Horizon Series has sold 38 million copies (25 million are Zero Dawn)
- Thread starter LakeOf9
- Start date
leo-j
Member
It has to do with their being 1,000 FREE 500 hour GAAS games available and highlighted on psn. Most of them are also the most downloaded games on the ps store. People are sleeping on GAAS eating away at single player 30+ hour epics. This is saying something considering these games are reviewing just as well or better than their originals.
nial
Member
Even the Chinese copied it, though.
FIREKNIGHT2029
Member
But GAF told me no one cares for the franchise lol.
"Incredible fall off" is nonsense. The remaster and the LEGO/VR spinoff games were all flops no one asked for leaving Forbidden West as the game carrying a large portion of the 13 million copies left. Thats huge considering the game has only been out for three years.
The argument that Forbidden West was bundled is even sillier once you realize Zero Dawn had a shit ton of bundles towards the end of the PS4's life.
The Horizon games get a lot of hate here and the hate prevents people from judging the franchise's success objectively. There are lots of games I don't like that do objectively well and I don't have to come up with lame spin to explain their success. Some people on GAF just need to accept the reality that the franchise is popular and while it may not appeal to them there's obviously a huge audience for it.
I don't know why we have to have a negative spin anytime we get good sales numbers from Sony. It was the same thing when we got God of War Ragnarok's sales numbers.
"Incredible fall off" is nonsense. The remaster and the LEGO/VR spinoff games were all flops no one asked for leaving Forbidden West as the game carrying a large portion of the 13 million copies left. Thats huge considering the game has only been out for three years.
The argument that Forbidden West was bundled is even sillier once you realize Zero Dawn had a shit ton of bundles towards the end of the PS4's life.
The Horizon games get a lot of hate here and the hate prevents people from judging the franchise's success objectively. There are lots of games I don't like that do objectively well and I don't have to come up with lame spin to explain their success. Some people on GAF just need to accept the reality that the franchise is popular and while it may not appeal to them there's obviously a huge audience for it.
I don't know why we have to have a negative spin anytime we get good sales numbers from Sony. It was the same thing when we got God of War Ragnarok's sales numbers.
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SlimySnake
Flashless at the Golden Globes
Definitely curious but i have some thoughts.
1) The originals were a bit overrated and while people checked them out, they didnt feel compelled to buy the sequels.
2) The sequels sold faster than the originals (Spiderman 2, GOW2, HFW, TLOU2) all sold faster but then stopped selling because of PS+ and the potential for future PC releases.
3) The sequels are all samey with a very DLC feel to them.
4) PS5 has only gotten MORE expensive since launch unlike the PS4 which was selling for just $299 around this time with sales going as low as $250.
5) Games are not going on sales like they used to. A LOT of those TLOU1 and Horizon sales were when they would go on sale at around $15 on PSN. I remember buying TLOU1 remastered for just $7.99 in 2016 or 2017. been waiting to buy GT7 for 3+ years now and the lowest ive seen it go is $40. Literally bought a retail copy for $25 this one time and walmart straight up cancelled the order after saying it was a price mistake.
In short, $70 games, devaluing your games by putting them on PS+, devaluing your brand by porting everything to PC, samey sequels and expensive consoles 5 years into the gen. Console gaming is supposed to be literally subsidized by the console maker who are supposed to make money off of royalties and now subs. But sony no longer believes in selling consoles at a loss which means fewer parents buying their kids an expensive $500+ toy. It is really bad for the growth of the industry which has to fend off F2P games on mobile like fortnite, cod and robolox.
Senua
Member
It's a good job Sony has you to defend it for them!
The chinese copy everything
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swaffles23
Member
I wonder how many of those Zero Dawn copies were from the free copies they gave out for like a month in 2021 on PSN
Kacho
Member
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FIREKNIGHT2029
Member
There is nothing to defend, the sales for the franchise are objectively stellar. You have to ask yourself why you have a hate boner for the game though.
FIREKNIGHT2029
Member
Last time they gave us HZD sales numbers they said the free copies weren't included in the count from what I remember.
