Sales Data February 2022 NPD: Switch #1, Xbox #2. Elden Ring 1st, Horizon Forbidden West 2nd

[Abzeronow]

NPD February 2022: #1 Elden Ring #2 Horizon 2 #4 Dying Light 2 #5 Warhammer III; Switch #1 Units & Revenue, Xbox #2 Units & Revenue [Also in YTD]

State of the market February 2022 consumer spending across video game hardware, content and accessories fell 6% when compared to a year ago, to $4.4B. Declines were experienced across all major categories of spend, with hardware showing the largest YoY % decline. US NPD HW - Video game hardware...

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Elden Ring was both the best selling game of February and the best selling game this year so far. 2nd highest for any game in the last 12 months on!y trailing Call of Duty Vanguard. Was 1st on Xbox and Steam, 2nd on PlayStation.

Horizon Forbidden West was 2nd for the month but first on Playstation platform. It also set a new dollar sales record for launch month sales on PlayStation 5.

Rest of Top 5 was Pokemon Legends Arceus (3rd), Dying Light 2 (4th) and Total War: Warhammer III (5th, 2nd on Steam)

 

[Xaltmas]

Xbox outselling PlayStation in Forbidden West’s launch month just shows how supplied constrained these thing still are and also how smart it was for Xbox to have the Series S.

 

[Lord Azrael]

Poor Horizon, always cursed to be overshadowed

 

[9-Volt]

Shocked to see Elden Ring performing exceptionally. It's definitely not a game for everyone but everyone's still buying it. I wonder what percentage of it will manage to beat the game?

 

[Squiddo]

Soulslikes meanstream now noice

 

[Deleted member 2349]

phew

 

[TheDok]

Shocked to see Elden Ring performing exceptionally. It's definitely not a game for everyone but everyone's still buying it. I wonder what percentage of it will manage to beat the game?

Dark Souls as a franchise is massively popular. Not surprising Elden Ring is doing blockbuster numbers

 

[Weebos]

Soulslikes meanstream now noice

Hasn't it been mainstream since like Dark Souls 2?

 

[Lozjam]

Poor Horizon, always cursed to be overshadowed

We are really seeing "Open World fatigue". In the fact that many people seem to be tired of checklists and obtrusive UI, versus well designed worlds with landmarks that make exploration worth it.

Breath of the Wild and now Elden Ring really show this, unfortunately, not many games have capitalized on it. Horizon is a good game, but it is sort of based on design philosophy from 2011's Skyrim and it shows. Horizon really is more so worth it for the story than the gameplay though, so mileage will vary too. Good game design really can transcend story though, because it is universal.

 

[EddyZacianLand]

Open world video games seem to do really well, so do you think SV has a shot of outselling SwSh?

 

[Lord Azrael]

We are really seeing "Open World fatigue". In the fact that many people seem to be tired of checklists and obtrusive UI, versus well designed worlds with landmarks that make exploration worth it.

Breath of the Wild and now Elden Ring really show this, unfortunately, not many games have capitalized on it. Horizon is a good game, but it is sort of based on design philosophy from 2011's Skyrim and it shows. Horizon really is more so worth it for the story than the gameplay though, so mileage will vary too. Good game design really can transcend story though, because it is universal.

Not really. Horizon is still selling really well. It's just not a 97 once-in-a-generation redefining game.

 

[meatbag]

Currently coping with my Elden Ring FOMO by playing Dark Souls 3

… and I have already died four times to the tutorial boss

 

[9-Volt]

Hasn't it been mainstream since like Dark Souls 2?

It did pass 10m with every entry after DS2 but this might be the first time a souls game breaking 20m and joining the likes of Mario, Call of Duty, Pokémon, GTA and Animal Crossing.

 

[Weebos]

Open world video games seem to do really well, so do you think SV has a shot of outselling SwSh?

Traditionally the second mainline generation on a given platform sells less than the first.

Doesn't mean it's impossible, but precedent means it's unlikely.

 

[EddyZacianLand]

Traditionally the second mainline generation on a given platform sells less than the first.

Doesn't mean it's impossible, but precedent means it's unlikely.

