Witcher 3 - 30% Of Sales Coming From The PC, 75% Of Total Sales From Retail

[Sharpy47]

Witcher 3 - 30% Of Sales Coming From The PC, 75% Of Total Sales From Retail

Thought I will share this article. It's nice to see how well the PC version sold. Im really proud of CDPR!

"CD Projekt RED’s Karolina Gnas stated a couple of days ago that by the end of June 2015, 30% of the sales were on the PC. This basically means that PC felt slightly behind current-gen consoles (unless PS4 is outperforming Xbox One)."

Source: http://www.dsogaming.com/news/the-w...ng-from-the-pc-75-of-total-sales-from-retail/

 

[Domhnallaich]

Interesting, kinda goes against the thread I posted regarding some articles stating the PC market was larger than console market.

http://forums.cdprojektred.com/thre...nd-Politics-CDPR-and-the-Console-Market-vs-PC

 

[GuyNwah]

Nope, for gaming, consoles (combined) dominate. 30% of sales on PC, from a trusted representative, is more valid than apples-to-oranges comparisons. I do think both figures are unfortunate, more so the 75% retail.

 

[AvengerGrim]

Close to 1/3 of copies sold on PC, not bad!

 

[Tangsta]

Yeah, it's definitely impressive if you break it down properly. That means 70% of total sales are split between the PS4 and XB1, assuming an even split that indicates that PC sales are on par with the current gen consoles. PC gaming is far from dead and the industry is finally realising this with ports of games to Steam we would never have seen otherwise, such as Tales of Zesteria, MGS V and the a plethora of high profile Final Fantasy games.

 

[Gilrond-i-Virdan]

Thanks for sharing. It's amazing that retail sales are still so high (75%)! I wonder what the reason for such percentage is. Does it mean that 75% of people who bought Witcher 3 have poor Internet connection?

 

[gtcarlson]

Thanks for sharing. It's amazing that retail sales are still so high (75%)! I wonder what the reason for such percentage is. Does it mean that 75% of people who bought Witcher 3 have poor Internet connection?

I think it's more to do with consoles than that. limited space, ability to trade in game after they beat it, ease of use, console digital stores(in my experience) hardly ever have deals on anything new, and most people with consoles are used to just buying games off the shelf. Not to mention all the goodies CDPR throws into retail editions, plus all the collector editions would count retail as well.

For all we know digital PC sales could be 50% of PC sales that still leaves 17% digital for consoles or around 700k based of the last numbers I saw.

 

[Gilrond-i-Virdan]

Ah, I was thinking about PC sales. Still it's too high. I expected retail sales to be a monitory these days, surely not 75%. However as you say, current consoles are too limited (not surprisingly, their release cycle is almost 8 years), so that can drive people to buy digitally less. More competition in that market from Steam Machines will hopefully change the situation.

 

[DXMG]

Yeah, it's definitely impressive if you break it down properly. That means 70% of total sales are split between the PS4 and XB1, assuming an even split that indicates that PC sales are on par with the current gen consoles. PC gaming is far from dead and the industry is finally realising this with ports of games to Steam we would never have seen otherwise, such as Tales of Zesteria, MGS V and the a plethora of high profile Final Fantasy games.

Too bad its Zestiria though. A good Tales game on PC would have opened some minds and made some new fans, I think. Zesty will just be a poster boy for why JRPGs suck.

 

[vesemas228]

... until they make digital sales significantly cheaper than the retail version why on earth would you choose to buy the digital copy if you're getting it on launch? Why would you choose to pay the pretty much the same price and get less?

 

[Gilrond-i-Virdan]

until they make digital sales significantly cheaper than the retail version

Why should retail version be cheaper? It includes the price of physical media, and price of the retailer cut. Digital versions should always be cheaper because there is no need to produce any physical items and no need to deal with local retailers.

I didn't buy any games in retail for years. What for? I only buy digitally.

 

[RedFaction2]

Why should retail version be cheaper? It includes the price of physical media, and price of the retailer cut. Digital versions should always be cheaper because there is no need to produce any physical items and no need to deal with local retailers.

I didn't buy any games in retail for years. What for? I only buy digitally.

This is a non-sense.

I live in France, and all games are cheaper in retail.

Witcher 3 was 59.99€ on Steam.

I pre-ordered it 45€ on Amazon (25% cheaper).

There were a beautiful retail box, DVDs including the game and the soundtrack, stickers, a kind note from the developper, a manual and a world map.

You know the best ? Amazon delivered it at my home, for free, the day after game release.

Save the planet they said...

 

[dragonbird]

... until they make digital sales significantly cheaper than the retail version why on earth would you choose to buy the digital copy if you're getting it on launch? Why would you choose to pay the pretty much the same price and get less?

Well, me for a start.

There's no distributer in the same CONTINENT as me. Shipping costs for something like this is higher than the product price, and shipping time is around 2 weeks, even if couriered. Even with my internet connection, I can download faster than that. And it doesn't matter how much a store "guarantees" that it'll arrive by launch, that guarantee is wrong.

