Destiny 2 saw big sales declines at retail in the UK and Japan – and now the trend can be officially applied to the United States as well. NPD data reported by CNBC notes that retail sales of the game were down by a ginormous 50 per cent in its launch month compared to its predecessor – a reduction unlikely to be bridged by increasing digital purchases.
In a report, Wedbush analyst Michael Pachter described the numbers as “underwhelming”, and estimates that even with digital purchases accounted for, the sequel is likely to be “down roughly 40 per cent from the first month sales of its predecessor”. It’s worth mentioning that the first Destiny did launch on the PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 as well as the PlayStation 4 and Xbox One, while its successor only released on the latter formats. A PC version is on the way later this month.
Here’s what Activision had to say about Destiny 2’s sales: “The original Destiny became the biggest new console video game franchise launch in history, and Destiny 2 surpassed the original's records for engagement and digital sales in launch week. The Destiny universe will welcome a new community of players for the first time on PC on 24th October.”
Translation: "It’s not doing as well as we hoped it would."
[source cnbc.com]
Comments 48
Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice, shame on me.
I think more people are holding out for the refined expansions / collections this time.
Yessss thank god gaming community got at least a little sense back.
Let's be honest it still sold well. There is going to be a Destiny 3 without a doubt.
might just mean more bought digital
@Splat Of course.
So many good games this year. I nearly spend gbp150 last time having bought it twice with expansions. It's simply 2 much. When it launched ps4 was just at the beginning and it was bundled as well. This year many will wait for black Friday or discounts as for sure it will feature in the 12 deals for Christmas. Can't blame gamers.
Also time span for this game is incredibly long. We are talking 3 years of updating and expansions.
That's what happens when you fail the first time. People get cautious. I did buy Destiny 2 at the end since I heard good stuff about the story. I really enjoyed the story play-through and am looking for more story to come now with the first expansion.
Even though there is this pseudo-matchmaking for raids and nightfall, I still would prefer simple matchmaking as an option. Because most of the times I really don't give any damn about who I am playing with. I have played with groups through guided games and honestly so far I was better than the players I played with. In that case I don't care if the other players are some clan or just some random guys, if both types of players don't really play that well. A random crazy player is also worth more to me than a clan of not so experienced ones.
Destiny will get their simple matchmaking sooner or later. There is no way around that I think.
Other than that, Destiny 2 is so many times better than the first, that I think these numbers are simply players biting back, because the first game fooled them.
Serves Bungie / Activision right. The sales model for the first destiny was in my opinion an embarrassment and a lot of people will have decided they wont be duped again. The game may be brilliant, with an excellent community and gameplay ; but do not try and get one over on your consumers and expect them to keep pouring gold in to the bank. I expect alot of people will wait for the complete edition next year.
A lot of this has to be in response to how the first game launched. So many players felt like they got burned by Destiny, then when they hear Destiny 2 is basically the same at its core, they're in no rush to go out and grab it.
Didn't get fooled the first time, nor this time. Only Activi$ion game I bought this gen is Crash because Naughty Dog developed the originals.
Also tons more "service based" games out now as compared to when Destiny launched. Most people moved on and have their nightly rotations locked in, not really willing to gamble on Destiny again. D2 still isn't in my nightly rotation either.
@ShogunRok That's exactly how I felt. Plus, the beta didn't wow me at all.
This doesn't really mean anything, there's a giant chunk of Destiny 1 players that definitely bought digital, my clan has more or less a hundred guardians and they all pre ordered digital.
Everyone learned to just wait for a later edition that comes with the expansions.
@Bad-MuthaAdebisi People are not so stupid anymore they wait for the next edition and i love it.
I got D2 played for about a week and stopped haven't even finished story yet because I can't be bothered. Having to do it 3 times for each character is a chore, but apart from a few new characters who may I add don't do anything apart from become a shop or maybe talk on the field that's it. Heck the guy in the first area in the church doesn't even shoot just points and watches. The worlds are dull nothing in them not even dead ghost shells like before no lore to find except scanable items which don't do anything. With scan objects etc why not make a data base for me to add stuff to about each faction. At least give me extra to do ffs
@Wesker "I won't be fooled again"
@ShogunRok
Well, that's definitely why I'm holding out. The first game had great gunplay, maybe the best in the genre ever, but overall I just wasn't impressed. Felt like the beta gave me as much as the final product did when it first launched and I had stopped playing the game long before the expansions hit, and they did little to draw me back. I'll get Destiny 2 at some point, but waiting on post-holiday sales which I'm sure will be coming.
Just like the first game, I'll buy it when it's bundled with all expansions for around £15. I enjoyed D1, even playing strictly solo.
@Bad-MuthaAdebisi All of them? Is that part of the clan initiation. Dude that's brutal!
