Doubts are rising about the sales success of Destiny 2. Allegedly, Destiny 2 is about 40% below expectations. Activision hopes for a successful PC port.
Last Friday, the 13th, several Wall Street analysts gave their assessments of the sales success of Destiny 2. And apparently the sales are significantly lower than predicted.
Destiny 2 sold less often than Destiny 1
In the USA, 50% fewer Destiny 2 boxes were sold compared to Destiny 1 during its release month in September 2014. This is what Wall Street analysts are now noting, referencing data from market researchers NPD Group.
- Analyst Michael Olson says: “The launch month of Destiny 2 was significantly below that of the original.”
- Analyst Michael Pachter states, “The sales of Destiny 2 are underwhelming.” They are about 37% below forecasts. Pachter believes that in the release month, Destiny 2 missed about 40% of sales compared to its predecessor.
The US numbers coincide with the figures from the UK that have been available for a month now. We reported on this on September 15.
Digital sales have likely increased
However: The current figures from the USA represent “physical sales.” It can be assumed that “digital sales” are higher than with Destiny 1 in 2014 – the digital market has become more important.
The question is therefore: “Do the higher digital sales offset the poorer physical sales?”
Experts assume: No, that is not the case. Although in 2017 more digital editions are being sold than in 2014, it’s not by a significant amount.
Analysts believe that Destiny 2 has sold poorly because it has only been released on two platforms – PS4 and Xbox One. The first Destiny was released on four platforms (PS3, Xbox 360 as well).
Furthermore, analysts believe that some potential buyers may still be waiting for the PC release of Destiny 2.
Activision says: PC is coming too
Activision comments on the numbers: “The first Destiny was the largest launch of a new video game franchise in history. And Destiny 2 has surpassed these numbers for digital sales and user engagement in the launch week. The Destiny universe will welcome PC players as a new community for the first time on October 24.”
Activision Blizzard’s stock fell by 2.3 percent on Friday, October 13. The negative forecast for the planned Overwatch League is believed to have contributed to this.
Destiny 2 was probably bought less than Destiny 1 – but played by more people
My MMO states: Activision emphasizes that more people are really playing Destiny 2 than Destiny 1. They have repeatedly highlighted that the number of simultaneously logged-in Guardians has never been greater than in the first week of Destiny 2.
However, there has been no success report from Activision regarding the overall sales numbers. Therefore, it seems that truly fewer people bought Destiny 2 than Destiny 1. That’s the subtle difference you can hear.
This may change with the PC release of Destiny 2 – although the recently negative sentiment could impact the sales success. Perhaps Activision Blizzard now regrets pushing the PC launch back by 6 weeks – allegedly to give the PC version the time it needs to be perfect.
Initial reactions to the prevailing negative sentiment about Destiny 2 are already available:
