Year 1 and Year 2 Sony First Party Sales from Horizon Zero Dawn (February 2017) to Ghost of Tsushima Directors Cut (August 2021)(Presumably Shipments)

[Welfare]

Title	Launch Month	Year 1 Sales	Year 2 Sales	Year 2 Drop from Y1	MetaCritic	Total Y1 + Y2
Horizon Zero Dawn	February 2017	7,961,350	3,048,859	-62%	89	11,010,209
Gran Turismo Sport	October 2017	6,249,045	1,599,254	-74%	75	7,848,299
God of War 2018	April 2018	10,729,489	5,208,864	-51%	94	15,938,353
Marvel's Spider-Man	September 2018	14,132,505	4,813,471	-66%	87	18,945,976
Days Gone (PS4)	April 2019	5,550,582	1,458,446	-74%	71	7,009,028
Spider-Man Miles Morales	November 2020	8,967,394	3,690,003	-59%	85	12,657,397
Ratchet & Clank Rift Apart	June 2021	2,711,493	1,268,068	-53%	88	3,979,561
Ghost of Tsushima Remaster	August 2021	2,349,918	1,018,566	-57%	87	3,368,484

There are additional bars to the Year 2 drop and Metacritic score that do show a similar scale between games. Closer to 100 Metacritic, the closer the game is to only dropping -50%, while the farther away a game's MC is, the larger the YOY drop is.

Revenue data

Title	Launch Month	Year 1 Revenue	Year 2 Revenue	Year 2 Drop from Y1	Total Y1 + Y2
Horizon Zero Dawn (PS4)	February 2017	$302,119,157	$72,534,756	-76%	$374,653,913
God of War 2018 (PS4)	April 2018	$435,310,499	$80,283,498	-82%	$515,593,997
Marvel's Spider-Man (PS4)	September 2018	$587,721,553	$123,011,709	-79%	$710,733,262
Days Gone (PS4)**	April 2019	$193,159,479	$46,840,521	-76%	$240,000,000
Ghost of Tsushima (PS4/PS5)**	July 2020	$374,000,000	$164,000,000	-56%	$538,000,000
Spider-Man Miles Morales (PS4/PS5)**	November 2020	$351,000,000	$159,000,000	-55%	$510,000,000
Horizon Forbidden West (PS4/PS5)*	February 2022	$416,487,992	$35,429,355	-91%	$451,917,347

*Year 2 is stated to be projected
**These are too clean and look to be either estimated or projected. Days Gone is either also that or this is a miracle sum

 

[derby_440]

RC Rift apart 4 million as of June 2023!

 

[ElCapitano]

Where the data pulled from? The recent leak?

Do we have it for any other games?

 

[Koti]

Sony really upped their first party production since the PS4. The only con is that all of their first party titles are very similar to each other.

 

[Welfare]

Where the data pulled from? The recent leak?

Do we have it for any other games?

It's from the same leak. Other games have different data that has already been posted in other threads.

 

[derby_440]

Days gone 7m as of April 2021 and 7.32m by Feb 2022. Legs are not very good.

Miles Morales 12.65m as of Nov 2022 and 14.4m June 2023. This game will cross 20m.

EDIT: These look like sold through numbers. Ratchet shipped 2.72m as of Feb 2022, 8 months after release. Here its year 1 at 2.71m.

 

[MrTired]

Obviously I not happy about the circumstances that these leak resulted from by the amount of information and insight they provided is immense.

 

[kazuyamishima]

The leaks only confirmed what simple math told a lot of people before: Sony 1st party games, especially the Big Blockbusters, are VERY profitable.

 

[Evilms]

 

[Belthazar]

*** Hidden text: cannot be quoted. ***

4 million for Rift Apart in 2 years is massive. Is this one legit?

 

[TheRealTalker]

4 million for Rift Apart in 2 years is massive. Is this one legit?

Yes, it is from the same leak.

 

[Belthazar]

Sony really upped their first party production since the PS4. The only con is that all of their first party titles are very similar to each other.

How is that true? PS5 alone had games like Ratchet, Returnal, Sackboy, GT7, etc. How are those games similar? And even the usual suspects, the third person adventure games, are so diverse in how they play that I really can't see how they could be considered similar.

That's like saying all of Nintendo's games are the same.because they have several 2D/3D platformers.

 

[Himura Kenshin]

How is that true? PS5 alone had games like Ratchet, Returnal, Sackboy, GT7, etc. How are those games similar? And even the usual suspects, the third person adventure games, are so diverse in how they play that I really can't see how they could be considered similar.