@Flaming_Kaiser that sentence doesn't make any sense
I've paid money for much worse games than Destiny 1 or 2
@ztpayne7 well i certainly am, i'm not getting this game until it's complete edition is out, learnt that mistake from the first one
I preorded mass effect Andromeda.
I will never buy a game at release again.
@Hapuc
For now.
@kyleforrester87
Much better too I hope. ;p
@KitsuneNight Yup, but these games really arnt as bad as some people like to make out.
@kyleforrester87
It' s an online only FPS though, and that genre is pretty saturated as it is.
@KitsuneNight Maybe. Still, it's the only one I play, and I play it casually, so it's a nice game to have on my system when I get the urge.
@kyleforrester87
Different strokes and all that.
People are also revving up for the holiday season, and they all want the usual suspects.
As well as the snes mini.
I've purchased two...2...retail games this year. Both for PSVR. Robinson, because I could get it for $21 on Amazon at launch and Farpoint for the Aim. Every other game I own is digital.
Wow, really don't get why people are choosing to dogpile on the Destiny hate train. Even if you don't like it, is it really a reason to want a franchise with millions of fans to fail? I mean, I dislike FIFA, but I don't comment on every article, pointing out it's faults.
@OutspokenHuman multiplayer was 10x better in Destiny 1 though, to be fair.
@Johnnycide sad isnt it.
I waited for the review then bought at Tesco.
I just dont understand what game people are expecting? Ive been playing for ages and am still enjoying it. Loads of guns to go after and missions for single players. The end game feels lacking but only because I cant seem to get 3/4/6 people playing at the same time.
What I do understand is everyone waiting nowadays. Especially with the definite price drop with black friday coming around. You would be mad to buy a release from the end of october until black friday after what happened last year.
@themcnoisy I see what you mean but I made an exception for Destinys Child, simply because I knew from playing the first game since release that I would enjoy it.
Yes the first game launched badly, but clearly Bungo learned from their errors and made the best game they could. I have played every day except one since release and I'm still enjoying it, and I'm not alone. D2 manages to balance the needs of players who can't invest 20 hours a week with the majority of hardcore players, and that's to be applauded. Yes I'll have to buy the expansions, but seeing as I played over 800 hours in D1 it's costing me less per hour than say, Nier Automata, or Horizon Zero Dawn. I loved both of those games, and would support them by purchasing any DLC, so why is it an issue with Destiny?
That's what you get for charging $60 for a game them making people pay for the rest of it.
@Splat there has to be. They signed a deal with activision
@ZAKtheRIPPER so are every other dev that's ramming loot boxes into there title
@GlynCR I agree but the loot boxes are usually just cosmetics so that doesn't really bother me but they obviously finished the game and then just cut it into segments.
Waiting for GOTY for me as with any game nowadays. Indulged £100 before but such a fool I was. Patience and waiting for it to go on sale feels so much better nowadays especially when £70 saved can be spent on doing much more other things. I want to play the game! But not being a mug anymore.
ffs Sammy really you started a flame war!
ok the game isnt bad, I learned from my mistakes with the first one and bought the collectors edition with season pass that way I wont be paying over the odds for a game I genuinely enjoy I am a little bummed out with IB and TOTN I find really elitest, the raid is IMHO amazingly crafted its beautiful and HUGE.
But I dont mind spending money at launch for a game I know im going to cram hundreds of hours into and once ep3 comes out next september it will get a huge overhaul again just like they did with d1, I dont buy any of the silver its not where near as bad as fifa where its pure pay to win model though
In my opinion, we need to punish the commercial model gaming is adopting... Destiny was milked ad nauseam and sincerely we need to NOT BUY all the season passes and expansions... I miss the days when you obtained all the fighters in MK or Street fighter through your ability, or you had the whole history and side quests in Zelda... EA somehow learned about it and suspended 'season passes' in all their games, we should be doing the same to Activision and Ubisoft...
I thought EA still did season passes ?
@themcnoisy I was expecting something better and more develpoed than Destiny 1, but we seem to have nothing but generic weapons and armour; yes, there are a lot of them, but they are all too similar. For example, the Iron Banner weapons are reskins of existing weaopns, whereas in D1, they weren't. Gear that you got from the raids had perks that helped you with the raid, now they are just cosmetic from what I can see. It's lazy game making from Bungie imo.
@Mr_Alejo street fighter? Which version. Street fighter 2 and its subsequent rerererelease were an absolute joke.
I get the sentiment though (full games at release) and your right. £60 x 5 million people playing is £300,000,000. That is a huge amount of money.
@XurAgentofthe9 Fair point. Anyway xur can you have a word with the rng department to drop me a 290 skirt for my titan?
@themcnoisy exactly, I proposed a bonus per full price pay... But, the season pass model sickens me
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