Ben-DutkaAs expected, Destiny is off to a good start.
Activision has announced that Bungie's blockbuster has earned over $500 million in its first 24 hours at market. The actual sales figure hasn't yet been revealed.
The publisher claims Destiny is "the biggest new video game franchise launch in history," which is probably true, but it's still well shy of the $800 million last year's Grand Theft Auto V raked in on day one. Still, considering the relatively low installed user base for the next-gen systems and the declining interest in previous-gen consoles, that $500 million is all the more impressive. And don't forget that Destiny is a new IP.
Activision Blizzard CEO Bobby Kotick said the number is an "industry milestone" and it "marks another blockbuster success for our company and deomonstrates our unique ability to create some of the most successful entertainment franchises in the world." As for overall sales potential, Sterne Agee analyst Arvind Bhatia said his firm now has "increased confidence" that Destiny will hit 15 million this year .
Bhatia also added that the game could reach " Call of Duty levels" and sell around 20 million units during its lifetime. I'm betting it'll sell even more than that…
Related Game(s): Destiny
500 million on day 1. So did it break even with in it's first 24hrs? Or am I missing something. That's nuts!
You're missing something. The $500M is the value of the copies they've sold to retailers, not sold through to consumers. Destiny's budget though was never anywhere close to that high, people have been misconstruing that quote and making it a part of the hype machine.
Well, my house sure contributed to that $500 million with the three copies we purchased.
Destiny represents a landmark of sorts in my house as not only do my two sons and I like it, my wife is on board with Destiny's "T" rating!
Now if the game actually lived up to it, that would be something
Whether it lives up to it is entirely subjective. I mean, I don't think any of the COD games justify its sales, but that's just me. My friend's son thinks COD is the reason for his existence.
It did live up to it.
I really don't understand the people who claim that the final product is a let down. If you played the Beta you should have known exactly what to expect.
Also those negative nancies are forgetting that this is the launch product for a franchise which will last 10 years. The first major expansion is coming in 3 months time, and we are also getting free content updates in future patches.
So yeah, those who are 'disappointed ' were probably never going to be happy in the first place.
Damn… $500M in 24hours is unheard of for movies.
Except for games, the studios reap most of the profits, rather than the star actors.
Depends on the arrangements – publishers can take a huge slice as well, although in the case of Destiny, Bungie should have been in a good enough position to strike a decent deal.
Movies are also a heck of a lot cheaper, so it's not even fair to compare the two.
buyer's remorse has kicked in big-time for me 🙁 I have levelled up to level 6 after going to a midnight launch of the game and am bored already. I have been left with the soul crushing realization that I have just paid £55 for the same beta that I already played through and maxed out 3 times a few months ago, the only difference being that the last time it cost me nothing 🙁
You got to level 6 and your saying you're bored. Wow. Just wow. That's really stupid dude. The first part of the game was familiar for me too, but once I left earth and started going to the other planets the game changed completely for me. I didn't get to level 6 and say "oh I'm over this game" what kind of stupid is that.
also Bungie has said that the main part of the experience doesn't even start till level 20.
It's your own fault for playing the Beta so much.
Didn't play the beta, and am really enjoying it. Just from looking around the tower, different pvp modes, attempting a raid/strike (can't remember what, but was co-op, had heaps of enemies flooding at you) a few levels too low can see the game lasting a long time.
Spend a bit of time on it, sure it'll open up. What game have you played where you have seen everything there is of it by 5 hours in????
Looks like it didn't top GTAV's 800 million in 24 hours, but this is still fantastic for an original IP. I love the game, very fun playing with friends.
Last edited by DIsmael85 on 9/10/2014 5:25:23 PM
Did people really expect it to? It would have been a phenomenon if it did.
I'm not going to post the link because I want folks to look this up on this very website. Look in the September Archives and check for the article dates Sept 4th. Ben Dutka clearly offers up an opinion with the headline:
"Destiny Might Outsell Grand Theft Auto V"
I was merely answering back to that article in which it was guessed that it might. With the 24 hours having been passed since the release of Destiny that isn't the case.
