RDR2 2nd biggest retail launch of the year in UK. ( double of RDR1 launch ; 27% of GTAV launch )

Nightengale · Oct 29, 2018

GTA was always huge, but GTA5 is a behemoth that surpassed all previous GTAs by a country mile in terms of launch sales, legs, etc.

There was always a segment of the people who wondered what the secret sauce of the catapulted GTA5 success was - was it the Rockstar factor, was it the GTA evergreen brand factor, or how much weight does one have over the other if it's both.

Dead Man Typing · Oct 29, 2018

Japanonaut said:
Aren't all digital about that price for the big games ? Doesn't stop them getting 30-40% etc ?

No, the base versions are usually £49.99
Even at retail the physical base version has a higher than usual price of £52 in supermarkets.

I was tempted to buy Read Dead a couple of times over the weekend but the physical and digital prices put me off.

kowalski · Oct 29, 2018

MrTired said:
Top 2017 games with some of figures including the digital splits (all figures include digital sales).
Figures were correct as of the end 2017.

We talking here about RDR2 launch number, yes the LTD/YTD digital share is usually around 20-25% only.
But in launch week it's much bigger.
https://www.gamesindustry.biz/artic...-console-game-sales-now-30-45-percent-digital

MrTired · Oct 29, 2018

Theorry said:
Ah oke. Not sure whats changed tho. Still doubt a 20% digital share is that low for RDR2. Its doing "better" on the store with different versions then Black Ops 4 wich set a record. And how digital is getting bigger very fast.

It doing better than Black Op 4 is doing today. The chart is relative not cumulative.

kowalski said:
We talking here about RDR2 launch number, yes the LTD/YTD digital share is usually around 20-25% only.
But in launch week it's much bigger.
https://www.gamesindustry.biz/artic...-console-game-sales-now-30-45-percent-digital

You correct. However someone with better expertise than me, with more data say it is.

LordKano said:

Mr Swine · Oct 29, 2018

LordKano said:
30% sell-through on launch week...that's weird. Are they expecting that huge Black Friday sales ?

Ouch, was hoping that it would sell out. This will probably force Rockstar to do a price cut

Bud23 · Oct 29, 2018

Calm Waterfall said:
And? It's not going to stop selling. And that is only in the U.K. numbers so far and only physical.

The sales performance of a game is directly correlated with its budget?

With a breakeven point of 15-17 million, this game could end up selling 20 million copies and it would be, in Rockstar standards, a failure

Now try to explain to the shareholders that they won't release a new GTA this gen

Btw Im in love with the game and want it to succeed

Barry Sandwich · Oct 29, 2018

Mr Swine said:
Ouch, was hoping that it would sell out. This will probably force Rockstar to do a price cut

As a consumer, why would you hope it would sell out to avoid a potential price cut?

Theorry · Oct 29, 2018

MrTired said:
It doing better than Black Op 4 is doing today. The chart is relative not cumulative.

No i was comparing it to the Black Ops 4 launch week. :)

kowalski said:
We talking here about RDR2 launch number, yes the LTD/YTD digital share is usually around 20-25% only.
But in launch week it's much bigger.
https://www.gamesindustry.biz/artic...-console-game-sales-now-30-45-percent-digital[/Q

Jup. 20% would be crazy low for one of the biggest games this gen.

Wise · Oct 29, 2018

I'm confused. Are these sales good or bad?

Luis Carretero · Oct 29, 2018

I don't think anyone would expect this game to sell as much as GTA 5. a roughly 30% of that is quite good IMO.

I mean, this game, if not for being Rockstar is quite a niche one, is slow pace, story-driven western setting and quite bleak and "not fun".

Zappy · Oct 29, 2018

DrakenAstro said:
I'm confused. Are these sales good or bad?

Amazing sales when you consider the current climate. IMHO.

MrTired · Oct 29, 2018

Theorry said:
No i was comparing it to the Black Ops 4 launch week. :)

And how pray tell are you doing that?
If your comparing the number of SKU's in top 20 at there respective launch, that still relative.

CarterTax · Oct 29, 2018

DrakenAstro said:
I'm confused. Are these sales good or bad?