That's like saying all of Nintendo's games are the same.because they have several 2D/3D platformers.

Have you ever tried racing a sportscar in Gran Turismo or hitting a baseball in MLB The Show? It's practically the same thing.

 

[Belthazar]

Have you ever tried racing a sportscar in Gran Turismo or hitting a baseball in MLB The Show? It's practically the same thing.

Yeah... I'm always trying to web-swing my Lamborghini around the track on GT7, because it's just so similar with Spider-Man 2.

 

[ArkhamFantasy]

In their defense, I think it’s pretty common to view games on platforms you aren’t overly familiar with in a similar group. I do this with a lot of PC games.

Im a single player console player so when I see games like League and Dota I just kinda lump them all together as “pc games” even though they’re very different.

I see this kind of thing all the time.

 

[Remember_spinal]

the issue is a lot of people seem to ignore SIE’s smaller games even the hardcore fans. I see the same thing currently happening with Helldivers 2, people will ignore it and then complain that Sony only makes games like DS2 or whatever other single player games they reveal next year.

What people claim they want and what they actually spend money on has always been two different things.

 

[Welfare]

Sony really upped their first party production since the PS4. The only con is that all of their first party titles are very similar to each other.

I wish Sony made more games like Ratchet and Clank. I have to wait until 2029 for the next one?

 

[Gotdatmoney]

In their defense, I think it’s pretty common to view games on platforms you aren’t overly familiar with in a similar group. I do this with a lot of PC games.

Im a single player console player so when I see games like League and Dota I just kinda lump them all together as “pc games” even though they’re very different.

I see this kind of thing all the time.

I think it goes to people just grouping stuff with the same overarching appeal and target segment. Obviously Horizon, Spider Man and Ghost of Tsushima don't have the same gameplay but they obviously all target the same type of player.

Playstation does have a solid distribution of titles imo. But it is logical to group.

 

[enpleinjour]

There's a revenue table as well FYI

 

[Belthazar]

There's a revenue table as well FYI

*** Hidden text: cannot be quoted. ***

That projection for HFW is harsh, de we have any data of how it did in year 2? Because most of those slides seem to be pretty pessimistic on the impact of adding games to ps+ on year 2. I wonder if those fears became true.

 

[TheRealTalker]

the issue is a lot of people seem to ignore SIE’s smaller games even the hardcore fans. I see the same thing currently happening with Helldivers 2, people will ignore it and then complain that Sony only makes games like DS2 or whatever other single player games they reveal next year.

What people claim they want and what they actually spend money on has always been two different things.

Which is why Gravity Rush failed.

There is probably more GR fans then there are buyers.

 

[Remember_spinal]

Which is why Gravity Rush failed.

There is probably more GR fans then there are buyers.

The story of Japan Studio. Buy most of their games discounted or try them through a service and wonder why it doesn’t exist anymore.

I couldn’t help but be amazed that other people were shocked pixelopus was shuttered earlier this year for the same reason.

 

[BTB123]

So Horizon: Forbidden West seemingly has very poor legs past it's first year. What could be the reason for this?

Has price retention been better for Sony's games in the last few years than on the PS4? I remember many of their games dropped quickly in price back then.

 

[Baki]

So Horizon: Forbidden West seemingly has very poor legs past it's first year. What could be the reason for this?

Has price retention been better for Sony's games in the last few years than on the PS4? I remember many of their games dropped quickly in price back then.

PS+ Extra inclusion is one of Sony’s theories.

R&C is heavily profitable at 4M units sold and only $81M spent on development. In some ways, this kind of title has better ROI than mega titles like Spider-Man 2. Of course, as a platform holder, Sony needs Spider-Man to drive adoption of the PS5.

 

[chroeser]

So Horizon: Forbidden West seemingly has very poor legs past it's first year. What could be the reason for this?

Has price retention been better for Sony's games in the last few years than on the PS4? I remember many of their games dropped quickly in price back then.

HFW was included in PS+ about 1 year after release. So most new PS5 owners would play it through the subscription and not buy it. Although it could have been worth it, because the potential numbers of buyers for the DLC were substantially bigger. Sadly we lack this data point.

 

[kazuyamishima]

So Horizon: Forbidden West seemingly has very poor legs past it's first year. What could be the reason for this?

Has price retention been better for Sony's games in the last few years than on the PS4? I remember many of their games dropped quickly in price back then.

Aside of Destruction All Stars, Most (or All) Sony first party games have their same launch price.

