General Gaming Anthem and Division 2 both underperform, cannibalize each other

[crispy4000]

Quote

The French publisher confirmed on an earnings call today that the console edition failed to meet sales targets, but sales of the PC edition were in line with Division 1.

"The Division 2 ended up short of our ambitious expectations on console. We believe this was due in large part to a more competitive market than expected," chief financial boss Frederick Dugue said, though he did not name any specific competitor titles.

For the PC edition specifically, sales on Ubisoft's own Uplay store surged 10 times compared to the original The Division. This was no doubt in part attributable to how The Division 2 was not released on Steam, in favor of coming to Uplay and the Epic Games Store.

https://www.gamespot.com/articles/the-division-2-sales-fail-to-meet-ubisofts-targets/1100-6466940/

 

As for Anthem, we knew it wasn't selling well as well as EA had hoped.  But the new rumor is this:


3.7 million in ~3 months falls short of EA initial target of 5-6 million in the first month and a week.  For perspective, RE2 remake hit 4 million in a month's time.

I think 3.7 mil is still a huge number for a game with so much bad word of mouth.

[AbsolutSurgen]

3.7 million is a disaster for a game with a Budget as big as Anthem's.

[crispy4000]

13 minutes ago, mikechorney said:

3.7 million is a disaster for a game with a Budget as big as Anthem's.

 

It reminds me of when SquareEnix complained about the Tomb Raider reboot sales years ago.  They sold 3.4 million in the first month when they were naively expecting 6 million.

I wouldn't call it a disaster outright.  Especially not when EA can further monetize it.  Also, EA said ME Andromeda was a financial success.  I have to wonder how well Anthem is selling by comparison.

[AbsolutSurgen]

2 minutes ago, crispy4000 said:

 

It reminds me of when Square complained about the Tomb Raider reboot sales years ago.  They sold 3.4 million in the first month when they were naively expecting 6 million.

I wouldn't call it a disaster outright.  Especially not when EA can further monetize it. 

Also, EA considered ME Andromeda a financial success.  Still have to wonder how well Anthem is selling by comparison.

I believe that ME:Andromeda had a smaller budget than Anthem -- based on the scale/advertising for the respective games.  (I don't have any link to this).

 

There are a number of "anecdotal" articles out there to suggest that Anthem sales were below ME: Andromeda's -- but I don't think there is any source for us to see actual numbers.

 

In order for EA to monetize the game on an ongoing basis, they need an active player base.  I don't know if that exists.

 

 

[Dre801]

The bigger the budget, the bigger the potential failure.  These kinds of games have to sell boatloads.

[crispy4000]

1 hour ago, mikechorney said:

I believe that ME:Andromeda had a smaller budget than Anthem -- based on the scale/advertising for the respective games.  (I don't have any link to this).

 

There are a number of "anecdotal" articles out there to suggest that Anthem sales were below ME: Andromeda's -- but I don't think there is any source for us to see actual numbers.

 

In order for EA to monetize the game on an ongoing basis, they need an active player base.  I don't know if that exists.

 

 

 

I’d find it hard to believe that Anthem isn’t outpacing Andromeda.  Could be the case.  But Anthem’s push was much bigger.  (And marketing budget too)

 

As for the player base, we’ll see what shakes out with more patches and expansions.  Or yes, even a F2P pivot possibly.

 

It’s still going to be a while before we could say this game is as dead as Artifact, for example.

[Commissar SFLUFAN]

Man, Ubisoft took Epic for a ride with that deal 

 

[Dodger]

People can only invest into so many GaaS games. And really, you probably pick 1 or 2 and that's it. 

[Bloodporne]

 

[JPDunks4]

I believe reports were Anthem was Biowares 2nd best selling game after ME2 or ME3? So it outsold Andromeda.

[Xbob42]

"Leadership at BioWare is blaming players and their vitriol"

Not to prove them right, but what a bunch of fucking morons.

[AbsolutSurgen]

1 hour ago, JPDunks4 said:

I believe reports were Anthem was Biowares 2nd best selling game after ME2 or ME3? So it outsold Andromeda.

Andromeda sold more than double yes. Andromeda itself was already nearly half of what ME3 sold in its first week. Again. These are packaged sales comparisons and digital missing does skew the figures. Digital sales (which EA themselves say is approaching 50% of overall sales for them) are not counted. Nor is EA Access players. There were incentives to buy the digital ver. so I'd expect a really high digital share for the game.

 

Anthem sold around 10% what Destiny sold in its first week. (UK Packaged sales comp)

[JPDunks4]

18 minutes ago, mikechorney said:

Andromeda sold more than double yes. Andromeda itself was already nearly half of what ME3 sold in its first week. Again. These are packaged sales comparisons and digital missing does skew the figures. Digital sales (which EA themselves say is approaching 50% of overall sales for them) are not counted. Nor is EA Access players. There were incentives to buy the digital ver. so I'd expect a really high digital share for the game.

 

Anthem sold around 10% what Destiny sold in its first week. (UK Packaged sales comp)

 

Yeah that report came out right after launch based on UK Physical sales, then a few days later a report came out it was Biowares 2nd best selling game already after its 1st week.  I believe Jason Schierer reported it, but don't recall what his source was.

 

*2nd strongest launch of any Bioware game, only trailing ME3.   So not sure if how it fared long term.

[Remarkableriots]

So the Division 2 wasn't as good as everybody was saying?

[JPDunks4]

2 minutes ago, Remarkableriots said:

So the Division 2 wasn't as good as everybody was saying?

 

I don't think you can't necessarily equate sales to how good a game is or isnt.  Division 2 got nothing but high praise from just about everyone, yet didn't meet their expectations.  They couldn't have asked for better media coverage, I'm not sure I saw any negative press or reaction to it at all.  

 

It's a good game and way way better than the first game.  Even if it was a bit overhyped in my opinion.