Senua
Member
I don't hate it, I just find it rather bland and ubisoft esque. I get why it's popular with the masses
FIREKNIGHT2029
Member
That's okay, I find myself thinking the same thing about a lot of franchises too. Gamers like bland games for the most part.
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Boss Mog
Member
"freshest, most moving, most topical works of science fiction" 
It literally has one of the most non-sensical stories ever written. Just the simple fact that Sylens (who is by far the best character of the games, pretty much the only one who is interesting) says he got involved when he found and fixed a focus is beyond ridiculous. We probably don't even have the tech today to fix a focus so how is a dude from what amounts to the middle ages supposed to be able to fix it, when he has virtually no knowledge of electronics nor the tools to do so. The games are also overly woke which makes absolutely no sense for the setting.
It literally has one of the most non-sensical stories ever written. Just the simple fact that Sylens (who is by far the best character of the games, pretty much the only one who is interesting) says he got involved when he found and fixed a focus is beyond ridiculous. We probably don't even have the tech today to fix a focus so how is a dude from what amounts to the middle ages supposed to be able to fix it, when he has virtually no knowledge of electronics nor the tools to do so. The games are also overly woke which makes absolutely no sense for the setting.
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DForce
NaughtyDog Defense Force
God of War Ragnarok sold faster than God of War 2018
Spider-Man 2 is aligned with Spider-Man 2018
The Last of Us Part II is on pace with the original, and it's selling without massive bundles.
Gran Turismo 7 is selling faster than Sport.
Horizon Forbidden West is the slowest.
All sequels' price points are higher with fewer bundles.
yurinka
Member
Zero Dawn sold 10M units in 2 years, Forbidden West may have needed 3 (or almost 3) years to achieve the 10M.
Great sales, considering HFW was added to PS+ a year after release, unlike HZD.
To add a few to the list, even if some aren't sequels:
Great sales, considering HFW was added to PS+ a year after release, unlike HZD.
Forbidden West is the only one added to PS+ a year after release.
To add a few to the list, even if some aren't sequels:
- Ghost of Tsushima is the best selling Sucker Punch game ever.
- Days Gone is the best selling Bend game ever.
- Astro Bot is the best selling game in the series and pretty likely the best selling internally developed Japan Studio game ever.
- Helldivers 2 is Arrowhead's best selling game ever.
- Death Stranding is Kojima's best selling game ever.
- Detroit Become Human was Quantic Dream's best selling game ever.
Yes, specially considering it's just 3 years after release (1 in case of PC), and that a year after release was added to PS+. Meaning, obviously will end selling more.
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Senua
Member
I wonder why
yurinka
Member
According to Sony, because they wanted to see the effect of doing so (I assume both the PS+ bump and the sales decrease).
Until that point the sales were basically exacly the same than the HZD ones launch aligned, so I assume it was a great case to test this.
mayham2199
Member
"freshest, most moving, most topical works of science fiction"
It literally has one of the most non-sensical stories ever written. Just the simple fact that Sylens (who is by far the best character of the games, pretty much the only one who is interesting) says he got involved when he found and fixed a focus is beyond ridiculous. We probably don't even have the tech today to fix a focus so how is a dude from what amounts to the middle ages supposed to be able to fix it, when he has virtually no knowledge of electronics nor the tools to do so. The games are also overly woke which makes absolutely no sense for the setting.
You start breaking down games like this and every game is stupid. How the hell is Nathan Drake taking on armies of men by himself? With no training at all yet he's taking down trained mercenaries groups like it's just another Tuesday for him.
Dafegamer
Member
Ragnarok actually sold faster than the first by a huge margin. However given the overall impression of the Game I see on Neogaf and Resetera, people resent the sequel compared to the first.
I koved it tho
lh032
I cry about Xbox and hate PlayStation.
sony should invest in new first party IP, besides GOW, most of the sequels are fun but ehhhhhhhhh.however sony need to abandon the horizon franchise asap, game is too big and repetitive. i think most people wont even care for the third game now.
