Ghost of Yotei sales- er, number of players update

Seems GoY is selling better than GoT.

Present active player percentage of ps players include ps4 + ps5 along with pc games who are logged into psn.

When GoT launched the numbers only included ps4 players.

Although I am unsure they are dancing around instead of clearly saying GoY is performing better than GoT
 
I'm not going to call out any posts as copium, but...

Larger install base means more people signing into accounts of friends or family to play for free, more people borrowing discs (if for some reason they don't want to buy the game), etc. These are interesting numbers, but where's the sales data already?
 
Or he could give us a direct comparison to Ghost of Tsushima instead of this roundabout way of saying it didn't sell as well as the previous entry. If it did, Sony and Sucker Punch would have said so, and Matt would have shouted it out from the rooftops of the eco chamber, Bluesky. Thanks for confirming the obvious that the "Chuds" won.
 
I'm not going to call out any posts as copium, but...

Larger install base means more people signing into accounts of friends or family to play for free, more people borrowing discs (if for some reason they don't want to buy the game), etc. These are interesting numbers, but where's the sales data already?
Isn't that something that could also be done on ps4?

The only main difference between 2020 and 2025 in terms of player engagement numbers is that, 2020 only included ps4. 2025 includes both ps4 and ps5.
 
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Seems GoY is selling better than GoT.

Present active player percentage of ps players include ps4 + ps5 along with pc games who are logged into psn.

When GoT launched the numbers only included ps4 players.

Although I am unsure they are dancing around instead of clearly saying GoY is performing better than GoT

Or he could give us a direct comparison to Ghost of Tsushima instead of this roundabout way of saying it didn't sell as well as the previous entry. If it did, Sony and Sucker Punch would have said so, and Matt would have shouted it out from the rooftops of the eco chamber, Bluesky. Thanks for confirming the obvious that the "Chuds" won.
Yup!
Isn't that something that could also be done on ps4?

The only main difference between 2020 and 2025 in terms of player engagement numbers is that, 2020 only included ps4. 2025 includes both ps4 and ps5.

GOT launched in the midst of COVID where PSN and Xbox live DAU were through the roof. That might affect this number.
 
Isn't that something that could also be done on ps4?

The only main difference between 2020 and 2025 in terms of player engagement numbers is that, 2020 only included ps4. 2025 includes both ps4 and ps5.

Yes. Larger install base means more freeloaders and cheapskates (like me). That's why makers of games that flop or underperform often talk about number of players rather than number of sales. We've seen that quite a bit in the last few years.
 
Yup!


GOT launched in the midst of COVID where PSN and Xbox live DAU were through the roof. That might affect this number.
MaU has been increasing steadily though.
123 mil in 2025:

114 in 2020(ces):


Yes. Larger install base means more freeloaders and cheapskates (like me). That's why makers of games that flop or underperform often talk about number of players rather than number of sales. We've seen that quite a bit in the last few years.
Yeah, but that's nothing new and could be done with ps4 as well( I did it, as an example). Assuming ps didn't have a big intake in people like us, it stands to reason that there are more actual players in the psn.

I do agree that this talk about players instead of sales is weird along with the weird song and dance of dancing around the issue instead of clearly saying tne numbers( not to mention DS2 probably flopped).
 
MaU has been increasing steadily though.
123 mil in 2025:

114 in 2020(ces):



Yeah, but that's nothing new and could be done with ps4 as well( I did it, as an example). Assuming ps didn't have a big intake in people like us, it stands to reason that there are more actual players in the psn.

I'm not sure about the logic here, because the number of paying customers vs. non-paying players will scale with the larger install base. And the number of non-paying players will be larger in this case because of people upset with some of the developers reactions to the Charlie Kirk murder.
 
4.4% of an unknown number being compared to 4.4% of a different unknown number.

We have no idea what he is counting as a 'weekly active user' (unless Circana explains the methodology somewhere?), nor what the 'total' is in either case.

Regardless, I would think the expectation is for the first sequel to a successful new IP to have a stronger opening than the first game, not merely to match it. ie for sales to be more front-loaded for the sequel.
 
