He didn't contradict anything. Normal Digital sales are 30% and he said that Destiny could be higher than that which is possible.
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NPD: Destiny 2 down 50% at retail vs. Destiny 1 retail
- Thread starter Primethius
- Start date
- Sales-Age
Orthogonal
Member
Exactly, it is easy to read between the lines. Activision wouldnt be talking about player engagement and concurrency numbers if sales were outright better than the original. Its the biggest indicator or shortcomings.
Also, read the article. Numerous analysts are commenting directly on NPD data we cant see, but specifically state that even with increased digital sales the game is down materially as much as 40% compared to the first.
plantedunicorn
Member
Probably lack of 360/PS3 but it's most likely people were burned by Destiny 1 and were not going to give the sequel a chance which is totally understandable.
Guess Bungie didn't do enough to get them back.
Guess Bungie didn't do enough to get them back.
Blam
Member
Yeah that definitely padded the numbers for sure.
Wut? The average is 30% but i think its higher for Destiny because of what kind of game it is and alot of D1 players know its a better way to get it.
Hoho for breakfast
Member
So Destiny 2 retail at 1.35 million for the month yet they hit 1.3 million concurrent users on Friday Sept. 15th, 9 days after release?
Digital sales were really big then? Everyone who bought Destiny was playing at the same time?
I'm lost.
Digital sales were really big then? Everyone who bought Destiny was playing at the same time?
I'm lost.
Hawk269
Member
I know of about 20 people that are on 360 and PS3 still and out of those about 11 bought D1. So I am sure it had some impact. Will be curious on how it does on PC?
WW vs NPD.
MrMephistoX
Member
Doesn't NPD own Eadar now? I'm wondering when we'll start getting more reliable download stats. Retail as a whole is declining year after year and digital is taking off. I wonder if the drop is offset by an increase in downloads in a meaningful way? Most people I know IRL are digital only.
No way Destiny is as high as 50% + whatever it was in 2014 (10-15%?) though, D2 is undoubtably down from D1 in pretty big numbers but the playerbase will be a lot more loyal than 1 for sure.
You must be joking haha.
AllIsOneIsNone
Banned
The beta probably put a lot of people off. It put me off, but I still bought the game. I had a fine experience, the first 30 hours or so were not amazing but I was relatively satisfied. But that's where it stopped, it's just not the game it is supposed to be. If it's the game Bungie wanted it to be, then they have strange taste. It's a hybrid of Halo/Diablo (with mmo sprinkled in), but isn't near the quality of either in any department. I put it on the same level as vanilla Destiny...I had some fun with it but it got stale and frustrating faster than any AAA loot/multiplayer game in the same vein should get.
CarbonatedFalcon
Member
No idea if that actually has anything to do with sales, but...
Is the PvP even really a big focus?
As a casual observer, I hear almost NOTHING about PvP in Destiny, compared to the raids and such.
PvP for shooters seems to be firmly in the PUBG, Overwatch, and/or CS:GO camps.
Jawmuncher
Member
Not surprised when a lot of general reception was just Destiny 1.5 and not the jump people some people were hoping for.
It's Bungie. PvP matters. Go on Reddit and see the numerous threads.
PVP is huge. Even tho is not that good. Yesterday it had 1.8m tracked players.
Mass Effect
Member
Where did you get that number? Extrapolated it using D1's NPD launch numbers?
If so, NPD = NA =/= the world, which means it makes sense for that concurrent number to be that high because it was a worldwide release.
Hoho for breakfast
Member
God dammit. Every time. Thanks.
Froxenblade
Neo Member
Between digital sales, people waiting for PC and die hard fans that will double dip and re-buy the game on PC I think D2 will sell at least as well as D1. These numbers seem reasonable to me. 2014 is only a few years ago but the move towards digital has made up huge ground in that time. People coming fresh off last gen were still buying games at retail because it's what they're used to. That feeling has eroded since then. I myself made the switch around late 2014/early 2015 from physical to 100% digital. Also, a game like Destiny 2 makes more sense to buy digital than say something like Horizon: Zero Dawn because of the nature of the game.
firstadopter
Member
This a great point. Poorly reviewed game in a franchise may sell well if it follows a good game and vice versa. Better reviewed game may sell poorly because the game before it in the franchise burned people.
