Skyrim sold well over twice this amount in the same time period.
The game has been on console for a year now.
The board of directors and share holders at zenimax are probably wondering where the other 10+ million people are at. I would want to know why a game I approved hundreds of millions of dollars to be spent on is only attracting around a third of the total numbers that the previous game of the same namesake sold.
You think they would have been happy if Skyrim only did a third of the sales as Oblivion did? Do you really think there would be an ESO if Skyrim had only sold a third of the copies that Oblivion did?
I'm willing to bet that in a few months we'll hear some news of shakeups at Zeni Online.
Skyrim sold 20mil copies since it launched, so in the last 6 years.
The Witcher 3 launched a few months before ESO, and sold nearly 10mil copies in 2 years. The Witcher 3 is a huge success. ESO selling 7mil copies as an MMO is even a bigger success.
ESO might have sold only a third of copies Skyrim did. But are you willing to bet that ESO didn't make more revenue than Skyrim already?
My favorite part of that infographic is how at the very top they point out how many people have created Pandaren characters. I'm not a WoW player, but from what I've read that was the most reviled expansion to date.
It's sorta like that scene in the beginning of Attack of the Clones where Jar Jar Binks looks directly into the camera and smiles as if to say "Fuck you" to all the people that hated him.
Elder Scrolls wasn't going anywhere. Like Final Fantasy it is a brand that - as far as is reasonable - will be protected and nurtured. At the other end of the scale you have Wildstar say - NCSoft have tried but at the end of the day no company will go the extra mile or ten for a "non-brand".
And unlike SWTOR there is no board and therefore the first year was simply silent. EA moved very quickly to be fair to announce that SWTOR was converting - c. 6 months - and had moved to f2p c. 11 months after launch. So quicker than ESO. It was all done in public though. The Zenimax board didn't have to say anything and they didn't - so no overt taint of failure.
As far as profitability goes compared to Skyrim ESO is - maybe - more profitable despite Skyrim selling - some reports suggest 27M copies.
Key factors: 1. Skyrim was all retail, publisher only gets a smallish % of retail revenue. 2. ESO part online from Zenimax and DLC is mostly from Zenimax (mostly because you can buy crowns from e.g. Amazon who will therefore get a %). 3. There will have been some sub income.
At 7M we can call it a success. Ditto Witcher, Overwatch and so on. And successes are good for us all.
" it also does not include players from our free trial (Xbox-only, in December of 2015)."
They've also had trials for PC, because i was selected to participate in one. I wonder how many were included in that number.
MF also said "seven million people acquired the game". I caution against assumptions but in this case looks like an oversight since he was elaborating on the core message. I am sure someone will ask and there will be a clarification however.
At least the place doesn't look empty like it did right before the console launch.
"We all do the best we can based on life experience, point of view, and our ability to believe in ourselves." - Naropa "We don't see things as they are, we see them as we are." SR Covey
Because ESO is a B2P game and their success and income is purely based on Game sales and cash shop and number of sales show most adequate value of success . And again it's B2P and doesn't matter online I and my friends got Imperial version and from time to time we play together.
WOW subscription Eve sub show their success based on amount of people and how much these amount spend monthly to sustain sub. and the game . Mean while again ESO is not sub based that's why online players don't show much important info
So bigots who complain about them showing sales and not online numbers go and frank your self
"At least the place doesn't look empty like it did right before the conversion to b2p" I think that would have been closer to the truth - despite megaservers. We can only speculate how bad it got - and as it stands that's a pointless exercise; subscribers today are a bonus - maybe - but not the end of the world.
For anyone wondering Beta accounts and trial accounts are excluded from this.
Yes it's 7mil copies sold.
How this compares to others? Both FFXIV and GW2 are at ~5mil copies sold, and they have been out for much longer than ESO.
GW2's 5 million is strictly PC, not console. How many of those 7 million ESO players are strictly PC? XBone? PS4? We don't know, but I'm pretty sure the bulk of that number is from the console market and NOT the PC.