MaU has been increasing steadily though.
123 mil in 2025:

114 in 2020(ces):



Yeah, but that's nothing new and could be done with ps4 as well( I did it, as an example). Assuming ps didn't have a big intake in people like us, it stands to reason that there are more actual players in the psn.

I do agree that this talk about players instead of sales is weird along with the weird song and dance of dancing around the issue instead of clearly saying tne numbers( not to mention DS2 probably flopped).


First cases of COVID were Jan 2020 so the CES data won't include it unfortunately. We went into full lockdown in March on the UK. I think GOT launched a few months after.

Anyway, I imagine the trend of Sony sequels selling less is continuing as they would just have come out and made an announcement if it was selling better. Unless they are still checking the data.
 
I'm not sure about the logic here, because the number of paying customers vs. non-paying players will scale with the larger install base. And the number of non-paying players will be larger in this case because of people upset with some of the developers reactions to the Charlie Kirk murder.
Huh? If mau is increasing, the odds are that both number of paying and non-paying customers will increase. You are talking about a scenario wherein only non-paying customers got added. Even in that scenario GoY is selling more.

Both GoY and GoT are getting same percentage of MaU. We know through sony's own financial reports that ps Mau has been increasing steadily YoY. So GoY is getting the same percentage of a larger total, that equals more sales.

Also, unlike your thinking that non-paying customers have increased, customer spending has actually increased for ps5 as compared to ps4.

 
First cases of COVID were Jan 2020 so the CES data won't include it unfortunately. We went into full lockdown in March on the UK. I think GOT launched a few months after.

Anyway, I imagine the trend of Sony sequels selling less is continuing as they would just have come out and made an announcement if it was selling better. Unless they are still checking the data.
Psn mau in 2025 is more than it was in 2020.

Here is another report from stastica

It has data for jun 2020, spet 2020 and dec 2020. Along with March and jun 2025.

Also, what trend? Ragnarok has been selling better than gow 2018( it became the fastest selling ps first party games). Spiderman 2 when it released took away that record and became the fastest selling ps first party game. Helldivers 2 took away that record last year.

Gt7 has been selling better gt sport and will soon become the best selling gt game of all time.

Forbidden west sales were killed by putting it on plus but was selling better than hzd before that.

The only game for which it is true is DS2( although we don't the sales for it and not to mention ds1 itself wasn't a big seller).
 
You are talking about a scenario wherein only non-paying customers got added.

Both GoY and GoT are getting same percentage of MaU. We know through sony's own financial reports that ps Mau has been increasing steadily YoY. So GoY is getting the same percentage of a larger total, that equals more sales.

Also, unlike your thinking that non-paying customers have increased, customer spending has actually increased for ps5 as compared to ps4.

No, I never said that. In theory, there should be more paying customers as well, but this isn't a typical release, and for some reason everyone's reluctant to provide sales numbers.

Also, am I missing something? Because the data you gave shows that people are now even less inclined to buy games at full price...
 


Number of players = winning, of course. But if Ghost of Yotei is outselling the original game, why doesn't Mat or anyone else just say so in plain English?

They can't say because they don't know. They only have limited information from retailers and specific regions, hence the speculation on such data.

The only people that know how well the game is selling is Sony, and they haven't announced anything yet. They may announce something after a few weeks, months, or at a yearly/quarterly event, or they may announce nothing at all.
 
Doesn't seem it was terribly too low also.
I think Sony might be really satisfied with this, about the same budget and about the same sales.
The level of copium being snorted here is just off the fucking charts man, imagine saying a game that was in development before 2020 and its sequel has the same budget, insane.
 
The level of copium being snorted here is just off the fucking charts man, imagine saying a game that was in development before 2020 and its sequel has the same budget, insane.

Ghost of Tsushima was developed over 7 years. This took around 5 years.

Reasonable to believe the budgets aren't that far apart given the significantly shorter dev time.
 
No, I never said that. In theory, there should be more paying customers as well, but this isn't a typical release, and for some reason everyone's reluctant to provide sales numbers.

Also, am I missing something? Because the data you gave shows that people are now even less inclined to buy games at full price...
The info mat gave:

4.4 of psn MaU bought GoY.

4.4 of psn MaU bought GoT


Another thing we know:

MaU of psn has steadily increased in 2025, compared to 2020.

