The MMO Destiny has sold games worth 500 million dollars to shops and partners. It is set to surpass the highest expectations that Activision Blizzard has set for the new billion-dollar franchise.
As eurogamer reports, games worth 500 million US dollars were shipped worldwide on the first day. How many games were actually sold and what the profit looks like is hard to ascertain from this figure. By “sold”, Activision means “delivered to partners and shops”, not to the end consumer. It currently looks like many fans purchased the game through the Xbox Store or the Playstation Store. However, the over 11,000 worldwide midnight sales likely sold some units as well.
The head of Activision Blizzard, Bobby Kotick, speaks of “extraordinary demand from fans”.
Furthermore, they now claim the title of the largest launch of a new franchise in video game history. The title was previously held by Ubisoft with Watch Dogs and reportedly 4 million units sold in the first week.
Destiny as the next billion-dollar brand and simply as a “great game”
Eric Hirshberg from Activision added: “From the very beginning, we were confident that our belief and commitment to Destiny would pay off. But few would have expected it to do so on the very first day.” The reported development costs for the MMO Destiny also amounted to 500 million dollars.
More than ever before, Hirshberg continued, they are convinced that Destiny could become the next billion-dollar franchise in their stable and has what it takes to rise to one of the most important series of the generation. But even more importantly, Bungie has created a great game with Destiny that you can’t keep your hands off.
Analyst: Destiny could sell 20 million units, reach “Call of Duty” level
Other media are meanwhile reporting on the sales success of Destiny. Gamespot has spoken with an analyst who is giving investors a “thumbs up” signal. According to analyst Arvind Bhatia, his firm now has even more confidence than before that Destiny could achieve sales of 15 million units. Now it is even considered possible that Destiny could achieve “20 million units sold” when everything is said and done. This would correspond to a level normally reached only by titles like “Call of Duty”. Bhatia came to this assessment after consulting with Activision and various retailers.
