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[BennyBlanco]

Expedition 33 publisher: "Elder Scrolls: Oblivion didn’t seem to harm us at all"

35% of Expedition 33 players also played the Elder Scrolls remaster | Publisher Kepler hails Xbox

www.thegamebusiness.com

Xbox was the No.1 platform for both games because of that Game Pass inclusion. 45% of Expedition 33 players were on Xbox, while 47% of Oblivion players were on Microsoft's platform.

Things differ after that. The second-best platform for Expedition 33 was PlayStation, with 30% of players on that console. The game is a Japanese-style RPG akin to games like Final Fantasy, which typically do well on Sony formats. 25% of Expedition 33 players were on Steam, Ampere states.

Meanwhile, Steam was the No.2 platform for Oblivion (accounting for 34% of players), while 19% of players were on PlayStation. Oblivion is a PC-style RPG, and the original game was a hit initially on Xbox 360 and PC.

I guess it makes sense, but I'm surprised. I also suppose they're counting PC gamepass as Xbox here.

 

[DeepEnigma]

 

[mckmas8808]

Says alot when 90% of Xbox gamers wouldn't have paid a dollar to play either game directly. That number should be over 60% for both games for Xbox GP.

 

[Viruz]

 

[Bernardougf]

Xbox dominating.... time to buy that 2T series X.

 

[DenchDeckard]

Says alot when 90% of Xbox gamers wouldn't have paid a dollar to play either game directly. That number should be over 60% for both games for Xbox GP.

Dude, cmon. Think for a sec. This means ps5 and pc are fighting over 55 percent between both platforms. That's wild.

Gamepass performing well here.

 

[Little Chicken]

 

[Ass of Can Whooping]

hory shit

 

[Reckheim]

I'm shocked.

 

[DeepEnigma]

Dude, cmon. Think for a sec. This means ps5 and pc are fighting over 55 percent between both platforms. That's wild.

Gamepass performing well here.

Damn, MS should hire you for their sensation spin.

 

[dead monkey uk]

hory shit

Holy shit or horny shit?

 

[Ebrietas]

So what is the platform split by revenue and sales? You know, the only metrics that actually mean anything in this business.

 

[Kagoshima_Luke]

Players. Means nothing unless the game has MTX. What is revenue per platform? Xbox probably dead last.

 

[tTHANOSs]

Look at that Xbox engagement baby

 

[Black_Stride]

 

[mckmas8808]

Dude, cmon. Think for a sec. This means ps5 and pc are fighting over 55 percent between both platforms. That's wild.

Gamepass performing well here.

That's my point. GP should be performing better all things considered.

- Expedition 33 sold 1 million copies in 3 days.
- Lets assume 2 million total players in those 3 days.
- That's 900,000 Xbox (both paid and Game Pass on console and PC) players
- 600,000 PS5 gamers bought the game
- 500,000 Steam gamers bought the game on PC


Out of that 900K on "Xbox and PC GamePass", how many would you say purchased the game? Probably 100,000...... If so, that'll be a 85% PS5 to 15% Xbox Series split for "sold" versions of this game.

 

[Topher]

"100% of Expedition 33 players were on Xbox, while 100% of Oblivion players were on Microsoft's platform"

Corrected

 

[hououinkyouma00]

So what is the platform split by revenue and sales? You know, the only metrics that actually mean anything in this business.

Players. Means nothing unless the game has MTX. What is revenue per platform? Xbox probably dead last.

Wasn't there numbers from the UK or something where the split was absolutely hilarious? It was like 96% of physical sales were on PS5. While I'm sure digital isn't as high of a split I'm sure it's still on the PS side when you cut GP out of the equation.

I would say that most people using GP probably don't buy the game on top of their subscription.

 

[Not_A-Cop_Maybe]

edit: dbl post

 

[Gaiff]

Surprised Steam is only 34% for Oblivion. Even knowing a good chunk are on PC Game Pass, aka, Xbox, I was expecting Steam to be much closer to 50%.

 

[Hero_Select]

Says alot when 90% of Xbox gamers wouldn't have paid a dollar to play either game directly. That number should be over 60% for both games for Xbox GP.

How do you come to that conclusion?

Isn't it more logical to think that if you have an Xbox then you likely have Gamepass as well? If gamepass wasnt a thing then obviously they'd buy them.

What's with everyones need to constantly shit on something even when it's pretty decent news?

 

[Sintoid]

Please be excited

 

[hououinkyouma00]

Surprised Steam is only 34% for Oblivion. Even knowing a good chunk are on PC Game Pass, aka, Xbox, I was expecting Steam to be much closer to 50%.

It kinda makes sense to me. Microsoft is always giving out $1 GP subs and I think for a lot of people they might have been iffy on it due to the original being beloved.

I played it on GP, realized that it ran like garbage, and cancelled my GP and got a full refund for it. Speaking of which I've always found this so stupid. I've got PC game pass like 4 times to try certain games and every time I've cancelled before the month is up and Microsoft gives me the option of getting a full refund even if I'm like 28 days into the month. How in the world is that a good business practice? They are clearly trying to boost numbers and I'm okay with it because I basically get to play things I'm unsure about for free but still.