4.4% of a larger number > 4.4% of a smaller number.

x of 2y > x of y.

Player spending has increased( although that fact is irrelevant to GoY sales).
 
The info mat gave:

4.4 of psn MaU bought GoY.

4.4 of psn MaU bought GoT


Another thing we know:

MaU of psn has steadily increased in 2025, compared to 2020.

4.4% of a larger number > 4.4% of a smaller number.

x of 2y > x of y.

Player spending has increased( although that fact is irrelevant to GoY sales).

Well, according to your data, player spending has decreased on new games (like GoY) and increased much more on microtransactions and services. That tells us two things: 1) games like Call of Duty and Fortnite are soaking up a greater share of revenue (at the expense of new games), and 2) more customers are cost-conscious and are using services like PS Plus rather than buying up multiple new games each year.

So if customers are less inclined to buy new games and a large portion of them (Fortnite + CoD players aside) are more cost-conscious in their purchasing habits, that means less sales for new games and more indirect methods of accessing games (subscription, borrowing, playing on other's accounts). Or more simply: more players and less sales.
 
Well, according to your data, player spending has decreased on new games (like GoY) and increased much more on microtransactions and services. That tells us two things: 1) games like Call of Duty and Fortnite are soaking up a greater share of revenue (at the expense of new games), and 2) more customers are cost-conscious and are using services like PS Plus rather than buying up multiple new games each year.

So if customers are less inclined to buy new games and a large portion of them (Fortnite + CoD players aside) are more cost-conscious in their purchasing habits, that means less sales for new games and more indirect methods of accessing games (subscription, borrowing, playing on other's accounts). Or more simply: more players and less sales.
Generally yes. Basically people are buying fewer new games due to push to live service games like Fortnite but even the trend of decreasing new game sales, GoY has ended up selling more than GoT
 
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Generally yes. Basically people are buying fewer new games due to push to live service games like Fortnite but even the trend of decreasing new game sales, GoY has ended up selling more than GoT

You know, I'd actually be surprised if it didn't outsell the original game in the first few days, but I don't expect it will sell more in the following weeks. Still... where are those receipts?
 
You know, I'd actually be surprised if it didn't outsell the original game in the first few days, but I don't expect it will sell more in the following weeks. Still... where are those receipts?
Sony reveals the numbers, for some games( gt 7 still has no solid numbers besides estimated for gt planet).

But based on this tweet from circana, GoY has been selling better than GoT in the US and based on word of mouth it is likely to continue selling well.
 
I hoped they would use the "Ghost"-formula and apply it to different settings (like Sony's version of Assassin's Creed but without the Ubisoft bloat bullshit). I would still kill for a game where you can play as a knight during one of the Crusades. Or as a Roman Legionnaire during expeditions into "Terra Barbaricum" (slay some fucking Saxons or so). And if anyone says "but we have had enough of games like these already", then I have to say: Name 5 games where I can play as a knight during the Crusades or a Roman Legionnaire during one of the "expeditions" into the north of the empire.

I can only think of Expeditions: Rome (and that is a RPG), Ryse (which takes a lot of liberties) and maybe the Knights of the Temple games, which are really mid.

And no, depicting the Crusades from the perspective of a knight is not "right wing". Most of the Crusades were retarded clusterfucks, with the 4th one being particularly retarded.
 
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The level of copium being snorted here is just off the fucking charts man, imagine saying a game that was in development before 2020 and its sequel has the same budget, insane.

The funny thing is that the budget shouldn't be astronomical. They built a lot of the assets with the original game.

But then again. Spider-Man 2 had three times the cost of the first one, with there being a handful of new animations and a small piece of extra map. So you know that Sucker Punch spent a shit ton on this one too.

Jin Ok GIF by PlayStation
 
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The funny thing is that the budget shouldn't be astronomical. They built a lot of the assets with the original game.

But then again. Spider-Man 2 had three times the cost of the first one, with there being a handful of new animations and a small piece of extra map. So you know that Sucker Punch spent a shit ton on this one too.

Jin Ok GIF by PlayStation


According to co-founder of sucker punch, both games have similar budgets.
 
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