The year 2022 had some insane releases, with multiple games competing for the Game of the Year award. Even though Elden Ring proved itself to be the best, games like God of War: Ragnarok and Horizon Forbidden West did great. They had massive success in sales, and according to a journalist, their respective bundles did not even account for most of the sales.
Christopher Dring, the Head of GamesIndustry, posted a tweet clearing the misconception many fans have regarding the sales of God of War: Ragnarok and Horizon Forbidden West. According to him, the official hardware bundles are not the reason why they did well in sales, despite what many believe. They did help, but not on a significant level.
He even replied to many people under his tweet who still argued that the sales only got better after these bundles, so they must have played a crucial role.
There’s a popular fanboy argument that games like God of War Ragnarok and Horizon: Forbidden West did well because they had official hardware bundles. But that’s just not true. Those bundles certainly helped, but they didn’t account for anywhere near the majority of sales
— Christopher Dring (@Chris_Dring) January 6, 2023
Major Points
- Christopher Dring tweeted that GOWR and HFW bundles are not the reason for the games’ success.
- He claimed that he has these games’ GFK and GSD figures, which aren’t even close to most sales.
- In addition, these figures are even lower in Europe, likely due to the shortage of PS5s for the first 6 months of the year.
Horizon Forbidden West was released in February 2022, while God of War was in November of the same year. They did great in terms of sales, but after the release of their official hardware bundles, their sales ranking went much higher.
Many believed this was due to the bundles contributing to most of the sales, especially since the higher ranking made its success more marketable for news websites and got huge coverage. However, the head of the GamesIndustry himself confirmed this was not the case.
He took it to Twitter to end the argument many fanboys made regarding the success of these games. Some people continued to argue and told him, “Wake up and do research before embarrassing yourself. Forbidden west was packaged with hardware, and after that, they revealed numbers. Facts.”
To which he replied, “I’ve literally got the data in front of me and can see how many GoW/Horizon bundles were sold. Facts,” He later claimed that he even has the GFK and GSD figures, and it isn’t in favor of bundles in any way. Still, he admitted that they helped in some ways but not quite as much in sales.
Some people still did not believe him and called him out as being paid by Sony, “Games that were ranked 19th and 20th before the bundle’s release are ranked 2nd and 3rd after the bundle’s release, but it doesn’t affect bundle sales? How many dollars did you get from Sony?”
He replied, “If you’re talking about the summer charts, you don’t have to sell a lot of games to jump up the charts. Even a small number like 500 extra sales can see you leap up the charts during the quiet months.”
God of War: Ragnarok & Horizon Forbidden West.We all likely believed that argument because of the jump in sales rank. But it’s not as difficult as we think it to be. The months during summer charts are quiet, and games can jump up even with small sales.
It should also be acknowledged that there was a shortage of PS5s in Europe in the first 6 months of 2022. So, the debate is hopefully now closed, and we should see fewer people arguing about it. If some people still go on non-factual data, you can refer them to this article!
That is all for today! Do you think we will have games in 2023 that can rival the top ones from last year? If so, which of the currently announced games do you think to have the potential? Share your thoughts with us below, and we will get back to you!
Here is a Similar Read: LinkedIn Profiles of Old 343 Employees Hint at Halo the Endless.