
It’s not unusual to see the physical sales of new releases skew heavily in favour of PlayStation in the UK, but the emergence of Xbox Game Pass is making the splits ridiculous. Dungeons & Dragons: Dark Alliance, which launched in Britain last week, generated 54 per cent of its boxed copy sales on PS5 and a further 42 per cent on PS4 – that’s 96 per cent in total.
It means that just four per cent of physical copies in the UK were sold on Xbox platforms, an unprecedented split between console families. It is worth reiterating that this reflects boxed sales only – there’s no digital data included here – and the game is included as part of Microsoft’s aforementioned Xbox Game Pass subscription. Reviews, also, have been mixed – although we thought it was pretty good.
Nevertheless, it’s perhaps a sign of things to come as Sony’s primary competitor continues to double down on subscriptions. There’s been some suggestion from the Team of Green that Xbox Game Pass actually increases software sales, and while this isolated example certainly doesn’t contradict that – well, it’s increasingly looking like physical sales may be dominated by PlayStation moving forwards.
[source gamesindustry.biz, via News: UK Sales Charts: Ratchet & Clank: Rift Apart Holds Its Own in a Nintendo-Heavy Top 10]
Comments 56
It’ll be interesting as the generation goes along, if Sony can command a huge lead like they did with PS4 they can probably get away without a Gamepass alternative. However, I think more and more people are seeing huge value in the subscription.
I’m the target audience for DA, had the original on GameCube and so this was a day 1 buy for me. But if I had both and Xbox and PS, I’d have just used a Gamepass subscription for 1 month because I doubt I’ll play this game longer then a month.
Wow the shift in the ways we consume and buy media is changing rapidly, few years back we were restless with the idea of not owning a physical unit of your loved media, then we gradually shifted to digital and now subscription based media are the dominant and most of us prefers experiencing the media and moving on.
@mrtennis1990 I agree it can’t be sustainable for the platform holders or the developers (since many move on from games so quickly and never go back).
However, from a consumer standpoint with limited budget, I gotta see where the best value for my money is and currently there’s a CLEAR winner. I don’t regret my PS5 purchase but once Xcloud is running on mobile or PC, that’s gonna be a go to for me if a game is launched there
Gamepass will be the death of Xbox if games keep not selling on that platform.
PS5. The best place to play.
I think it's too early to conclude much from this, and it is just one game (that didn't really sell that well to begin with) at retail.
However, there's no question that the splits for physical have been shifting heavily in PlayStation's favour (in the UK at least).
It'll be interesting to see if that has any impact on how much shelf space retailers dedicate to each brand, and whether that even matters anymore.
96% probably wishing they could have played it on gamepass first. A broken game is a broken game regardless of playing it digital or physical.
Playstation games always outsell Xbox games here. 96% is a huge difference I the physical sales...but 96% of what? How well had the game done? How well would it have done on Xbox if not on gamepass too? How well will it do when it's off gamepass? How much money did they get from it being on gamepass?
There's lots of variables to this. And at the end of the day if publishers aren't making money from being on gamepass they won't go on it and will just release physical on Xbox.
Also there's over 18million gamepass subscribers...it's growing. It's not going anywhere.
I knew it PlayStation is powerful.
@get2sammyb shelf space for games is getting less and less. More places selling top up cards than games. I don't think anyone can deny digital sales are over taking physical. What always tops Amazon's playstation charts? Top up wallets.
Do you think that Gamepass's value for money will work in the longrun for the value to Microsoft that they will not feel the need to make it more expensive to make up for the loss?
@Bleachedsmiles Very true, yes.
@mrtennis1990 I grew up renting games, beating them, and returning them. I also switched from cd’s to digital music when that came along. The subscription model doesn’t bother me. I have no problem buying games on my PS5, but I use Gamepass on my Xbox.
Kind of predictable.
The big danger of services such as gamepass is that consumers will become used to not 'buying' games.
Its a similar thing to mobile gaming. Mobile gamers have come to expect to not pay a price for a full game anymore, as they are used to them being free to download.
@get2sammyb I've pretty much abandoned physical games for the most part these days on both platforms, as there is no real benefits to them anymore. I mean how many games are you playing actually resemble what's on the disc these days? Wasn't even the recent Ratchet and Clank's 60fps mode a patch and the RT Performance mode on Miles Morales? Let alone something like AC Valhalla and I doubt many want to play whatever is on that Cyberpunk disc. These days a physical game is just inserting a disc into a console just so that you can play the game that is already on its hard drive
@carlos82 I'm kinda the same with physical. I'm still not opposed to buying a Blu-ray if it's a particularly great deal, but I prefer digital in most cases now.
I mean, it makes sense right? Why would you buy it when it's available with Gamepass? They got paid ahead from Microsoft so it's fine for all parts involved
Once again showing that early PS5 owners are big game buyers. The number of PS4s will far outweigh the number of PS5s yet the multigeneration games sell better on the stock limited PS5. PS5 gamers are clearly very hungry for content.