Double it's previous entry without including digital sales.

It's a pretty great launch. It's not GTAV numbers but... It's also not named GTA VI.

Theorry · Oct 29, 2018

MrTired said:
And how pray tell are you doing that?
If your comparing the number of SKU's in top 20 at there respective launch, that still relative.

Because i follow the chart every day. Also i said it tells a "story" and how RDR2 versions are doing on the Xbox store top paid isnt really in line of 20%.

Mr G · Oct 29, 2018

Mercenary09 said:
I mean I've been telling people that Red Dead isn't on the same level as a GTA. Cowboys and horses aren't as appealing to as many people.

Yeah this was to be expected, the setting only appeals to certain people.
People who were expecting GTA numbers really misread the appeal of wild west games.

MrTired · Oct 29, 2018

DrakenAstro said:
I'm confused. Are these sales good or bad?

You be the judge.

LordKano said:
30% sell-through on launch week...that's weird. Are they expecting that huge Black Friday sales ?

MrTired · Oct 29, 2018

Theorry said:
Because i follow the chart every day. Also i said it tells a "story" and how RDR2 versions are doing on the Xbox store top paid isnt really in line of 20%.

And what is in-line with 20% digital? What about 40 % digital? You can't tell me. Why because without numbers all the chart tells you is one item is selling better than another at any particular timeframe.

Braaier · Oct 29, 2018

Now people are saying these are not good sales? LOL, ok jan

Theorry · Oct 29, 2018

MrTired said:
And what is in-line with 20% digital? What about 40 % digital? You can't tell me. Why because without numbers all the chart tells you is one item is selling better than another at any particular timeframe.

Thats why i say it telling a "story"

*Splinter · Oct 29, 2018

Vashetti said:
Less so than Red Dead I would imagine. FIFA is disposable when the next one comes around annually. Common sentiment I see in the UK is you buy FIFA on disc, have your fun with it and then trade it in for maximum value before it plummets below ~£5.

Eh, FIFA players are like CoD players. They don't play anything else, and they don't stop until the new one comes out, at which point the old disc is worthless

potentialtodisplease · Oct 29, 2018

passepied joe said:
Does this mean it really is the "Blade Runner 2049 of video games?"

To be fair 2049 made 260m on a 150m budget without the sales of all 4K and Bluray products. I feel like this film was trying to be hyped to mass appeal when the original was kind of a cult hit despite being a total masterpiece.

Oddhouse · Oct 29, 2018

Bruno MB said:
Meh sales, once again UK retail market disappoints.

About 550,000.

I think it's important to remember it's just one country. Some AAA developers would be happy to have that with world wide sales.

tiebreaker · Oct 29, 2018

LordKano said:
30% sell-through on launch week...that's weird. Are they expecting that huge Black Friday sales ?

So, it fell short of expectation. But black friday is just around the corner, the game will sell. Wonder how low will they go, 2K isn't a stranger to cutting price early.

potentialtodisplease · Oct 29, 2018

Honestly, people have too many games to play. The more open world games you put on people the less time they have to complete these games. Tons of games out there these days. This was never going to be HUGE like GTAV. I think people's expectations are crazy sometimes.

Wiggy · Oct 29, 2018

Game prices been creeping up in the UK lately -not sure why don't think it's been happening in other territories. Considering how price conscious we are as a nation not surprised there have been a lot of disappointing/ under expectations game sales. Maybe digital makes up for it all but I'm not sure.

I bought GTA V at ps3 launch on amazon for 35 quid lol. RDR2 cost me 50. Price war days are over I guess.

bane833 · Oct 29, 2018

kowalski said:
We talking here about RDR2 launch number, yes the LTD/YTD digital share is usually around 20-25% only.
But in launch week it's much bigger.
https://www.gamesindustry.biz/artic...-console-game-sales-now-30-45-percent-digital

This makes no sense whatsoever since digital deals down the line are usual much better than retail discounts.

Deleted member 43446 · Oct 29, 2018

Wolfman said:
Or too many have been fooled by the 4K lies in PS4 pro ads.