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FoxMcChief
Gold Member
Sells well when bundled with consoles.
lh032
I cry about Xbox and hate PlayStation.
im not sure about other first party games but i think sony shot themselves on the foot by putting forbidden west on PLUS
FoxMcChief
Gold Member
Kerotan
Member
It's making a case for New single player IP's to be made but the sales still justify a sequel and even a trilogy.
Kerotan
Member
I forgot about this. It was more of a tester from Sony and I think the answer was pretty clear. Not worth adding it so early.
vodka-bull
Member
That's cool. In other news, RDR2 sold over 74 million copies and it didn't get a patch.
DannyDanger
Member
Didn't Sony say putting the second game on PS Plus several tanked sales?
Mr Hyde
Gold Member
I thought Forbidden West was a good sequel. It improved on a lot of things, especially the weapons and gadgets, which was way more varied this time which made the combat a lot more fun. Graphically it was very beautiful, especially Burning Shores which had an epic final battle. FW had more villages and expanded on the world in a good way. I enjoyed the story too. It wasn't as good as Zero Dawn but Guerilla took it in an interesting direction with a bonkers finale. However, with that said I probably ain't coming back for a third. Two games is more than enough for me when it comes to Horizon. I'm tired of open world and it's probably gonna be even more bloated than FW. Plus Sylens isn't coming back either and he was by far the most interesting character in the franchise.
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Fake
Member
What year did HZD release to reach this mark.
And Forbidden West doing less as a sequel is embarrassing.
Thats explain why they now say 'franchise sales'.
And Forbidden West doing less as a sequel is embarrassing.
Thats explain why they now say 'franchise sales'.
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diffusionx
Gold Member
the sequels are not as good as the originals, none of them
PixelatedBeast
Member
Oh, so maybe that explains why it has one of the lowest completion percentage rates of open world games on Playstation and Xbox. Pc doesnt even need a patch, and it has the lowest completion rate of all platforms...
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Unfortunatecookie
Member
Lower installed base + marketing problem.
Ragnarok, Horizon:FW, and even Spidey 2 all came out before PS5 had crossed 50M units. Ragnarok and FW were also marketed as (primarily) PS5 games, so the PS4 versions suffered because they were, understandably, not seen as the best version(s) to get.
On top of that, all of their predecessors enjoyed global marketing campaigns. As hilarious as some events (e.g., E3) were, major flashy shows serve as massive awareness campaigns. It's why they're called shows; you show what you have. State of Plays are neat, but they're low effort, poorly promoted, and preaching to the choir. I'm guessing the reduction in first-party marketing efforts is a result of the current people at PlayStation not being trained in common sense.
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Kenneth Haight
Gold Member
Buggy Loop
Gold Member
I have said this multiple time on neogaf but the actual games convinced me I didn't want the sequel
When they came to PC I was all excited. I hadn't played Sony games since PS2 and I loved their output back then but I guess now I realize it was for totally different reasons and that studio is closed (Fumito Ueda big reason why).
- Horizon Zero Dawn
- Left a good impression early on in the game but soon as you basically have most of the big cities unlocked and most upgrades you needed, it became such a fucking chore. I stopped playing the game almost right next to the doorstep of the end game. I forced myself to finish it like 2~3 months later and I dragged myself to the finish line and didn't want to even do the DLC which was included. I think someone would have to pay ME to play Horizon forbidden west.
- Spider-man
- I can't for the life of me understand how this was so big, outside "marvel". Its a boring open world. Repetitive tasks. The "emergent" open world gameplay of stopping thieves in a car with the dodge, QTE to get one out of car, repeat, stop car with webs, how many times is that fun? Never finished it, no will to even try. Miles Morales and Spider-man 2, out of equation even if given for free, I kid you not. I think even the spider-man 2 2004 for PS2 game was more fun, or I just had so much fucking time on my hand back then I didn't mind shit open worlds.