I think Xbox gamers are mostly digital buyers in all honesty.
FIFA 21, Minecraft, The Sims 4, GTA V and Gang Beasts, all in Game Pass, yet currently in the top 20 paid games chart on the Xbox Store in the UK.
As someone gaming on PS5 and Series X, I haven't bought a game physically since Fallout 4 on my PS4! LOL
xbox is losing alot of money because of gamepass, 20 million sub is just $2 billion a year (compared to ps $22 billion last year)
they are spending tons of money to put those games on pass
in return they also losing tons of money on software sales since xbox users prefer not to buy games anymore
@get2sammyb same, I still get the odd deal or if it has nice packaging like the recent Alex Kidd game
Physical games will always have its audience especially older gamers like me, those who likes to own their games not streaming them. Also there is the resell value which is simply just doesn't exist on digital games. Collecting games if you can afford is also an important factor. I rarely buy digital games, it's just not worth it for me. My friends are the same, they all have nice collection too. So i think/hope they won't disappear in the near future
@blinx01 To be fair, digital sales are enormous on PlayStation as well. But yes, we certainly don't get the "full picture" without digital data included.
There is one conclusion we can make from all this, D&D:DA is a pretty terrible game in it's current state.
Wow that is a crazy slice of the pie even with factors like game pass to consider. As for the game yeah I can't be bothered to play this one anytime soon. It just looks so dreadfully dull from everything I see of it.
The only real conclusion to be had here is that Game Pass probably has an extremely high attach rate for Xbox Series owners, which makes sense.
@AFCC does anyone know if they get paid as much though?
Basically no-one knows if GP is sustainable but the concern is whether business go bust because of GP when MS reveal it isn't sustainable.
I am also interested in whether this will have a similar affect to gaming as Spotify to music industry where no one buys physical anymore so the bands earn peanuts these days. Could it be that there will be less money for the devs as MS will end up taking the biggest slice of the pie? Will that in turn affect quality?
I say this as a GP and Spotify subscriber (paid £50 for a year so far) who won't buy a game on Xbox or an album of disc as I don't see the point. At least I go to a lot of gigs and can contribute more directly to the bands.
As a digital digital gamer I see the advantage of going digital. However, I’d never want to be in a position in which an internet outage leaves me unable to play any games at all. I know GamePass gives limited offline play but it also means you own nothing at all.
Something like GamePass reminds me of Spotify. A platform that caters only to the provider and the creator gets scraps. I really wanna know how much devs make from having their game on GamePass as opposed to selling that games outright. Spotify pays artists 0.001 cent for every play they get. I wonder if MS pays devs similarly.
I’m hoping with this data we can stop blaming the country of origin of the game and that people will finally realize most games are bought digitally on Xbox. Yes I know GP plays a factor, but those not on GP are still more likely to purchase the game digitally for the platform. Again it’s not the game; it’s the gamers.
@AhmadSumadi It’s widely known MS uses multiple different payment choices for devs.
@4kgk2 I guess it depends how much devs get for a game to go straight onto gamepass.
Nowadays physical almost everytime isn`t physical so who really cares ?
Once physical media goes I go I can't stand having to rely on the Internet to get my games(saying that you need to rely on the Internet for the constant game patches and updates we get) :-/ Oh well.
@get2sammyb This is a complex issue with many layers. Here's one angle I find interesting.
I expect that games being on subscriptions services like Game Pass and PS+ (especially Day 1) lead to MORE sales on other platforms due to increased mindshare and word of mouth.
E.g. Would Outriders have sold so well if it wasn't on Game Pass and being talked about by so many more people? What about Fall guys?
There's also plenty of evidence of longer tail sales too from being on sub services like PS+, Game Pass etc.
Ultimately whether this works out in the publisher's favour is beyond my pay grade. Though I suspect for this game, which doesn't seem to have reviewed or sold well, Game pass is/was likely a lifeline for the publisher!
To the people saying they’d prefer to buy their games instead of renting them…you know that option IS still on Xbox and some devs have even said gamepass increased the sale of their games right? Or does that not gel with the ‘gamepass bad’ narrative?
@themightyant could those be the exceptions, though?
I dont know why people assume no one buys games on xbox i have gamepass and still buy games. I try stuff out on gamepass if i like it i buy it and Gamepass gets me 20% off and i actually buy more dlc because of the discount
Gamepass probably makes me buy more games as im trying games i would have never have thought of buying end up liking them and buying them
@naruball Possibly. But a few indie devs have alluded to this too on various podcasts, videos and forums. (NDA's mean they can't be specific sadly)
Effectively more people playing your game (and talking about it, guides written about it, YouTube videos published), AKA increased mindshare, leads to even more players & sales. It works as a good promotion tool, and the guaranteed subscription payment likely hedges your bets in terms of financial returns.
For many titles I think it's quite a smart move RIGHT NOW. Particularly with Xbox Game Pass having the smaller install base i.e. more potential sales on PS etc. Whether it will still be a smart move in years to come is beyond my ken.