That's true but I am wondering if the open world will give it enough of a boost

 

[Weebos]

That's true but I am wondering if the open world will give it enough of a boost

Maybe, we might get an indication of that depending on how well Arceus sells through the year.

 

[Blue Monty]

Traditionally the second mainline generation on a given platform sells less than the first.

Doesn't mean it's impossible, but precedent means it's unlikely.

Sun and Moon sold more than XY iirc
Edit:forgot that was counting ultra versions

 

[Abzeronow]

Soulslikes meanstream now noice

Souls games are among the best selling Action RPGs.

 

[EddyZacianLand]

Maybe, we might get an indication of that depending on how well Arceus sells through the year.

That's not full open world tho

 

[mazi]

elden ring ended up being waaaaay bigger than i expected

Open world video games seem to do really well, so do you think SV has a shot of outselling SwSh?

probably not, with it being like the 5th mainline pokemon title on switch, it won't have the novelty of sw/sh.

 

[Abzeronow]

Currently coping with my Elden Ring FOMO by playing Dark Souls 3

… and I have already died four times to the tutorial boss

Currently playing Dark Souls Remastered on the Switch. Would love to see Dark Souls 2 on Switch but that's up to Bandai Namco.

 

[SuperFakerBros]

Considering they were even able to get me into a Souls game, I'd say it's safe to say that Elden Ring will be joining the ranks of recent Zelda or God of War games when it comes to sales. Honestly, well done

And not surprised to see the Switch still doing incredibly well. Can't wait to see it inevitably outdo the GameBoy and PS4

 

[Belinda Blumenthal]

We are really seeing "Open World fatigue". In the fact that many people seem to be tired of checklists and obtrusive UI, versus well designed worlds with landmarks that make exploration worth it.

Breath of the Wild and now Elden Ring really show this, unfortunately, not many games have capitalized on it. Horizon is a good game, but it is sort of based on design philosophy from 2011's Skyrim and it shows. Horizon really is more so worth it for the story than the gameplay though, so mileage will vary too. Good game design really can transcend story though, because it is universal.

Horizon has much less in common with Skyrim than Far Cry 3. Most modern world games stem from Far Cry 3 to be honest, Skyrim is definitely a milestone in the genre but I don’t feel it has had anywhere near the same impact on design as Ubisoft’s Far Cry 3 era open worlds.

 

[Beard]

Dark Souls as a franchise is massively popular. Not surprising Elden Ring is doing blockbuster numbers

Dark Souls is popular, but Elden Ring is performing significantly stronger than any previous From Software title at launch. I'd credit that to it being a highly anticipated and highly reviewed open world game more than it being a "Souls" title. From's track record is certainly helping, though.

 

[HockeyBird]

I think saying there is open world fatigue is like saying their is crime show fatigue. Yeah, there are a lot of them and people say they are all so similar, but then they always ended up being the one of the most watched/played genres. Most open world games don't see the overwhelming critical reception Elden Ring is currently getting but they still sell really sell. There is a reason why Ubisoft keeps pumping them out. Until there is sudden dip in sales, there really is no reason for them to move too far away from the established formula.

 

[DistractedByPixels]

We are really seeing "Open World fatigue". In the fact that many people seem to be tired of checklists and obtrusive UI, versus well designed worlds with landmarks that make exploration worth it.

Breath of the Wild and now Elden Ring really show this, unfortunately, not many games have capitalized on it. Horizon is a good game, but it is sort of based on design philosophy from 2011's Skyrim and it shows. Horizon really is more so worth it for the story than the gameplay though, so mileage will vary too. Good game design really can transcend story though, because it is universal.

"Obtrusive UI" is an odd thing to throw at Forbidden West as a critique since the UI is highly customizable. You can play it with pretty much zero overlay if you'd like.

Horizon really is more like BotW than anything, especially now that it has a glider. Forbidden West's problems, IMO, are these:

1. It locks lots of stuff behind tool unlocks tied to progression.

2. It goes for quantity over quality in adding more stuff to do. Most of the stuff they added is doo-doo. Except for Road Rash, But Riding Robot Horses, most of what they added is confounding.