 

[mckmas8808]

How do you come to that conclusion?

Isn't it more logical to think that if you have an Xbox then you likely have Gamepass as well? If gamepass wasnt a thing then obviously they'd buy them.

What's with everyones need to constantly shit on something even when it's pretty decent news?

Of course. That's what I'm trying to say. An extreme high amount of those Xbox gamers played it on Gamepass.

 

[Ozriel]

Says alot when 90% of Xbox gamers wouldn't have paid a dollar to play either game directly. That number should be over 60% for both games for Xbox GP.

Of course. That's what I'm trying to say. An extreme high amount of those Xbox gamers played it on Gamepass.

And?

 

[Not_A-Cop_Maybe]

That's my point. GP should be performing better all things considered.

- Expedition 33 sold 1 million copies in 3 days.
- Lets assume 2 million total players in those 3 days.
- That's 900,000 Xbox (both paid and Game Pass on console and PC) players
- 600,000 PS5 gamers bought the game
- 500,000 Steam gamers bought the game on PC


Out of that 900K on "Xbox and PC GamePass", how many would you say purchased the game? Probably 100,000...... If so, that'll be a 85% PS5 to 15% Xbox Series split for "sold" versions of this game.

I mean if we are just making up numbers, what if 899,999 bought the game on xbox and pc and 1 person bought on gamepass.
Making up numbers goes both ways.

Why do we gotta keep pushing the narrative that nobody is interested in gamepass. The dead-last team in the console race has the highest adoption rate of a critically acclaimed game, and the first thing you gotta say, is that its not performing better?

This is a solid game. 9-10's across the board. It's also a heavily niche game in that its a quasi Turn-Based RPG, that has suddenly exploded in popularity thanks to games like BG3. Instead of celebrating such a high adoption rate on consoles for a game like this, your focus is that it might have not done enough on gamepass?

Edit:
Wait, Am i misunderstanding your tone? Are you saying its a good thing the numbers are high on gamepass?
if so my bad- It's hard to determine tonal subtext over the internet versus a Face to face conversation at times.

 

[R3TRO]

That's surprising.

 

[Simpdimples]

Guess whos back!

 

[Ozriel]

It kinda makes sense to me. Microsoft is always giving out $1 GP subs and I think for a lot of people they might have been iffy on it due to the original being beloved.

I played it on GP, realized that it ran like garbage, and cancelled my GP and got a full refund for it. Speaking of which I've always found this so stupid. I've got PC game pass like 4 times to try certain games and every time I've cancelled before the month is up and Microsoft gives me the option of getting a full refund even if I'm like 28 days into the month. How in the world is that a good business practice? They are clearly trying to boost numbers and I'm okay with it because I basically get to play things I'm unsure about for free but still.

Spotify about to go under as hundreds of millions of people sub to free 3 month trials and cancel before the three months for free music!!!

In all seriousness, the vast majority of people don't do this. Most folks who were going to do this would probably just pirate the games, since 90% of them are cracked on release day.

 

[hououinkyouma00]

Spotify about to go under as hundreds of millions of people sub to free 3 month trials and cancel before the three months for free music!!!

I never said once that it was going to fail because of the practice. I'm just saying that I find it odd that you would do it at all considering most people assume they are paying for it for the month.

I wouldn't expect you of all people to not try to find a way to spin that though.

 

[adamsapple]

Xbox #1 platform

 

[StereoVsn]

Guess whos back!

Someone needs to add XSX 2TB - $799 right in the middle!

Edit: Or at least put Phil's head in there.

 

[mckmas8808]

I mean if we are just making up numbers, what if 899,999 bought the game on xbox and pc and 1 person bought on gamepass.
Making up numbers goes both ways.

Why do we gotta keep pushing the narrative that nobody is interested in gamepass. The dead-last team in the console race has the highest adoption rate of a critically acclaimed game, and the first thing you gotta say, is that its not performing better?

This is a solid game. 9-10's across the board. It's also a heavily niche game in that its a quasi Turn-Based RPG, that has suddenly exploded in popularity thanks to games like BG3. Instead of celebrating such a high adoption rate on consoles for a game like this, your focus is that it might have not done enough on gamepass?

Edit:
Wait, Am i misunderstaning you tone? Are you saying its a good thing the numbers are high on gamepass? if so my bad- It's hard to read tonal subtext at times.

LOL! You're good. I'm saying people that have GP clearly went out and played these games. But GP needs to grow BIG TIME, if Microsoft really wants this method to work for them and the greater video game industry. GP needs MORE subscribers, other wise the bubble will burst.

 

[LordOcidax]

 

[StereoVsn]

LOL! You're good. I'm saying people that have GP clearly went out and played these games. But GP needs to grow BIG TIME, if Microsoft really wants this method to work for them and the greater video game industry. GP needs MORE subscribers, other wise the bubble will burst.