I'm not downing the 7 million number for ESO, just thought that comparing a PC only game's numbers versus a multi-platform game is kind of silly and is akin to comparing an apple and a fruit basket.
And why didn't ArenaNet launch GW2 on Consoles then? The game seems like it would work perfectly fine there. At least it would give ESO a run for it's money, as Neverwinter and FFXIV don't seem to be able to keep up with ESO at all there.
Also we're talking about a game that is 4 years old, and already got outsold by a game that is 2 years old. By the time ESO reaches 4 years, they'll be well beyond 10mil copies sold. At that time they'll be only counting how many millions of players bought each DLC.
GW2's business model is just not profitable and it shows. The majority of their copies were actually sold in the first year, after that GW2 declined fast. It declined fast because there is not enough revenue to add content as fast as their competition. That's all ArenaNet's fault.
ESO had a mediocre launch, a good conversion to B2P and a great launch for consoles. Just hoping that retention isn't too high since I don't want fallout the MMO.
Iselin: And the next person who says "but it's a business, they need to make money" can just go fuck yourself.
Just trying to live long enough to play a new, released MMORPG, playing New Worlds atm
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Don't just play games, inhabit virtual worlds™
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7M eh? Didn't Overwatch sell that many in its first month? Impressive.
They supposedly did but you never know with Blizzard. Also probably mostly for 40$ not for 60-100$ unlike ESO. Imperial edition sold exceptionally well back in the day.
Also overwatch is 100% B2P, what they make with sales is all the money they'll make. While ESO's copies sold are going to be only a tiny part of it's income.
Meh, 7 million sounds low to me for an Elder Scrolls MMORPG that has been out for 2 years.
And which MMORPG has sold 7mil copies in the last 2 years? Apart from WoW in it's prime, I don't even know any that sold that many in their lifetime let alone in 2 years.
Like I mentioned both GW2 and FFXIV sold ~5mil copies and they have been out for much much longer. Also I doubt WoD sold 7mil copies, perhaps now that they gave it away for free.
Meh, 7 million sounds low to me for an Elder Scrolls MMORPG that has been out for 2 years.
How so? The game was selling for $60 to $100 (It can be found much cheaper now) and the box is only one income vertical. There is also a sub option and a shop.Many players sub to it. I know many here have said they do. Do the math on just the box price and it is a good ROI. Add in the subs and the shop income and you have a very successful game. Plus the game keeps getting better and better.
I got it for $20 at some point. I think it was like 8 months ago.
Once again, an Elder Scolls MMORPG that was released cross platform has only sold 7 million copies over 2 years. That isn't very impressive in my opinion considering the IP, the amount of money spent on building it and the multiplatform release (along with the incredibly deep sales they've had).
I agree that the game is getting better though (that should be expected of an MMO of this scope). I personally think it has to do with them actually being somewhat respectful of the Elder Scrolls IP after the initial release.
And I'm not saying it wasn't "successful." I'm saying that considering all of the things that it should have had going for it, it should have probably been much MORE successful. 7 million over 2 years isn't that impressive to me for this title.
100% disagree. Not many Elder Scroll fans were looking forward to an MMO of the series. Most just wanted co-op play in a regular Elder Scrolls title. Yes ESO has a successful series of games before it to build the brand but look at how many MMOs with brand recognition did not perform up to par. Lord of the Rings is probably the biggest example. Solid sales but nothing off the charts. Look at what different Star Wars MMOs have done or not done. They all have under performed. Star Trek has way under performed. Conan has under performed. Matrix under performed. So considering the IP? Not so much. In fact, a popular IP seems to bear no weight at all on whether an MMO based on that IP will perform well or not. No other MMO released in the past few years has sold 7 million copies in a 2 year stretch. Outside of Blizzard. Factor in alongside that box the real value of the customer which is not in the sale of the box but the sale of DLC (which has been wildly successful) and the items in the shop and you have a very successful MMO on all fronts. Many many people thought they would never sell more than one million. Much less seven. Your idea is that it should have sold what, 10 million? 12 million? What MMO besides WOW sells that much? No, 7 million in 2 years is impressive. Plus it is not done. The sales continue. I think it could reach 10 million by the end of next year.