Also keep in mind that I did say for an original IP this is super impressive. Stunning even.
Big difference though, Destiny's $500 million sold was 500M worth of copies sold to retailers, GTA V's $800M sold was to customers.
Destiny's blotting out my friends list at the moment (with unprecedented numbers on at the same time to boot) so not surprised at all. Most importantly, they all seem to be having fun, which is the most important thing :).
I've never had this many people online at the same time and I've never had everyone on my friends list playing the same game at the same time.
So, I don't care about sales figures of how it compares to GTA, none of that ever happened with GTA. In fact I don't remember anyone I know playing GTA or talking about it.
Just because you don't care doesn't mean it didn't happen, don't start the destiny defense force now come on. I agree with you the game is amazing and I have a lot of friends playing it as well. Facts are facts.
Huh? Why the hell should i care about how much GTA sold?
Seriously answer that question.
What I just stated is purely my experience, so for me it is fact. GTA has never been a huge thing in the circles that I follow. Even on Facebook I have never seen it talked about.
Destiny was completely different, everyone I know, literally everyone I know, knows about the game. My freaking family even know about it, people who don't play video games. It has been covered by countless media outlets. It's all over my Facebook news feed. People at work talk about it. In MY life, Destiny has done something no other game EVER has. So yeah, don't care about GTA…..
You want facts? Like Activision said, this was the best selling new IP in history, and was also the highest preordered new IP in history. That is FAR FAR more impressive than the 7th entry in the GTA series.
Last edited by Akuma_ on 9/10/2014 8:02:41 PM
Damn Akuma calm down. I even acknowledged you don't care. Take off the blinders my friend. You seriously are acting like Destiny is your "destiny". The game is really fun and I am quite enjoying it, calm that fanboy ego down a notch. The game isn't the best thing I've ever played in my life and at the end of the day it's another FPS game. Just happens to be a really fun one that I quite enjoy.
Seriously I'm not trying to rain on your parade, I was just stating that it didn't do more than GTAV which I believe there was an article here and many other places saying it could quite possibly do so. Whether your friends or family talked about it or not doesn't change the fact that at the time of release, last year, it was the big thing.
So please just dial it back a notch. I said it before and I will say it again, I like Destiny and am having way more fun with it than I have had with a game in a long while. I'm glad the game sold well for an original IP which is what I stated in my previous comment. Reread and do it a little slower so you don't miss it. We are on the same page, boat or whatever. We both like the game and both see all of our friends playing it. I'm with you. Damn.
I love it when someone acts like the they are trying to 'calm' things down, while subtly antagonizing at the same time.
Basically called me a Destiny fanboy the first time around, and straight up said I was wearing 'blinders' the second time around. Good job.
So I say some positive things about a game and I am suddenly a fanboy and my life revolves around it?
Last edited by Akuma_ on 9/10/2014 8:55:21 PM
Yes you are, especially when you had to go on a rant for me expressing the fact that Destiny didn't beat out GTAV and calling someone else stupid for not liking it. Whatever the reason may be. Sorry if I've offended you Akuma. I tried telling you I was with on this, but even in that it wasn't good enough. I love the game maybe just not as much as you do.
well i'm not that surprised but yeah thats pritty good like 9mil day one is amazing, but then is it as good as people made it out to be, according to my friends its pritty amazing nd we have similar gaming tastes so i'm not too skeptical
happy gaming
That's a bit of misleading PR, Activision didn't make $500 million on the game at launch, they sold $500M worth of copies to retailers. It's impressive but it's not an indication of the real demand for the game. We won't really know that unless Activision puts out another press release or we get the sales numbers next month and the months following. The whole "$500,000,000 budget" is also a myth, it wasn't anywhere close to that and the $500M thing was referring to potential long term investment plans. They've already certainly made the production budget back at this point though.