Or the game still looks superb on PS4 Pro. It is truly one of the most beautiful games out there.

Oddhouse · Oct 29, 2018

Wiggy said:
Game prices been creeping up in the UK lately -not sure why don't think it's been happening in other territories. Considering how price conscious we are as a nation not surprised there have been a lot of disappointing/ under expectations game sales. Maybe digital makes up for it all but I'm not sure.

I bought GTA V at ps3 launch on amazon for 35 quid lol. RDR2 cost me 50. Price war days are over I guess.

Blame BREXIT. Sterling currency deprecated 20% against other major currencies so game companies responded by increasing there prices from £40 to £50 to keep their margins the same.

ZhugeEX · Oct 29, 2018

nib95 said:
How is it meaningless though? People buy Fifa digitally too. In fact, I honestly wouldn't be surprised if more people (in terms of retail vs digital split) bought Fifa digitally than they did RDR2. There were several discount promotions for digital buyers of Fifa 19, even direct from the Fifa 18 in game menu.

My point is that all the data is meaningless.

Doesn't matter what the game is.

Deleted member 31873 · Oct 29, 2018

I don't get why anyone should be surprised by the split. I mean, it pretty much just reflects the relative install-bases of PS4 and XB1 right? So that means people are just buying the game on the platform they own (or prefer) in equal numbers on both systems.

Mobu · Oct 29, 2018

Its a western game so the sales are obviously gping to be heavily usa sided

Kkona

fourfourfun · Oct 29, 2018

2nd to FIFA. 2nd to a game which, for many, is a digital representation of a near-religion. That can't be disappointing.

MrTired · Oct 29, 2018

MartinB105 said:
I don't get why anyone should be surprised by the split. I mean, it pretty much just reflects the relative install-bases of PS4 and XB1 right? So that means people are just buying the game on the platform they own (or prefer) in equal numbers on both systems.

Ryng Manuel Tolu said:
Last time we heard about that, the ratio was 57:43.

Out of around 9 million PS4, which mean PS4 ws over 5.1 million and XB1 under 3.9 million.

This is correct as of March this year.

Katana_Strikes · Oct 29, 2018

MartinB105 said:
I don't get why anyone should be surprised by the split. I mean, it pretty much just reflects the relative install-bases of PS4 and XB1 right? So that means people are just buying the game on the platform they own (or prefer) in equal numbers on both systems.

Nope it's not more than 2:1 in the U.K. these splits simply put are bigger than normal.

Visanideth · Oct 29, 2018

LordKano said:
That's kind of a let down.

I love how we go from justifying some random Switch port selling sub 10k copies being a success to labeling one game selling over half a million copies (almost 3 times the previous entry) in 3 days as a "let down".

Bloody hell.

Teddy · Oct 29, 2018

To those saying sales aren't a disappointment, it's important to consider that UK retail games sales are down YoY and game retailers were betting heavily on RDR2 pulling GTA5 numbers to pull them out of the red.

That hasn't happened. So in that context, the numbers may have long term consequences for game retailers (what's left of them).

Deleted member 12352 · Oct 29, 2018

Visanideth said:
I love how we go from justifying some random Switch port selling sub 10k copies being a success to labeling one game selling over half a million copies (almost 3 times the previous entry) in 3 days as a "let down".

Bloody hell.

Not really a fair comparison there though. Niche port vs potentially the single biggest release of the generation. Expectations for RDR2 are understandably through the roof whereas expectations for the average random Switch ports will probably be minimal to all but the die hard Ninty fanboys.

Shakka43 said:
Or the game still looks superb on PS4 Pro. It is truly one of the most beautiful games out there.

I know, I was just mocking that hilarious 4K ad thread :P

Ryng™ · Oct 29, 2018

Visanideth said:
I love how we go from justifying some random Switch port selling sub 10k copies being a success to labeling one game selling over half a million copies (almost 3 times the previous entry) in 3 days as a "let down".

Bloody hell.

I can't believe you was able to mention Switch 3rd party games even in this thread. For real...?

Gotdatmoney · Oct 29, 2018

Red Dead will probably have good legs but it seems UK retail is just inevitably going to be down this year.

