like a 30-40% difference.

Likely due to the fact that when you sell 100+ million units you are selling to far more casual gamers, as in general the "more popular" thing is going to be more popular with non-enthusiasts, so not a bash on Playstation gamers.

But the narrative that XBox gamers don't buy games has never fit any data.
 

IntentionalPun

Ask me about my wife's perfect butthole
At launch reports from some retailers were from 15% to 30% for DE.
But Sony with supply issues basically focused in the Disc version... so I believe the number dropped but you can use 25% or 30% if you wish.


In wafers.
I know the wafer difference.. why does that matter as this convo is about install base? MS said despite the CAPABILITY to produce more S, they produced more X before launch either way... MS has said they are producing based on demand.. there is little evidence that the S demand is higher than X, in fact lots to the contrary.

And where are you getting that Sony has focused on the disk edition?

I asked you where you got your data from... if you have a link, I'd appreciate it.
 
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ethomaz

Banned
I know the wafer difference.. why does that matter as this convo is about install base?
Install base? Did you read what you quoted?

" find it fascinating that Xbox is basically becoming an all digital platform by user choice."

It is not a user choice exactly when you can buy a Series S and not a Series X.

And where are you getting that Sony has focused on the disk edition?

I asked you where you got your data from... if you have a link, I'd appreciate it.
From numerous retailer reports... there are several articles from Eurogamer, Gameindustry.co.uk, etc.
It is not possible you did not read them.
Plus we have even some countries data.

Why should Sony focus in a version that loses money per unit sold instead the version that profits?
 
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DenchDeckard

Moderated wildly
The Userbase arguments is flawed and shouldnt be used at all.

From the link the you posted



The PS4 user base vastly outnumbers the PS5 userbase, yet PS5 sales accounted for 32% of the sales vs only 9% on the PS4.

This is a new generation. Most people moved on from the old system or are dormant users. Also, the least popular console most probably has the most hardcore gamers (Xbox) opposed to the more popular console. SO these type of gamers are most probaly the target audiense for such games like Elden rings. (hard difficulty, not casual friendly).

Looks like Elden ring has been huge on every platform it has released on. so good to see!

I hope this gets DLC for years!

Actually surprised by the complete falling off a cliff the PS4 sales have taken. you would think that due to the shortages etc people would be hanging around more on last gen.
 

Godot25

Banned
Yeah the narrative is always that XBox gamers don't buy games, which has never fit the actual sales data.

In general, worldwide, 3rd party sales on Xbox actually outpace the install base difference, as there are over twice as many PS4's out there than Xbox One's. The game sales difference is rarely "2 to 1", it's usually more like a 30-40% difference.

Likely due to the fact that when you sell 100+ million units you are selling to far more casual gamers, as in general the "more popular" thing is going to be more popular with non-enthusiasts, so not a bash on Playstation gamers.

But the narrative that XBox gamers don't buy games has never fit any data.
I mean, that's pretty obvious.
Microsoft had 16 billion revenue with 62 million consoles sold (50 + 12) while Sony had 24 billion in revenue with 135 million consoles sold.
 

yazenov

Member
I included 85 as the higher end for the Xbox specific number but if a mod wants to edit, no worries !



Ok that's a lot of assumptions in your last two lines, but if you purely want to talk current generation numbers, then the PS5 still has a lead on the Series in hardware sales as well.

The difference in over all sales of the game seems to be proportional to the hardware differential between the two consoles.

i-e the old adage that From's games are heavily associated with PS is wrong in this case, as a proportionally equal number of folks who own either console seem to have bought this.

All the above is just for UK only, of course. I don't think ER is gonna sell 1/10th of PS5 sales in Japan, for example.





Here's the thing, it never did. But "PS5 accounts for 80% of sales" reads like a good buzz-line to a lot of folks out of context.

Yes the PS5 has the lead on Xbox even though PS5 are sold out almost instantinously while xbox series S are widely available. This speaks volume of the demand of the PS5. Glad we can agree on something.

Just wait till Sony can produce more PS5s. The ratio of games sales in the UK will no doubt increase in favour of the PS.
 

IntentionalPun

Ask me about my wife's perfect butthole
I mean, that's pretty obvious.
Microsoft had 16 billion revenue with 62 million consoles sold (50 + 12) while Sony had 24 billion in revenue with 135 million consoles sold.
Oh for sure, it's obvious.. never stopped the narrative from forming though and it's particularly strong surrounding Japanese games.

In the end though some of these Xbox sales are just due to the price of games on Playstation being higher, particularly the digital price.

I'm seeing a ton of anecdotes from multi-console owners in UK that they are buying multiplats on Xbox because they want to buy digital, and the digital pricing is better due to the ability to buy 3rd party game keys from discount online sources. Also you can get things like MS rewards points and other discounts on Xbox that don't exist on Playstation.

Sony ironically w/ their policies attempting to monopolize digital sales and increase their revenue appears to have just pushed more people towards staying or going back to physical in Europe particularly with them and 3rd parties doing a more dramatic price hike, since our $10 price hike because $13-15 hike in other currencies.

I suspect that difference wont matter as much in the US.. the price hike hasn't been as big of a deal I think. It'll be interesting to see the sales split between Xbox/PS in the US if we ever really get good numbers like that. Also the digital split is probably higher in the US because of the price hike not being as big of a deal. We have price parity here in general from physical to digital and my understanding is that in much of Europe physical is always cheaper.

And yes to be clear I know ER is not a $70 game. Digital prices even for "regular priced" games are just bad in Europe, and w/ no 3rd party "code" option it makes it worse.
 