And we know that GamePass premium subs aren't really growing which is a big issue for MS.

It's going to be interesting to see if there will be a shift for GamePass with better game pipeline and generally games getting more expensive.

 

[Pop]

You know I cant think of why...

I just don't know

 

[Zacfoldor]

And?

Gamepass player = 1 youtube view, purchaser = 1 $49.99 purchase, we are not the same. Claiming gamepass downloads as equivalent to sales is peak delusion. The #1 platform for Expedition 33 is Playstation 5.

 

[mayham2199]

I mean I guess that's a win for Xbox here.

 

[mckmas8808]

Gamepass player = 1 youtube view, purchaser = 1 $49.99 purchase, we are not the same. Claiming gamepass downloads as equivalent to sales is peak delusion. The #1 platform for Expedition 33 is Playstation 5.

This is how the Publisher and Dev view it. They are looking for revenue. Not "number of players".

 

[Not_A-Cop_Maybe]

LOL! You're good. I'm saying people that have GP clearly went out and played these games. But GP needs to grow BIG TIME, if Microsoft really wants this method to work for them and the greater video game industry. GP needs MORE subscribers, other wise the bubble will burst.

Ah i gotcha. Then yeah in total agreement then.

That being said, this also works well for the Dev too, they more than likely got a good chunk of change to either develop the game, expand the studio, future projects, etc while with the caveat of it being on gamepass also. I think its a win-win for both considering the publisher is a smaller one.

That being said, Gamepass has infinitely been the better of all the gaming subs services in at least the last year or so. In the last 8 months alone, there have been quite a few many critical received games on the service alone. Same with the first quarter/half of this year alone. I think MS is hitting their stride with the service now. Before it was a lot of talk of the library and quantity of the games, now it's starting to get backed up with really high quality stuff (regardless of what many here will complain about). If gamer's cant see this a a viable method of accessing games, then that's on them again. It'll just be another MS idea that was ahead of its time that got ignored that will eventually become another paradigm shift across the industry.

 

[OctopusBox]

Surprised Steam is only 34% for Oblivion. Even knowing a good chunk are on PC Game Pass, aka, Xbox, I was expecting Steam to be much closer to 50%.

What does the remaster bring on PC that wasn't already available with mods? I bought the remaster on PS5 but I won't double dip on PC because of mods. The remaster is almost redundant on PC.

 

[adamsapple]

What does the remaster bring on PC that wasn't already available with mods? I bought the remaster on PS5 but I won't double dip on PC because of mods. The remaster is almost redundant on PC.

A brand new Unreal Engine 5 based visual overhaul for starters ..

 

[RedC]

 

[poppabk]

So what is the platform split by revenue and sales? You know, the only metrics that actually mean anything in this business.

Revenue is probably even more in Xbox's favor right now based on what we know about 3rd party gamepass deals. Sales obviously it's probably close to dead last just above the switch 2 version.

 

[MikeM]

Is my PC considered an Xbox if using GP?

I wonder how much their margins get trampled with GP players.

 

[LordOcidax]

Gamepass player = 1 youtube view, purchaser = 1 $49.99 purchase, we are not the same. Claiming gamepass downloads as equivalent to sales is peak delusion. The #1 platform for Expedition 33 is Playstation 5.

Thats why i have a Series X… GP is an amazing service for the PLAYERS. $9 dollars per month and done.

 

[Bojanglez]

It would be interesting to see more relevant metrics. Revenue per platform and hours played per platform.

 

[Not_A-Cop_Maybe]

And we know that GamePass premium subs aren't really growing which is a big issue for MS.

It's going to be interesting to see if there will be a shift for GamePass with better game pipeline and generally games getting more expensive.

idk how not putting arguably 2-3 of this years biggest AAA games, and adding games that are getting critical acclaim (ie: Expedition 33) on your service/platform on day 1 isnt getting more people into the service. As far as consumer friendly, this service far does more good to both the devs and the userbase alike than any other service out there imo.

If console tribality is the reason gamepass dies, well expect the industry to get just swarmed with these constant AAA-AAAA games that will be more and more mediocre and more pushes into shittier live service models again.

 

[calico]

They announced sales and now we're back to 'players'

Do we know if studios get any bonuses based on players / minutes played (or similar) on game pass, or is it a fixed amount?

 

[mckmas8808]

Is my PC considered an Xbox if using GP?

I wonder how much their margins get trampled with GP players.

Yes!

idk how not putting arguably 2-3 of this years biggest AAA games, and adding games that are getting critical acclaim (ie: Expedition 33) on your service/platform on day 1 isnt getting more people into the service. As far as consumer friendly, this service far does more good to both the devs and the userbase alike than any other service out there imo.

If console tribality is the reason gamepass dies, well expect the industry to get just swarmed with these constant AAA-AAAA games that will be more and more mediocre and more pushes into shittier live service models again.

Because GP isn't for most people. It's more money than they'd like to spend, given how many games they play per year.