Does anyone know the form next years combined charts will take? The current charts give us a lot of rankings. I hope it doesnt just become a top 10

unapersson · Oct 29, 2018

ZhugeEX said:
My point is that all the data is meaningless.

Doesn't matter what the game is.

Well correct me if I'm wrong but the data is collected on behalf of the retail industry, so for those selling physical copies of games it's pretty meaningful. Quite possibly more so than the same data with digital included.

For us it's not as relevant, but I'm not convinced the data is collected for consumption by consumers.

Kill3r7 · Oct 29, 2018

DrakenAstro said:
I'm confused. Are these sales good or bad?

They are great. Unless you expected GTAV sales figures which based on that tweet Take Two/R* did.

Visanideth · Oct 29, 2018

Ryng Manuel Tolu said:
I can't believe you was able to mention Switch 3rd party games even in this thread. For real...?

I mentioned the last ridicolous thing that was discussed. You can replace that with Soul Calibur VI or Starlink if you want. The Switch has nothing to do with this.

flaxknuckles · Oct 29, 2018

These sales seem great unless TakeTwo was expecting it to get GTA V sales. GTA V's sales are not to be expected for every Rockstar game, that shit was an anomaly. I always thought the best RDR2 could do was GTA levels before V.

Bud23 · Oct 29, 2018

Visanideth said:
I love how we go from justifying some random Switch port selling sub 10k copies being a success to labeling one game selling over half a million copies (almost 3 times the previous entry) in 3 days as a "let down".

Bloody hell.

Let's pretend context doesn't matter

Deleted member 32018 · Oct 29, 2018

Visanideth said:
I mentioned the last ridicolous thing that was discussed. You can replace that with Soul Calibur VI or Starlink if you want. The Switch has nothing to do with this.

But this is based around expectation. The game was in development for 8 years, has an insane budget, many, many people working on it, made by R*, has a 97 metacritic score. The other games you are talking about will not have had such things and so we can tone our expectations way down for them (even then, most people have agreed that the games you have listed have not sold all that well anyway).

Visanideth · Oct 29, 2018

Bud23 said:
Let's pretend context doesn't matter

Let's pretend armschair analists define context as something else but cheerleading.

The fact that the idea that there's a context that can make a sub-10k units sold game a relative success and something that moves 600.000 units in 3 days a relative let down is somehow defended tells you everything you need to know.

People don't give a damn about "context", or they would focus on RDR1's sales, install bases, impact of digital and so on. We're discussing how something that moves north of 40 million euros in the UK alone in 3 days may be a disappointment and we say ports that move half a million euros in 3 months are healthy.

Drksage · Oct 29, 2018

I never expect RDR2 to beat GTA V due to what they both bring to the table in terms of gameplay. GTAV has more freedom to do shit compared to RDR.

Timbuktu · Oct 29, 2018

Ivanovic said:
I don't even think UK's population is 27 million

What? UK population is almost 70 million.

Deleted member 2791 · Oct 29, 2018

Visanideth said:
I love how we go from justifying some random Switch port selling sub 10k copies being a success to labeling one game selling over half a million copies (almost 3 times the previous entry) in 3 days as a "let down".

Bloody hell.

Don't quote me if it's for console warring.

Visanideth · Oct 29, 2018

steviejd1 said:
But this is based around expectation. The game was in development for 8 years, has an insane budget, many, many people working on it, made by R*, has a 97 metacritic score. The other games you are talking about will not have had such things and so we can tone our expectations way down for them (even then, most people have agreed that the games you have listed have not sold all that well anyway).

I can understand that if the perspective is that of cheerleading for games and wanting something to have a wow factor.
Sure thing, RDR2 was meant to be the next big thing and it didn't make the world implode. You can take that angle and discuss it as a pop culture fenomenon, it's understandable.

But people will, in the future, discuss how RDR2 had an eeeeeh release and Spiderman was an incredible, unprecedent success. Despite RDR2 selling what, over 3 times as much?

RDR2 2nd biggest retail launch of the year in UK. ( double of RDR1 launch ; 27% of GTAV launch )

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