Support NeoGAF

[GHG]

Chris Dring thread?

Chris Dring thread.

Glad someone else noticed.

 

[DeepEnigma]

Glad someone else noticed.

Every single thread started on his vague tweets where he formulates a narrative with zero data provided have always been this way.

But here we are.

 

[Taycan77]

It's currently #4 on the PlayStation Store in the UK, behind only Warhammer, NBA 2K25, and Fortnite (which is free to play). It's consistently increased its position every day.

Ratchet and Clank Rift Apart had an almost year long promotion campaign for it, tied in large part to the PS5's ad campaign, while Astro Bot was announced just 4 months ago.

Once again, Chris Dring is making some peculiar comparisons that are entirely out of pocket.

Next week Dring will be reporting how Astro Bot's second week sales matched, or even exceeded, the first week.

He's farming engagement with partial data in the full knowledge sales will not be front loaded due to the late review embargo. Early sales will heavily lean digital as there are very few brick & mortar outlets to pick up physical. In the coming weeks the online retailers will play a bigger factor.

 

[Mibu no ookami]

Next week Dring will be reporting how Astro Bot's second week sales matched, or even exceeded, the first week.

He's farming engagement with partial data in the full knowledge sales will not be front loaded due to the late review embargo. Early sales will heavily lean digital as there are very few brick & mortar outlets to pick up physical. In the coming weeks the online retailers will play a bigger factor.

This what I mean about media narratives. Short term yeah, you get views and clicks, but long term you're doing real damage to the industry.

Apparently you can't call out the media though.

 

[nowhat]

Also, this is a massage board

Ah, there's your problem. This is not the one with the happy ending.

 

[Woopah]

Next week Dring will be reporting how Astro Bot's second week sales matched, or even exceeded, the first week.

He's farming engagement with partial data in the full knowledge sales will not be front loaded due to the late review embargo. Early sales will heavily lean digital as there are very few brick & mortar outlets to pick up physical. In the coming weeks the online retailers will play a bigger factor.

He's providing some additional information about it's performance, rather than just saying it charted at number 1 with no further details.

R&C sold more in its 2nd week than it's 1st, so it's possible that Astrobot does so too.

 

[Calverz]

Genuinely surprised if this doesn’t sell a lot more for Xmas period. Lots of parents waiting on discount to buy it for Xmas.

 

[Little Chicken]

Astro Bot isn't a popular IP, not sure why people are surprised. It might be a good game, but plenty of good games are ignored.

 

[Physiognomonics]

With digital the game has likely sold more than Ratchet. This is clickbait tweet.

 

[grvg]

I expect it to grow in popularity over time. Makes we wish I had a ps5

 

[Hookshot]

Astro Bot isn't a popular IP, not sure why people are surprised. It might be a good game, but plenty of good games are ignored.

Not a popular IP? the previous game in the franchise has sold nearly 60 million copies.

 

[Fahdis]

Good. Brits need to worry less about their gaming and more about dental hygiene.

 

[yurinka]

As of now, in that top grossing (including F2P) PSN games ranking Astro Bot in the main PS countries is:

• USA: Top 3
• UK: Top 3
• Japan: Top 5
• Germany: Top 4
• France: Top 6
• Spain: Top 5
• Italy: Top 2
• Canada: Top 3
• Brazil: Top 3
• Saudi Arabia: Top 3
• Australia: Top 4
• China: (still not approved there)

As a reference, 80% of the game sales in PS last quarter were digital. I don't have Rift Apart numbers, but I'd bet that no other Ratchet ever has been that high in any PS sales ranking considering they only sold a few million copies each.

 

[LordOcidax]

It’s going to be like FF7R all over again… Some people are just going to ignore the signs until is confirmed.

 

[jonnyp]

Mods should remove OP's thread posting privileges. Absolute embarrassment.

 

[Taycan77]

It’s going to be like FF7R all over again… Some people are just going to ignore the signs until is confirmed.

The signs are Astro Bot has been gaining momentum since reviews dropped and with good word of mouth.

Context is important.

A significant portion of physical sales in the UK are from online retailers and pre-orders, the days of supermarkets stocking titles are long gone.

It's the complete opposite of FF7R which had huge pre-release hype and pre-orders which satiated demand.

 

[Boglin]

I wish I could love something as much as Men_in_Boxes loves GAAS or Leonidas loves Intel.

 

[Shake Your Rump]

"Opening week"?

The game has been available for four days.

 

[Woopah]

"Opening week"?

The game has been available for four days.

The opening week is the first week tracking period the game is available, not the literal first 7 days.

 

[Alphagear]

The opening week is the first week tracking period the game is available, not the literal first 7 days.

So its OK to compare 4 days sales to 7 days sales cause it’s technically the First Week Tracking Period for both?

 

[Woopah]

So its OK to compare 4 days sales to 7 days sales cause it’s technically the First Week Tracking Period for both?

You compare the sales from the first week that the game is being tracked.

In this case both Rift Apart and Astrobot launched on a Friday, so both have 3 days of sales in their first week.

 

[kirby64]

Sorry Sony, your target audience is in another castle console.

 

[kazuyamishima]

R&C sold more in its 2nd week than it's 1st, so it's possible that Astrobot does so too.

It did so because there was an official and unofficial bundle released that 2nd week for Rift Apart.

 

[PSYGN]

Men in boxers huffing that fine GAAS

 

[ULTROS!]

Isn’t physical nearly non-existent in the US/EU/UK?

AFAIK it’s probably only Asia that keeps physical alive.