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Stuart360

Member
Its cheaper, if you are deal sales person. I usually get digital for cheap, during deals. Its saves me money, when I buy the complete edition.
Yeah it is usually cheaper. In fact on PC you can get games even 40-50% cheaper if you know where to look.
 
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Dr Bass

Member
So without including the PS5 and Series S/X, which we know Sony has sold more of their console than Microsoft has theirs, the PS4 has ~35% higher install base. At the very minimum we’d be looking at a 40% higher install base for PlayStation than Xbox overall, agreed?

Wouldn’t it be fair to assume then that a game would sell at a minimum 40% more copies on PlayStation than on Xbox, purely because the install base is a minimum of 40% higher?
It's almost totally logical isn't it. :messenger_tongue:

So this thread has turned into "sold more digitally on Xbox!" vs "sold more total on PS!" battle?

Barf.
 

kingfey

Banned
Yeah it is usually cheaper. In fact on PC you can get games even 40-50% cheaper if you know where to look.
That is the beauty of digital.
Yes, I understand the benefits of digital but you're missing the point. we have people buying digital more on one platform vs others, unless you're saying consumers on particular platforms are more patient or can't drive I don't see the relevance. Somebody tried to associate the difference to gamepass' existence but IMO it can more easily be attributed to selling mainly inexpensive consoles without a disc drive.
Nope. Xss has nothing to do with this. MS had 3 disc consoles on xbox one, and 1 digital x1s, before it got canned.
The difference is playstation has 1 gen a head of xbox. Ps1-ps3 users grow up with disc. OG xbox users grow up with disc, then X360 come with digital option. By the time both ps4, and xbox one were here, 1 platform become more familiar with digital, while the other had majority of disc owners.
You also have to account PC users who own consoles. These people also buy digital too.

The bigger impact is the digital library. Unlike discs, digital doesnt take space in your living room. With 8 years of xbox one-ps4, gamers will switch to digital, especially with ps+, and xbox live gold giving digital games.

The last nail in the coffin is the digital sales. You get alot of discount on digital products, which you tend to buy. These tactics increases your digital purchase habits.
 

kingfey

Banned
I don't think that is exactly true... Dark Souls 3 PC and PS4 sales are very near each other.
I can't check more data right now.
That was dark souls. Elden ring is much easier than dark souls, which makes people buy it. Especially when the elden ring hype is crazy, and that 97 metacritic, added with open world.
Alot of console casuals will buy the game.
 

IntentionalPun

Ask me about my wife's perfect butthole
The last nail in the coffin is the digital sales. You get alot of discount on digital products, which you tend to buy. These tactics increases your digital purchase habits.
Well 3rd party games don't have digital codes on Playstation, so you can't get the discount from 3rd party digital retailers, which is partly why you are seeing more traction there for physical.

This is made worse in Europe because their physical discounts are actually fairly good compared to digital. Games are just more expensive there in general as well compared to the US.

I dont think the difference is as stark in the US, where games are just cheaper in general, and people have less of a reason to go physical even if they desire digital. I don't think the difference between physical/digital between PS/Xbox is anywhere close to this ER number we are seeing.

Sony WW continues to say that it's more like a 60/40 split don't they with digital the one winning? So UK being so high physical is not indicative of the world trend.
 
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lingpanda

Member
Digital Xbox user here. Tough for me to go physcial due to the convenience. Purchased game several days before launch and had everything installed and ready to go day 1.
 

BabyYoda

Banned
I would've bought a physical copy on Xbox, but it sold out everywhere...Good to see the game doing well though.
 

BeardGawd

Banned
Interesting. With Sony being 50% Digital of 41% units sold and MS being 85% digital of 29% of units sold means roughly 13% of Xbox purchases had higher per unit revenue for From soft. How much more do Publishers make from digital vs retail per unit?
 
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Hezekiah

Banned
We have fanboys from all places and different types.

I always say to stick with Physical because is my personal recommendation. I get my games from stores near to my apartament, but I buy one or two games (Doom 64, Street of Rage 4,...) digital. I'll never be against digital so I can't understand why so much stupid with this little digital x physical war.

I'm against DRM, not necessarily digital software.
That's probably just aswell because the next generation of consoles won't even have disc drives.
 

IntentionalPun

Ask me about my wife's perfect butthole
Interesting. With Sony being 50% Digital of 41% units sold and MS being 85% digital of 29% of units sold means roughly 13% of Xbox purchases had higher per unit revenue for From soft. How much more do Publishers make from digital vs retail per unit?

Well they take the 30% cut for digital.

For physical the retailer takes roughly the same cut, + there is a ~$7 or so license fee paid to your Sony/MS/Nintendo, plus of course all the distro costs.

It's a fairly dramatic difference, like the difference between maybe $25 and the outright $42 you get from a $60 digital sale. It's all just estimates out there though and I'd guess it's not exactly the same for every pub either as they may have better/worse distro pipelines/costs.

But you also get paid for every copy shipped not just sold to end users. However you can incurr costs or at least create bad relationships if you way overship your physical copies, and with pre-ordering becoming so prevelant your shipped to sold ration is pretty high.

But both sides.. the console manufacturer, and the publisher, have every reason to have people go digital.. this is even not accounting for the used market on physical effecting them.
 
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Hezekiah

Banned
Hasnt the ps5 sold like 40% more units over the xbox so sales per install base are more or less matched?

When you consider how big the PS4/5 fan base is compared to Xbox One/Series consoles, I expected much more than a 12% gap in sales.
Except we don't know what the UK install base is because MS doesn't release numbers.

Also didn't MS have the marketing rights for Elden Ring? In the end though more copies were sold on Playstation and PC - the latter is particularly surprising, especially given the number of technical issues that have been raised.
 
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