Few will argue that Destiny was one of the most anticipated games of 2014. Activision Blizzard is already touting how big the game is.
“Based on extraordinary audience demand, retail and first party orders worldwide have exceeded $500 million for Destiny.” – Bobby Kotick, CEO Activition Blizzard
That is a staggering number for any release and impressive for a new IP. Read carefully the wording of the statement though. According to this statement, it is not saying that $500 million worth of Destiny stuff has been sold. What it does mean is that retailers and resellers, GameStop and Amazon for example, have placed orders for a total of $500 million worth of Destiny stuff. It will be some time before we see any actual sale numbers
Along with all the hype and hoopla Destiny created going into its release was the presence of exclusives for the PlayStation platforms. Be it cosmetic items like emblems or early access, to things like better gear, Sony was using these types of exclusives to engage buyers to choose PlayStation over Xbox. The question still remains – did it work?
I can only speak of my personal experience and other reports may vary, so please regard this as only my view of the issue. Having attended the midnight release in a small town, I literally got to see every pre-order for those that attended stacked out before me. Shortly before midnight, the staff started bringing the merchandise out and stacking it on the counter behind the registers.
What interested me was comparing the volumes of items by platform. Unfortunately, I was not able to count all items exactly to the number, but I can make an educated guess on some. One number I do have firm is the number and platform of Ghost Editions that were handed out. There were two for the PS4 and seven for the Xbox One. As for the Limited Edition, those were all stacked together and I have no idea how many were for either platform. The regular versions of the games seemed stacked in favor of the Xbox platform. They may have been a mix of Xbox One and Xbox 360, as well as PS4 and PS3, but I can say that there were more green boxes than blue ones.
So what does this mean? Again in my opinion, these exclusives really didn’t matter in the long run. Many people are committed to one platform regardless of these console exclusive content offers. Until we see firm sale numbers this is all argumentative, but I don’t expect that we’ll see those numbers soon anyway. Think about how Titanfall’s sales number are always reported in one lump sum rather than being broken down into individual platform sales.
Did any of the exclusive sway your decision as to which platform to choose?
Paul Novak is a self described Polish ninja toiling away as an IT professional but more into gaming and writing. Physically existing in the west side of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania yet existentially flowing with the ether of the Internet. Found here at What’s Your Tag? and on the Twitter @dudewantshisrug. Game on with Team XBRO!
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I made the mistake of picking up Watch Dogs on PS4 purely based on the extra content, and disliked the game so much that I sold it before I got to experience anything but Aiden’s tacky white outfit. When it came to Destiny, most of the extras didn’t really interest me, as I have no desire to play the game’s competitive multiplayer side of things, but I still ended up getting it for PS4 instead of Xbox One. My local retailer kind of made that decision for me, as 30 minutes in to their sale of Destiny there were zero Xbox One copies left. In retrospect, even if they had both in stock, I probably would have gotten it for PS4 anyway since that’s the console I’ve been using the most as of late, thanks to Diablo 3 and Last of Us Remastered.
Reblogged this on Reviewer Discretion.
I’m sitting here looking at a brand spanking new Xbox One and the three games purchased with it.
I chose the Xbox One over the PS4 because I really like my 360, never really considered having the games decide my consol.
I’m so excite over Destiny though, so excite!
The bonus items on the PS4 were a nice plus, but the thing that ended up deciding the console for me was my boyfriend deciding his console. I know, old-fashioned and lame, but we wanted to play together and he doesn’t have an Xboner. It was a toss-up however. I’m used to anything from Bungie being on Xbox for me so I might have gone with the Xboner without him merely because that’s what I’m used to.
Then again I’ve been putting more time into my PS4, so who knows? I didn’t even get my pre-order at my original store. I ended up getting mine at Target last-minute because of a coupon I found.