 

[tanners]

As of now, in that top grossing (including F2P) PSN games ranking Astro Bot in the main PS countries is:

• USA: Top 3
• UK: Top 3
• Japan: Top 5
• Germany: Top 4
• France: Top 6
• Spain: Top 5
• Italy: Top 2
• Canada: Top 3
• Brazil: Top 3
• Saudi Arabia: Top 3
• Australia: Top 4
• China: (still not approved there)

As a reference, 80% of the game sales in PS last quarter were digital. I don't have Rift Apart numbers, but I'd bet that no other Ratchet ever has been that high in any PS sales ranking considering they only sold a few million copies each.

Hong Kong: top 3, most Chinese ps5 users just buy game in PS HK store, black Myth is also not approved in PS CN store

 

[cireza]

Physical UK people have voted with their physical wallet.

 

[ToadMan]

As if I'm not a single piece of sand on an anti GAAS beach here.

I fail to see what difference that makes. There's no crusade to fight that you need an army for.

Play whatever you want. But making these kinds of threads is just warring the same as anything else.

 

[Fahdis]

I wish I could love something as much as Men_in_Boxes loves GAAS or Leonidas loves Intel.

Or me hating Nintendo more than Sony and MS.

 

[GigaBowser]

forget what nobody else thinks i have goty alllll for me

 

[Woopah]

It did so because there was an official and unofficial bundle released that 2nd week for Rift Apart.

Correct. If Astrobot manages it, it would be due to word of mouth (which is what happened with Helldivers 2).

 

[vaibhavpisal]

Correct. If Astrobot manages it, it would be due to word of mouth (which is what happened with Helldivers 2).

They can also bundle it and easily take it beyond 10 million.

 

[nightmare-slain]

Deleted

 

[DenchDeckard]

THe game is incredible and everyone should buy it.

Shame on you if you arent!

 

[ViciousAgenda]

The man in the box strikes again.

 

[CityHunter1981]

Astro Bot will also be present at many game of the year discussions and hopefully also win some, so that should also give it a sales increase.

 

[Woopah]

They can also bundle it and easily take it beyond 10 million.

They could, but that's not something that would effect week 2 sales.

I can definitely see it being bundled in the future.

 

[AV]

Did a single player game finger you as a kid or something?

 

[Mr Moose]

Needs updating.

 

[Interfectum]

Needs updating.

You okay Men_in_Boxes ?

Anyone know this guy to check on him?

 

[Aguero9320]

It was never going to do Mario numbers (or even close), but the wailing and gnashing of teeth over UK physical sales always amuses me. Possibly the least important metric you can find. Little surprised it's been outsold by Space Marine though, with all the frothing we've seen about it being the 'best game ever TM'.

They still have another sale coming - I'll buy it when it's on its first big sale. I think it's overpriced and would have done much better at $40.

 

[Mibu no ookami]

This is why so many of us said not to taking Dring's commentary seriously.

First he used data knowing that it was not likely to apply to the whole story and now he is say, oh it's solid, when it's nearly as much of a leap has he was describing it as down before...

Not to mention that again, this game is going to have legs if it wins GOTY.

 

[XXL]

Needs updating.

I'm not seeing an issue here.

The physical sales are 1/3 lower than Ratchet and digital sales have kept growing since then.

It probably outsold Ratchet.

Also how many days of tracking are counted? It launched a few days ago.

 

[Sooner]

About 1/3 fewer people are buying physical now than were at that time.

 

[DeepEnigma]

Needs updating.

GHG GITT

 

[Tiago Rodrigues]

It looks like Jason Schreiers "Is this the model going forward?" tweet sounds pretty darn stupid right now. Always thought the parade everyone was trying to give Astrobot before sales numbers was a really bad look.

Can you list any examples of a games physical sales and digital sales doing wildly differently? I feel like it's pretty safe to say we can use physical sales as a kind of borometer for overall sales.

It is a bad look because the conversation was about strategy/investment, not quality. People desperately wanted their 94 metascore darling to be a commercial hit. So much so that people were estimating projections of 10+ million copies sold.

If you want to obsess over GAAS failure, fine, but you should also understand the shortcomings of the other models as well. People must go back to rational thought and logic, and away from payment model fantaticism zombies.

So in 2021, digital was about 20% and in 2022, digital accounted for 22%?

Are my numbers off or did digital actually grow since 2021...making the Astro Bot sales figures look worse?

How on earth is an Astro Bot sales thread a troll post?

Like, what are we doing man?

I genuinely read "1/3rd of" rather than "1/3rd less". If I believed that, then for the next couple of minutes of my thread creation..."Sales lower than expected" would have been more reasonable.

That being said, I still think it was somewhat reasonable considering how far out of hand Astro Bots perceived commercial success was here. Some of ya'll were saying some pretty ludicrous things.

There you have it.

The game sold a lot less physically and then when all added, the game ended up selling 21% more than Ratchet. And i'd bet it will have much more stability than Ratchet.

 

[Men_in_Boxes]

There you have it.

The game sold a lot less physically and then when all added, the game ended up selling 21% more than Ratchet. And i'd bet it will have much more stability than Ratchet.

We'll see.

Are sales in units or in dollar value?

 

[Elios83]

Looking just at physical is useless these days to make comparisons with games released years ago.

 

[XXL]

We'll see.

Are sales in units or in dollar value?

 

[JaksGhost]

It was never going to do Mario numbers (or even close), but the wailing and gnashing of teeth over UK physical sales always amuses me. Possibly the least important metric you can find. Little surprised it's been outsold by Space Marine though, with all the frothing we've seen about it being the 'best game ever TM'.

They still have another sale coming - I'll buy it when it's on its first big sale. I think it's overpriced and would have done much better at $40.

This is a game available only on one console against a multi-platform game available on Series consoles, PS5, and PC. It did amazing damn.