It also has lots of tedious puzzle solving and lots and lots of useless weaponry. IMO, these were issues in BotW. They basically added the things that I don't like about open-world games to this one.

I get the Far Cry comparison, especially with the hunting garbage, though. I guess I see where you are coming from there. I think FW is like a BotW/Far Cry mashup that goes out of its way to do the worst things that those games do instead of building on what was so good about the original game in a positive way.

As someone who is not a fan of From's game design, Elden Ring has those issues, but in an open-world setting.

Gonna be honest, the last open world that I thought was well-designed was Bowser's Fury. It's the first time that a Japanese dev developed a great open world (XCX had interesting ideas about verticality, though). Before that were RDR2 and HZD. I hope the Saints Row reboot nails it (SR2 has an awesome open world, but I am off-topic here).

 

[TheDok]

Dark Souls is popular, but Elden Ring is performing significantly stronger than any previous From Software title at launch. I'd credit that to it being a highly anticipated and highly reviewed open world game more than it being a "Souls" title. From's track record is certainly helping, though.

Dark Souls 3 sold over 10 million copies. Elden Ring being open world isn't inherently the main reason for its sales success. It's part of the equation, but the popularity of the Souls series/formula is by far the biggest factor.

 

[Beard]

Dark Souls 3 sold over 10 million copies. Elden Ring being open world isn't inherently the main reason for its sales success. It's part of the equation, but the popularity of the Souls series/formula is by far the biggest factor.

Elden Ring is probably going to hit 25-30 million units lifetime. Dark Souls is a factor in the same way the Zelda brand was a factor in BotW’s success. Meaning, the move to open world and huge critical acclaim is a bigger factor. If Elden Ring was simply an iteration on DS3, it would perform similarly in the market to that game.

 

[TheDok]

Elden Ring is probably going to hit 25-30 million units lifetime. Dark Souls is a factor in the same way the Zelda brand was a factor in BotW’s success. Meaning, the move to open world and huge critical acclaim is a bigger factor. If Elden Ring was simply an iteration on DS3, it would perform similarly in the market to that game.

I don't like that argument since it reduces their success primarily to the open world addition. Generational critical acclaim, hype, and series popularity are bigger factors. If the variables were the same and you put non-open world installments in the same positions they would sell similarly.

Of course how much the open world design influenced the critical reception and hype is another subject. I just don't think going open world inherently equals more sales. Look at Mario Odyssey, which had similar levels of generational critical acclaim and sales success while sticking with a traditional series structure. Or MGS5, which went open world but sold similarly to previous entries.

 

[touchfuzzy]

Vanguard really showing the cracks in Call of Duty’s armour… for comparison, Cold War didn’t fall out of the top 4 sellers of the year last year until September, and was the YTD best seller the whole year (until the front loaded Vanguard came out). They still got those big day / week one sales but the legs have already fallen out which I don’t think has ever happened.

 

[Beard]

I don't like that argument since it reduces their success primarily to the open world addition. Generational critical acclaim, hype, and series popularity are bigger factors. If the variables were the same and you put non-open world installments in the same positions they would sell similarly.

Of course how much the open world design influenced the critical reception and hype is another subject. I just don't think going open world inherently equals more sales. Look at Mario Odyssey, which had similar levels of generational critical acclaim and sales success while sticking with a traditional series structure. Or MGS5, which went open world but sold similarly to previous entries.

I don’t believe going open world inherently leads to breakout success, but in the case of Elden Ring and BotW, it absolutely was a significant factor. Obviously pedigree, critical acclaim, and word of mouth are also very important factors, but they alone don’t account for the type of success a game like ER is receiving. From took an ambitious step forward with this game and they’re being rewarded for it. Ultimately, it’s less about Elden Ring going open world and more about the studio swinging for the fences and succeeding masterfully.

Regarding Mario Odyssey, I actually believe that game proves my point pretty well. It’s by far the grandest, most open game in the franchise and was greatly rewarded commercially for it. It’s much bigger in scope than 64 and Sunshine, even as those games are clearly its foundation.

MGS V is an interesting case. I think the open world was a success, but so much series identity was stripped out in the process, that it was ultimately a wash. I love that game, but I completely understand why so many series veterans have major issues with it.