@Sakisa you hit the spot right there , it seems most people here think
A:game pass makes no profit
B: is killing the game industry cause games don't sell anymore
C: you can't mention game pass cause it's not Sony thats doing it ,if it was it would b the best thing since sliced bread
In the ign interview with ign Phil Spencer said they are making profit but ppl on this site know better apprently
Me I personally love game pass and I'll b honest I've brought more because of game pass , most games I enjoy aren't complete unless I've gotten the dlc for it and finished that too and comoanys have come forward and said game pass has been good for them and if it's gd for them they ARE making money
@Texan_Survivor The Microsoft of E3 2013 is definitely still here...they just now go by the name Sony. They all take their turns...switch between arrogance and humility.
At this point I don’t think many games will come to xbox if they didn’t pay it for gamepass, especially the niche or japanese one, this sales difference is absurd.
I try and get physical copies mainly because i like to have the whole kaboodle..i dont have anything against digital (just purchased fifa 21 for £8.99) its just a personal preference..
@Martsmall you say “You can't mention game pass cause it's not Sony thats doing it ,if it was it would b the best thing since sliced bread” as if gaming isn’t exactly like politics and the reverse would be true if Sony had GamePass and MS didn’t. It’s tribalism plain and simple. Everyone is guilty of it. And how can you think that everyone would be cool with it if Sony did it when as of late it’s quite obvious that many aren’t happy with what Sony is doing?
As one of those 4% I'm glad I did not 'pay' for that game 😅
Microsoft is getting what they asked for. Why buy a game on Xbox if that game is on Game Pass? You can just rent it and others for a month for $10-$15.
Played it on GamePass for about 4 hours then uninstalled it. It's terrible. Like a sub par PS2 game
Mmmmmm..shall i pay full price for the PS or play on Gamepass?
hard one that.
That's a ridiculous gap for this region. I'd like to see the digital numbers for this. Still, devs may have to going to half to be careful how about putting their games on gamepass because it could lead to future games by them being expected on gamepass by the xbox audience. When the sales end up low, MS is going to come in and want it on gamepass again but this time at a lower cost. Basically the dev loses negotiating power.
@get2sammyb as someone that plays on all 3 consoles, and loves physical, I got to say there is something about Xbox that has convince me to go entirely digital on that console. I don’t think I’m alone, I have a hunch that total sales figures aside, xbox has a larger ratio of digital sales than other consoles.
Sure but...do we have to talk about GanePass ...like..ALL THE TIME?
Games on disc sell more on PlayStation. More than ever a fact. There is no need to look for excuses and reason.
Just accept xbox retail discs are about to disappear. It's another topic for a multiplatform site.
@JJ2 I mean with a topic like this of course you will talk about Gamepass. It’s the competition and the logical reason why there is such a gap in physical sales between platforms.
Xbox has been the worst with physical releases for a good while now; but digitally they seem a lot better equipped and I have a huge digital collection with them going back to 2006 (a lot of which I can still play on my Series X). I just see physical (on PS and Xbox) as a bit of a waste and I very rarely do it anymore. Last physical I bought between those 2 was Kingdom Hearts 3 on Xbox and… I should have just got it digital.
For some reason I do get physical on switch but I think that’s just that I like cartridges. They’re probably not much better than the CD Keys that are on the disks.
Also yea we are at a point in the Industry now where just giving Physical sales and ignoring Digital is just one half of the story. Crazy how fast it has shifted but with the internet and all these patches etc, physical is kind of getting left behind.
This kind of thing is expected no?!
The game is available for free on Xbox so people will try it out before buying it,if we remove Gamepass from the equation i believe the % wolud be more balance probably between 60/40 or 70/30.
@Texan_Survivor I'm not sure how everyone forgot that E3 reaction. Microsoft shoehorned their way into essentially pushing an all digital console. I just don't believe in the Gamepass model. Guaranteed, Microsoft is waiting to hit a subscriber number before jacking up the price. That was already hinted at and folks went nuts. And what happens if there's a hack to their system, or your internet is down.
@Cyberbotv2
it was the price of xbox live gold microsoft were going to increase and with the quality of games with gold extremely poor people rightly kicked off. and now they arnt raising the price and are making making changes to xbox live gold by making party chat free, free to play games exempt from gold requirement to add to free cloud saves
Retailers should be furious with MS for killing their physical sales...
Does anyone really think Xbox people will buy Starfield, Elder Scrolls, or Halo?
No, Sony and Nintendo are keeping Retailers afloat but there's no backlash from them.
Why should Retailers keep selling Xbox systems when there's nothing in it for them.
@StonyKL well it's the same as PSPLUS I guess.. no one knows how much but it must be good enough
@Tharsman With how the Xbox ecosystem lends itself to Digial- Quick Resume, Cloud save transfers, etc, and a lot of games have no physical release; digital makes more sense
Why buy Nier Replicant physically, when Automata is digital only etc
Anyway I’m right there with you. I’m physical with everything else but Xbox
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