I cancelled my Amazon order for the main game when they advised me of an expected arrival date of late June. Based on my experiences with getting the books, that meant I'd have actually got it in late August. Which is also when the game started to appear in the retail shops. The one big online store would give no commitment at all on delivery dates. (But I do well on getting "refunded shipping due to late delivery" out of Amazon, they really should fix that. )

There are sound practical reasons why some people would prefer to get retail (poor internet connection, ready availability of retail suppliers), and there are sound practical reasons why some people would prefer to get digital (poor availability of retail). And the price difference varies from country to country. Sometimes digital is cheaper, sometimes retail. The world's a big place, and it's a mistake to assume that one size fits all.

 

[Death132]

When it comes to consoles it makes sense to buy retail. Having games tied to an account in my mind is a terrible system so it makes sense to go retail.

Though in the end I prefer drm free digital like with GOG.

 

[vesemas228]

Well, good point @Dragonbird, if there are no good retailers where you are then digital must be a very positive thing.

Well, from having been around when digital distribution was actually new, some obvious questions taken for granted today were quite valid.. if its digital, shouldn't it be cheaper because there are no physical printing and distribution costs and no middle man retailer to take the bulk of the sale price? Fast forward a few years and this obviously was not how it was going to be.. to appease retailers (and take more money themselves) digital games are the same price as physical games around release so...

When i was younger, the only reason to purchase games was for the physical edition.. as i could just pirate the game and get a better experience in all cases. Growing older, i don't want to pirate games anymore, but there's a different problem.. a queue of many tens of steam games i genuinely want to play... ive even stopped buying them on the sales now. Both outcomes have lead me to never buy full priced digital games. Digital only games are the exception i guess.

 

[Gilrond-i-Virdan]

This is a non-sense.

I live in France, and all games are cheaper in retail.

And how do you explain that?
---------- Updated at 11:13 AM ----------

When it comes to consoles it makes sense to buy retail. Having games tied to an account in my mind is a terrible system so it makes sense to go retail.

Not if you don't use DRMed consoles. For instance Steam Machine with GOG games wouldn't put any such pressure on you That's another good reason never to use Sony / MS DRMed walled gardens.

---------- Updated at 11:17 AM ----------

Fast forward a few years and this obviously was not how it was going to be.. to appease retailers (and take more money themselves) digital games are the same price as physical games around release so...

There are games which are released digitally only already. Such developers save money on avoiding dealing with physical retailers. But with such huge influence of retailers (75%) I'm not surprised that such games are still a minority. I was expecting retail distribution to be dying out these days, and surely not to be so dominant. As others pointed out, DRM prolongs retail existence.

But you can also influence this situation for the better - just don't buy in retail (unless you have no choice like poor connectivity and such). The less people will use retail, the less influence retailer will have on price.

 

[eisberg77]

... until they make digital sales significantly cheaper than the retail version why on earth would you choose to buy the digital copy if you're getting it on launch? Why would you choose to pay the pretty much the same price and get less?

Because I don't care to have a box, I just throw them away. I wouldn't hang up the map at all so it would just get thrown into storage. I wouldn't use the stickers for anything so those would just get thrown into storage as well or thrown away. So all I see is a bunch of tree resources being used for absolutely nothing. I gain nothing for buying physically and only see waste.

As far as I am concerned the $60 is the price of the game it self, all that other stuff (physically or digitally) are just extra bonuses that I do not consider when determining if a game is worth the price or not.

 

[davidj8580]

I prefer to buy physical copies of music, games and movies. This is never going to change.

 

[RedFaction2]

And how do you explain that?

It's easier to get the game by clicking a mouse button than going to the store to buy a physical copy.

Maybe most of us are too lazy and prefer to click a mouse button, even if it's more expensive.

I have a friend like that

 

[ReDD7]

Yeah, it's definitely impressive if you break it down properly. That means 70% of total sales are split between the PS4 and XB1, assuming an even split that indicates that PC sales are on par with the current gen consoles. PC gaming is far from dead and the industry is finally realising this with ports of games to Steam we would never have seen otherwise, such as Tales of Zesteria, MGS V and the a plethora of high profile Final Fantasy games.

PC near death? I am under the impression that gamers with the cash always opt for a PC. I havnt any facts to support it, just what I thought. I know I would love a Badass PC. Maybe I´m reading your post wrong......I am.....

---------- Updated at 05:07 PM ----------

I prefer to buy physical copies of music, games and movies. This is never going to change.

Always and forever.

---------- Updated at 05:15 PM ----------

... until they make digital sales significantly cheaper than the retail version why on earth would you choose to buy the digital copy if you're getting it on launch? Why would you choose to pay the pretty much the same price and get less?

Exactly! Why is that? On PSN some year old games cost like 50% more than in stores. Never seems to drop in price either. Mind boggling to say the least -most post.