CarbonatedFalcon
Member
Hmmm.
Not saying it isn't the case (that PvP is big, or that it matters), but they certainly don't do a good job advertising it as part of the package. Again, maybe it's just my perspective, but I rarely see anyone playing or talking about the PvP compared to the PvE content.
They must not push it as a competitive eSport much if at all, since I can't say I've ever happened to casually tune into a Destiny PvP tournament of any kind, unlike the other games I've mentioned (and even some more obscure shooters.) None of the general audience advertising I've ever seen for the Destiny franchise shows off PvP, for example.
firstadopter
Member
30% of total units.
FallingSputnik
Member
Not surprised, while Destiny 2 wasnt bad, it still wasnt as good as Destiny Year 3. So much hard work down the drain so that they could cash in all over again.
firstadopter
Member
I wrote the article linked to in the OP.
In my opinion, this is the biggest tell. And old AAA franchise game director once told me if the sales are good, publishers will flaunt it.
The fact the first-week sales press release for Destiny 2 did not brag about total sales being better than Destiny is a huge tell sales are likely down. Instead, the press release parsed and said digital sales + engagement were up vs. the first title.
Jawmuncher
Member
Battlefront I see doing either on par or less. I think the SP will help but the beta reception wasnt all that positive even with the changes at least from my angle of things.
Spartancarver
Member
A bunch of us are waiting for the PC version. And bought the game digitally
ElBoxyBrown
Banned
Except it's still not even close to doing bad.
I never want to see a game do bad, but when lessons aren't learned the outcome is obvious.
firstadopter
Member
Yes. I clearly laid out in the article the Destiny digital sales % of total sales comments trend from Activision earnings calls transcripts last few years (I had to do a lot of digging to get them.)
So any of you can do an estimate of where Destiny % of sales digital downloads is now based on the trend. Even if it's up a lot to say 40% or 50% of total sales, the math gets VERY VERY difficult if physical sales are down 50%+ to get anywhere near a positive growth number for Destiny 2 vs. Destiny 1.
It's just math.
AllIsOneIsNone
Banned
They didn't because it can't be. Which is where it has me scratching my head. They balance around PvP, they lower the player count, they introduce a playlist called "competitive", and yet there's nothing competitive about any of it. No dedicated servers, no ranked play, 30fps, no custom games, only 2 playlists...the list goes on. Sorry, I'm on a bit of a Destiny 2 rant with these threads popping up today, but gahhh. I wanted the PvP to be good so badly because I saw such potential with the first game. I expect that they'll make some improvements pretty fast, but I really don't want to feel like I'm testing a Beta, they should have done things that they didn't do and it bugs me, especially with the budget they had.
firstadopter
Member
I saw this article. It had very weak sourcing.
firstadopter
Member
Activision did not. I would bet that was near a high water mark as many players just got the game and were plowing through the campaign that first week.
Scrotum Phillips
Member
While this is obviously not a great sign, find it hard to really put much stock in exactly how significant this is right now.
-Destiny is the epitome of a game that is better as a digital game.
-Digital share overall has certainly gone up since 2014.
-Only available on 2 platforms rather than 4 in 2014.
-MANY waiting on the PC version which is yet to be released.
-Destiny is the epitome of a game that is better as a digital game.
-Digital share overall has certainly gone up since 2014.
-Only available on 2 platforms rather than 4 in 2014.
-MANY waiting on the PC version which is yet to be released.
ArkhamFantasy
Member
I dont know what Destiny 2 has sold, but if a major publisher doesnt see growth they aren't happy.
Orthogonal
Member
Exactly, the increase in D2 digital vs D1 digital would have to be greater than the drop in physical. Just not happening. We can stop couching and qualifying all our statements with a nod to understanding the increase in digital sales. Its a non-factor.
Jawmuncher
Member
Yep. Dont understand how people think that magically digital on consoles is going to carry that much for a game lacking at retail. Even if digital is up. The game overall is down even with digital.
It's also fun watching some of the downplaying. Even if destiny 2 sold as much as destiny 1 I'm sure Activision wouldn't be too happy with that, most other games and that would be called a disappointment.
RealityPales
Member
Good. Now learn from this, pivot strategically, and don't rush the next one.