126 réponses à ce sujet

[Farangbaa]

Dude, if even 1% (a very low estimate) is a gaming pc, that amounts to 2,6 million gaming pc's sold this year.

[Foxhound2121]

Work places have lots of computers. Businesses often buy new computers every second year, as well. Not for gaming.

 

Perhaps but how many consoles have over 75million-100million active accounts purchasing games?

[Rawgrim]

Perhaps but how many consoles have over 75million-100million users?

 

No clue. I am sure plenty people play offline too.

 

How many PS3 and 4rs are there? And Xobox 360s and Ones? Hard to tell, really.

 

Lets say 2.6 gaming PCs got sold last year. How many of those will be used for rpgs?

[Farangbaa]

No clue. I am sure plenty people play offline too.
 
How many PS3 and 4rs are there? And Xobox 360s and Ones? Hard to tell, really.
 
Lets say 2.6 gaming PCs got sold last year. How many of those will be used for rpgs?

Yeah, because everyone who bought a console is going to buy DA:I, right?

The same kind of genre preference applies to console gamers, so that's really not a compelling arguement.

[AlanC9]

Pretty much. I can probably walk into any Best Buy and buy a cheap desktop that will run Inquisition, for example.

 

Not saying that everyone games on it... but a lot more PCs out there than game consoles in general, I imagine.

 

I dunno. I haven't walked into one lately, but the stuff in their sales flyers wouldn't make it. Good luck trying DAI on a HP 110-201 or PV23-H110.

[Emu8207]

I personally think the number sold is around 3 million copies but this info is probably sketchy.

[Fast Jimmy]

No clue. I am sure plenty people play offline too.

How many PS3 and 4rs are there? And Xobox 360s and Ones? Hard to tell, really.

Lets say 2.6 gaming PCs got sold last year. How many of those will be used for rpgs?

I would wager all 2.6 of them. Well, the 2 that worked, at least. I've never been able to game on 60% of a computer.

[Darkly Tranquil]

For a format that so many are keen to declare dead, the business types seem awfully bullish about it.

http://au.ign.com/ar...-hardware-sales

http://www.gamesindu...n-this-year-dfc

http://www.forbes.co...pc-already-won/

[otis0310]

@Darkly Tranquil 

 

I read that too, and it is acutally more informative in the long run then the sales of one game.  Basically some business analysts think that this might be the last generation for the consoles.

 

Imagine if you will, we have three types of gaming devices.  Lowest to highest,(by computing power) we have.

 

1.  Mobile Devices

 

2.  Consoles

 

3. PC

 

 

Basically #1 is sucking the consumer base away from #2.   In addition #2  is only the equivalent of a low end PC, which means that for a little more money you can get a PC that is just as powerful  and you can do other things on it besides gaming.

 

I mean if you have to buy a PC in order to do your office work at home, and you knew that even the cheapest PC out there could play games just as well the Xbox One, would you then go buy an Xbox One as well?  Because the truth is the cheapest PC out there actually is equivalent, roughly, to the Xbox One, or for that matter the PS4,

 

Finally, #1 can never successfully compete with #3, ever.  The PCs are easily more powerful than a mobile device, and always will be.  And some of that market are people who put a lot of money into their rigs, and therefore want to get their money's worth out of their games.  As a result they are not interested in the casual games the mobile devices have.  So in short, a different market for different people.

 

So basically #2 will just crushed between them and eliminated completely, with almost all of the pressure coming from #1, not #3.

 

 

 

Of course I am not a business analyst, I am just summing up what I have read in numerous articles.

[Sylvius the Mad]

I could swear it was in a Motley Fool analysis I read back in the summer that evaluated VGChartz and NPD's methods, but which I can't find for the life of me.

Here are NPD numbers that says digital transactions account for 33% of the industry revenue, however that includes all MMO, mobile, free to play, micro transaction and DLC revenue, not strictly game unit sales. Not sure if this helps you or supports my claim, but I'd argue that a review of VGChartz or NPD sales numbers coupled with examples of clear reporting by the publisher of a game would put it in the ballpark. I'll attempt to do that when I'm not posting from my phone.