Let me be more clear...
"Not many Elder Scroll fans were looking forward to an MMO of the series."
You don't know this. Actually, I'd be willing to say that in incredibly huge majority of Elder Scrolls fans WERE looking forward to this. We don't have the numbers to prove either way, so why state this at all?
"Lord of the Rings is probably the biggest example. Solid sales but nothing off the charts. Look at what different Star Wars MMOs have done or not done. They all have under performed. Star Trek has way under performed. Conan has under performed. Matrix under performed."
And in line with the rest of them, ESO under-performed when considering its own IP, cross-platform release, and the amount of time and money spent on it.
"No other MMO released in the past few years has sold 7 million copies in a 2 year stretch. Outside of Blizzard."
And Blizzard requires a subscription. FFXIV requires a subscription. SWTOR used to require a subscription and is very harsh on those that don't buy one. Games like ESO and GW2 don't require the player to pay for a subscription which makes it more attractive to people. This is just another reason why the game should have sold more imo.
DLC (which has been wildly successful)
This is just another example of you stating something you don't know. You have no idea how successful the DLC is. In fact, you don't have any idea how many active players there are either (let's assume logs in once per month to be active). There could be 50k and there could be 7 million.
No, 7 million in 2 years is impressive. Plus it is not done. The sales continue. I think it could reach 10 million by the end of next year.
Your idea that 3 million copies will be sold by the end of 2017 is ludicrous to me personally. It's fun to make up numbers to try and support what you think is happening, but sales could also drop off dramatically. Over time, in general, people get less interested, not more interested in a game. I would side with history and strong examples of people buying the game less often than in siding with the idea that sales might stay steadyish like you propose.
Well, it's pretty impressive to me considering I thought it would flop. I guess a lot of people don't agree with me that the combat sucks. 7 million people to be exact.
As for the argument that it had a lot of ESO fans waiting on it- this goes both ways. High hopes bring high expectations that are harder to meet.
That being said, it's hard to qualify it as a success, at least not yet. It cost, what, 200 million to make? The 7 million buyers covers that, barely, but that doesn't include the cost of upkeep for the game for 2 years.
Comments
They've also had trials for PC, because i was selected to participate in one. I wonder how many were included in that number.
The Witcher 3 launched a few months before ESO, and sold nearly 10mil copies in 2 years. The Witcher 3 is a huge success. ESO selling 7mil copies as an MMO is even a bigger success.
ESO might have sold only a third of copies Skyrim did. But are you willing to bet that ESO didn't make more revenue than Skyrim already?
It's sorta like that scene in the beginning of Attack of the Clones where Jar Jar Binks looks directly into the camera and smiles as if to say "Fuck you" to all the people that hated him.
And unlike SWTOR there is no board and therefore the first year was simply silent. EA moved very quickly to be fair to announce that SWTOR was converting - c. 6 months - and had moved to f2p c. 11 months after launch. So quicker than ESO. It was all done in public though. The Zenimax board didn't have to say anything and they didn't - so no overt taint of failure.
As far as profitability goes compared to Skyrim ESO is - maybe - more profitable despite Skyrim selling - some reports suggest 27M copies.
Key factors: 1. Skyrim was all retail, publisher only gets a smallish % of retail revenue. 2. ESO part online from Zenimax and DLC is mostly from Zenimax (mostly because you can buy crowns from e.g. Amazon who will therefore get a %). 3. There will have been some sub income.
At 7M we can call it a success. Ditto Witcher, Overwatch and so on. And successes are good for us all.
