The MMO shooter Destiny actually turned out to be the hoped-for system seller for the PlayStation 4 in 2014. In the release month of September, sales figures skyrocketed.
“System seller” – that’s something like Super Mario back then for the first Nintendo or the good Sonic for the Sega Mega Drive. Because despite all the technical innovations, it is the big icons and exclusive titles that ensure that gamers reach for new consoles.
Destiny was not an exclusive title for the PlayStation 4, but was released on PlayStation 3, Xbox 360, and Xbox One. Sony’s marketing strategy, however, aimed to claim the game for itself and boost PS4 sales. So they offered attractive bundles at bargain prices.
And Bungie cooperated with Sony: There are Strikes, PvP maps, and exotic items that will be exclusive to PlayStation players for at least a year. PlayStation 3 players were also offered the opportunity to upgrade their Destiny to a PS4 version for free while keeping their Guardian. Of course, this also applied to Xbox 360 to Xbox One.
In the run-up to the release in September, analysts were concerned with the potential of Destiny to boost next-gen console sales. And the statistics say: Yup, it worked.
It wasn’t solely responsible, but it was largely thanks to the release of Destiny on September 9 that there was a threefold increase in PS4 console sales compared to the previous month, August. PS4 sales rose to 1.75 million units in September.
In October, there was again a dip before sales surged toward the end of the year, as expected. Additional hits like Call of Duty and GTA V hit the market. And thanks to tradition, for some, there was a new console under the Christmas tree. It’s a pity there were problems then – and no, we don’t mean the delayed Christmas presents …
According to vgChartz statistics, Destiny has sold 4.55 million copies on PlayStation 4. This makes it the fourth best-selling title of the year. We’ll surely learn about sales on Xbox One soon as well. Because even if Sony likes to see Destiny as an exclusive title, it should have contributed significantly to Xbox One sales as well.
To the article with the nice graphs and statistics go here.
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