Thing is, outside of the XB1 EA Early Access feature, nothing of substance from past sales of RPG fans, Dragon Age fans, November releases, Bioware and/or EA consumers would indicate that there was any reason to suspect a difference. And while it certainly is possible, the variance would need to be so large and dramatic as to require a huge divergence in the number of digital sales. Even if we take the NPD number of 33% and ignore the huge amount of non-game digital content, that is an extra 1-1.25 million units for DA:I above retail, which doesn't drastically separate it into the "large success" realm. It would truly need to be around 50-100% of retail sales to be a better cost analysis of a 4.5 year development cycle compared to the ~3 million in sales for the 18 month development cycle of DA2, speaking purely in terms of investment and return.

My incredulity stems from my awareness that I don't even know where to go to find an extensive selection of PC games in a physical store anymore. I would expect the majority of PC sales to be digital, and I would expect that to have changed suddenly sometime in the past 2 years.

I don't have data, however, so the best I can do is look at someone else's and poke holes in their analysis.

[DragonKingReborn]

My incredulity stems from my awareness that I don't even know where to go to find an extensive selection of PC games in a physical store anymore. I would expect the majority of PC sales to be digital, and I would expect that to have changed suddenly sometime in the past 2 years.

I don't have data, however, so the best I can do is look at someone else's and poke holes in their analysis.

 

Indeed.  Any store that sells games - whether it be a game store, or an electronics store with a game section - seems to limit their PC games to a pathetically small selection when compared with the console options.

 

In New Zealand, I can walk into EB Games, see rows upon rows of XBox/PS games and then in the back corner, PC games, half of which is taken up by the Sims and Skyrim.  Only one retailer appears to stock DA:I and their staff member review of it reads "hack and slash your way through demons and dragons in this epic open world fantasy game....controller recommended"...I really wish I was kidding.

 

I did get Inquisition on a physical copy, but from a company without a retail store as such, so I ordered online and picked it up.  Previous to that, the last game I bought on disc was Origins and Awakening.

 

15-20% just seems really, really low for digital sales.

[Fast Jimmy]

My incredulity stems from my awareness that I don't even know where to go to find an extensive selection of PC games in a physical store anymore. I would expect the majority of PC sales to be digital, and I would expect that to have changed suddenly sometime in the past 2 years.

I don't have data, however, so the best I can do is look at someone else's and poke holes in their analysis.

I thought you enjoyed owning a game's physical copy? Also, I'm not sure how many games have Deluxe or Collector's Edition that include a disc (instead of digital download code, which is becoming more common). Others could be adverse to DRM services such as Origin or Steam...?

I'm not saying that a majority of PC sales aren't digital. But if you take all retail sales between PC and console, then an additional 15-20% for digital (which currently occurs primarily on just PC, not consoles), and the numbers sound about right.

If PS sales of DA:I equal 1.25M, XB sales of DA:I equal 1.25M and PC sales equal .5M (all arbitrary numbers but I think it's ballpark), that's 3M total. Add ~20% for digital to that and it is an extra 600K (mostly for PC) which would bring total units sold to 3.6M and PC sales to 1.1M, 55% of which occured digitally.

That doesn't sound like a stretch to me. If anyone wants to look up the current VGChartz sales for DA:I and plugging in numbers, feel free.

[dlux]

The numbers speak for themselves:

http://www.vgchartz....ge: inquisition

Anyway, if this page is accurate (some say it's not) 3 million copies sold up till now. (Digital copies not counted) Almost smallest percentage is for PC. I guess in the near future PC-gamers will come last.

More interesting read: http://www.rpgcodex....-failure.96304/

Vgchartz sales figures are imaginary numbers. Don't post links to their site. Ever.

[wolfhowwl]

My incredulity stems from my awareness that I don't even know where to go to find an extensive selection of PC games in a physical store anymore. I would expect the majority of PC sales to be digital, and I would expect that to have changed suddenly sometime in the past 2 years.

I don't have data, however, so the best I can do is look at someone else's and poke holes in their analysis.

 

PC retail is dead.

[dlux]

PC retail is dead.

This is true. >80% of PC games are sold digitally now.