"We all do the best we can based on life experience, point of view, and our ability to believe in ourselves." - Naropa "We don't see things as they are, we see them as we are." SR Covey
Which is weird because the two aren't related (no cross-platform)
You sound pretty upset.
Also we're talking about a game that is 4 years old, and already got outsold by a game that is 2 years old. By the time ESO reaches 4 years, they'll be well beyond 10mil copies sold. At that time they'll be only counting how many millions of players bought each DLC.
GW2's business model is just not profitable and it shows. The majority of their copies were actually sold in the first year, after that GW2 declined fast. It declined fast because there is not enough revenue to add content as fast as their competition. That's all ArenaNet's fault.
well not 10 million but he wasn't far off the mark.
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Just trying to live long enough to play a new, released MMORPG, playing New Worlds atm
Fools find no pleasure in understanding but delight in airing their own opinions. Pvbs 18:2, NIV
Don't just play games, inhabit virtual worlds™
"This is the most intelligent, well qualified and articulate response to a post I have ever seen on these forums. It's a shame most people here won't have the attention span to read past the second line." - Anon
Also overwatch is 100% B2P, what they make with sales is all the money they'll make. While ESO's copies sold are going to be only a tiny part of it's income.
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Like I mentioned both GW2 and FFXIV sold ~5mil copies and they have been out for much much longer. Also I doubt WoD sold 7mil copies, perhaps now that they gave it away for free.
Once again, an Elder Scolls MMORPG that was released cross platform has only sold 7 million copies over 2 years. That isn't very impressive in my opinion considering the IP, the amount of money spent on building it and the multiplatform release (along with the incredibly deep sales they've had).
I agree that the game is getting better though (that should be expected of an MMO of this scope). I personally think it has to do with them actually being somewhat respectful of the Elder Scrolls IP after the initial release.
And I'm not saying it wasn't "successful." I'm saying that considering all of the things that it should have had going for it, it should have probably been much MORE successful. 7 million over 2 years isn't that impressive to me for this title.
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"Not many Elder Scroll fans were looking forward to an MMO of the series."
You don't know this. Actually, I'd be willing to say that in incredibly huge majority of Elder Scrolls fans WERE looking forward to this. We don't have the numbers to prove either way, so why state this at all?
"Lord of the Rings is probably the biggest example. Solid sales but nothing off the charts. Look at what different Star Wars MMOs have done or not done. They all have under performed. Star Trek has way under performed. Conan has under performed. Matrix under performed."
And in line with the rest of them, ESO under-performed when considering its own IP, cross-platform release, and the amount of time and money spent on it.
"No other MMO released in the past few years has sold 7 million copies in a 2 year stretch. Outside of Blizzard."
And Blizzard requires a subscription. FFXIV requires a subscription. SWTOR used to require a subscription and is very harsh on those that don't buy one. Games like ESO and GW2 don't require the player to pay for a subscription which makes it more attractive to people. This is just another reason why the game should have sold more imo.
DLC (which has been wildly successful)
This is just another example of you stating something you don't know. You have no idea how successful the DLC is. In fact, you don't have any idea how many active players there are either (let's assume logs in once per month to be active). There could be 50k and there could be 7 million.
No, 7 million in 2 years is impressive. Plus it is not done. The sales continue. I think it could reach 10 million by the end of next year.
Your idea that 3 million copies will be sold by the end of 2017 is ludicrous to me personally. It's fun to make up numbers to try and support what you think is happening, but sales could also drop off dramatically. Over time, in general, people get less interested, not more interested in a game. I would side with history and strong examples of people buying the game less often than in siding with the idea that sales might stay steadyish like you propose.
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As for the argument that it had a lot of ESO fans waiting on it- this goes both ways. High hopes bring high expectations that are harder to meet.
That being said, it's hard to qualify it as a success, at least not yet. It cost, what, 200 million to make? The 7 million buyers covers that, barely, but that doesn't include the cost of upkeep for the game for 2 years.
So they're basically breaking even after 2 years.