 

[derby_440]

So Horizon: Forbidden West seemingly has very poor legs past it's first year. What could be the reason for this?

Has price retention been better for Sony's games in the last few years than on the PS4? I remember many of their games dropped quickly in price back then.

Because it was included in PS plus extra after a year. Sony though it would increase sales, but other way around happened.

This is what Phil said in 2018, in early days of GP.

Phil Spencer: Game Pass leads to more game sales

This past weekend's X018 event was, arguably, a two-hour long advertisement for Game Pass, and given what Microsoft gam…

www.gamesindustry.biz

 

[Astandahl]

PS+ Extra inclusion is one of Sony’s theories.

R&C is heavily profitable at 4M units sold and only $81M spent on development. In some ways, this kind of title has better ROI than mega titles like Spider-Man 2. Of course, as a platform holder, Sony needs Spider-Man to drive adoption of the PS5.

How do you know Spider - Man 2 ROI? We only have projections (which are quite conservative, on paper).

 

[Belthazar]

So Horizon: Forbidden West seemingly has very poor legs past it's first year. What could be the reason for this?

Has price retention been better for Sony's games in the last few years than on the PS4? I remember many of their games dropped quickly in price back then.

The numbers that show 9% YoY on year 2 are a projection considering the impact of the PS+ inclusion. The whole slides seem to have been made to demonstrate the impact of including first party games on the subscription so soon, as it's mentioned the projection without putting it on the service would be the more usual 30%.

 

[Remember_spinal]

A lot of that stuff feels like Sony trying to find a proper balance with the subscription and full game sales. It goes without saying that ps plus and the like cannabalize full game sales, we have enough evidence to conclude that. Maybe they thought putting one of their bigger games on the service would lead to big spikes in sub growth and they could make up for the lack sales with the DLC or interest in the VR game earlier this year.

I doubt it paid off for them. I don’t think PS Plus works for a company like SIE that only releases a couple (1-4) big games a year. I think they should have went the Nintendo route and focused more on big back catalogue/retro entries.

I will be highly surprised if Ragnarok or Spider-Man 2 come to the service anytime soon

 

[unkindlynice]

Has price retention been better for Sony's games in the last few years than on the PS4? I remember many of their games dropped quickly in price back then.

People have highlighted PS+ but it's price still looks very high to me. Lack of bundles maybe too?

Revenue drop vs unit drop is not a surprise but it still highlights how much Sony relies on deep cuts to push their unit sales post launch. God of War especially is kind of shocking.

Days Gone I can see why they dumped any sequel for that game looking at the comparisons.

 

[BoktaiFan]

Sony though it would increase sales, but other way around happened.

This is what Phil said in 2018, in early days of GP

It depends entirely on the game. If you recall Sony themselves have seen subs push large sales of games in the form of rocket league and fall guys in the past. They certainly weren't relying on what Phil said. Of course it makes more sense with multiplayer games which is whybyoull notice both games listed eventually went F2P and ditching traditional sales all together.

Sony themselves even gave away the first horizon free to everyone on PS4.

 

[Kirby]

the issue is a lot of people seem to ignore SIE’s smaller games even the hardcore fans. I see the same thing currently happening with Helldivers 2, people will ignore it and then complain that Sony only makes games like DS2 or whatever other single player games they reveal next year.

What people claim they want and what they actually spend money on has always been two different things.

Helldivers 2 went big and looks quite different from the first. Kinda like Risk of Rain 1 to 2. The outcome will tell us if it was a good decision or not. If it will flop I won't fault Helldivers 1 fans, I doubt they asked for a sequel like this.

 

[Remember_spinal]

Helldivers 2 went big and looks quite different from the first. Kinda like Risk of Rain 1 to 2. The outcome will tell us if it was a good decision or not. If it will flop I won't fault Helldivers 1 fans, I doubt they asked for a sequel like this.

It’s still clearly not on the level of sonys other AAA games, hence the 40 dollar price tag.

It looks more like how Housemarque bumped up their formula.

 

[Baki]

How do you know Spider - Man 2 ROI? We only have projections (which are quite conservative, on paper).

Just projections based on the first game. Net revenue was ~$850M, with Marvel ~20% royalty, that leaves $690M for Sony excluding COGS. Spider-Man 2 cost approximately $320M to develop. ROI would be about 2.15x. R&C ROI is likely closer to 2.7x on $81m development cost.

It’s still clearly not on the level of sonys other AAA games, hence the 40 dollar price tag.

It looks more like how Housemarque bumped up their formula.

Probably in the 25-40m budget range, especially as EU studios are cheaper to run.