- God of War
- I don't know why this game starts off so strong but the open world center with all maps radially aligned with it and its basically go through level and back, rather than a metroidvania like world where your skills unlocks cool as fuck shortcuts, missed opportunity. Still i finished it fully along with all valkyries and is my prefered one of the PC ports so far, just let down from what it could have been with a much better map and skill usage. "best game of all time IGN list", remember that list? Yea its nowhere near top, what a load of bull. I prefered a lot the PS2 God of war games to be honest. Lukewarm to try the sequel which focus a lot on the boi. I wanted to strangle the little shit in the first time.
- Returnal
- Had fun, somehow switched to something else during my run and came back and felt I had to restart again. I will go back to this game in due time.
- Last of Us
- Somewhere maybe 75% in the game? That's the problem, 10 hours in and I feel like there's still a shitload to sludge through and I got bored of gameplay. Moved to something else. I will try to come back to it and finish it, but I feel it'll be like Horizon zero dawn where it'll be a chore. Lukewarm to try the sequel.
- Days gone
- Bought, still not installed, but i'll give it a go I promise.
- Uncharted 4
- given code by buying a 5800x3D I think? Haven't installed, will get to it one day. Looks like it will be the cinematic experience which I don't seem to click with.
- Ratchet and clank
- On my wishlist, pretty sure I'll like that.
- Ghost of Tsushima
- On wishlist, I am kind of doubtful I'll click with the open world? One that will probably remain on wishlist for a while.
I want the Gravity rush, Bloodborne, Demon souls, The Last guardian, Ico, Shadow of colossus games from Sony. FFS.
I would take all games from above list and trade it for those i just listed without any hesitation. That's the games I feel would be a lot more welcomed to PC. I'm not too much into
KungFucius
King Snowflake
Games don't "hold" prices. Most of the game sales today are digital and they are sold from one outlet so the price is controlled. Physical copies are relatively rare so they can be sold for 40-50 something but the price difference kind of doesn't make it worth it since it includes shipping time, swapping disks, etc. It kinda sucks.
leo-j
Member
Rebirth, ds2, gt7, Spider-Man 2, Rift Apart, are all arguably better than the previous entries of the franchise….. yet we have the sales we have.
diffusionx
Gold Member
Spiderman 2 is not better than the previous entries
In terms of gameplay it's indisputably better
StreetsofBeige
Member
I have no proof of this and just taking a wild guess.
But I think a lot of sequel games as a whole in the industry are selling less because they are waiting for reviews, streamer vids and shaking it out with whatever news there is before buying. Gamers are doing this more and more vs last gen where Horizon ZD is a 2017 game.
And they are noticing the new game isnt as great as it's hyped up to be by the company.
blue velvet
Member
Nobody really cares about this franchise. Horizon is one of those games you finish playing and just think, 'Eh, I guess it was alright' then move on with your life. Outside of its impressive tech and visuals, not much to talk about it.
Wolzard
Member
The franchise also features games with beautiful graphics, which leads some people to buy them just to see them in person, take screenshots, and post them on social media. But they don't finish the game.
I played the first Horizon on PS4 and found it to be quite beautiful, although coming from PC, I noticed several flaws, such as the low draw distance. I found the game extremely monotonous at first and understood why it was criticized. But I'm a patient player, and the game won me over when I read the optional logs you found throughout the map. They gave much more context to the story than the game's central narrative. I found it an interesting sci-fi experience. I still want to play the sequel on PC, but I'm hoping for at least a 75% discount.
ProtoByte
Weeb Underling
PS+ and PeeSea port (so much for those extra sales, right??) alone will do that. Also, I think the crossgen rug pull seriously hit hype and put a ceiling on what they could do with the gameplay and design. Besides that, they took an odd creative direction and didn't do enough to invest people in Aloy. The WOM around Forbidden West got soft fast. Same goes for their other sequels.
Largely agreed, but I'll say this: You can have 70 dollar games and a non-subsidized console at 500 dollars if there is a sufficient library of truly next gen games that are not only technically proficient but creatively proficient. They just got lazy in every way.
FoxMcChief
Gold Member
Fuck yeah they are. Just not because of their first party games.Sony are selling a LOT of consoles