[Fast Jimmy]

Indeed. Any store that sells games - whether it be a game store, or an electronics store with a game section - seems to limit their PC games to a pathetically small selection when compared with the console options.

In New Zealand, I can walk into EB Games, see rows upon rows of XBox/PS games and then in the back corner, PC games, half of which is taken up by the Sims and Skyrim. Only one retailer appears to stock DA:I and their staff member review of it reads "hack and slash your way through demons and dragons in this epic open world fantasy game....controller recommended"...I really wish I was kidding.

I did get Inquisition on a physical copy, but from a company without a retail store as such, so I ordered online and picked it up. Previous to that, the last game I bought on disc was Origins and Awakening.

15-20% just seems really, really low for digital sales.

Across ALL PLATFORMS? I feel like people aren't reading what I'm writing. 15-20% of all game sales (PC and console included) is about exactly what I would expect.

[Fast Jimmy]

PC retail is dead.

Not Retail =/= digital

Anyone who buys the game off of Amazon or EBay for PC would get a physical copy instead of digital.

[DragonKingReborn]

Across ALL PLATFORMS? I feel like people aren't reading what I'm writing. 15-20% of all game sales (PC and console included) is about exactly what I would expect.

 

You're right - sorry, I went back and re-read.

[Fast Jimmy]

This is true. >80% of PC games are sold digitally now.

Actually, it's more like 92%, according to some analysts. However, they are including digital in game purchases, mobile game purchases and things like the infamous Steam Summer sales, where people buy games past their prime for pennies on the dollar.

So it's hardly cut and dry. I'm not trying to disparage PC or digital distribution, but the numbers are way too easily slanted in nine million directions when talking about "digital download" revenue and purchases.

[AlanC9]

Not Retail =/= digital
Anyone who buys the game off of Amazon or EBay for PC would get a physical copy instead of digital.

Not quite anyone. I actually bought ME3 on Ebay by buying a coupon for a download, I don't even know why those are made, unless it's to give them as gifts.

[Sylvius the Mad]

Actually, it's more like 92%, according to some analysts. However, they are including digital in game purchases, mobile game purchases and things like the infamous Steam Summer sales, where people buy games past their prime for pennies on the dollar.

So it's hardly cut and dry. I'm not trying to disparage PC or digital distribution, but the numbers are way too easily slanted in nine million directions when talking about "digital download" revenue and purchases.

And that's why people dismiss the VGChartz numbers. Because we can't tell whether they are meaningful. Therefore, they're effectively worthless.

If we can't have confidence in the numbers, we may as well not have the numbers. We get just as.much information either way.

[Sylvius the Mad]

I thought you enjoyed owning a game's physical copy? Also, I'm not sure how many games have Deluxe or Collector's Edition that include a disc (instead of digital download code, which is becoming more common). Others could be adverse to DRM services such as Origin or Steam...?

I'm not saying that a majority of PC sales aren't digital. But if you take all retail sales between PC and console, then an additional 15-20% for digital (which currently occurs primarily on just PC, not consoles), and the numbers sound about right.

If PS sales of DA:I equal 1.25M, XB sales of DA:I equal 1.25M and PC sales equal .5M (all arbitrary numbers but I think it's ballpark), that's 3M total. Add ~20% for digital to that and it is an extra 600K (mostly for PC) which would bring total units sold to 3.6M and PC sales to 1.1M, 55% of which occured digitally.

That doesn't sound like a stretch to me. If anyone wants to look up the current VGChartz sales for DA:I and plugging in numbers, feel free.

Oh, you meant 20% of ALL sales are digital PC sales.

That's plausible. I thought you were saying that digital PC sales were only 20% of all PC sales (so 25% of the physical sales).

Before patching became mandatory, and the games needed to be activated online regardless of medium, I did prefer physical copies. But now the benefits of a physical copy have disappeared, not because digital games have matched them, but because online DRM has destroyed them.

[Spectre Impersonator]

 I guess in the near future PC-gamers will come last.

They already do. It's for the best. PC gaming is dying out.

[Waukeen25]

Well... And if I don't want to play Star Citizen? What If I wholeheartedly love Mass Effect Universe?

 

The only question I have for you is this, do you really expect them not to screw up ME4 like they have done with DA?