Skyrim sales numbers, Steam piracy and stuff

[Diablo169]

Does Origin have a steam workshop analogue? Just curious because i've always thought the modding scene contributed quite heavily to Skyrims success on PC at least.

 

[GarfunkeL]

Does Origin have a steam workshop analogue? Just curious because i've always thought the modding scene contributed quite heavily to Skyrims success on PC at least.

I doubt it, which is weird because Skyrim sold more on PC than both consoles combined and it sold it over a longer period of time. Initially, only 10-20% of sales were on PC but as console sales dropped, PC sales kept going up and up and up, until even Todd Howard said:
“Skyrim did better than we’ve ever done on PC by a large, large number. And that’s where the mods are. That feeds the game for a long time."
http://www.rockpapershotgun.com/2014/02/18/apparently-we-wont-hear-about-fallout-4-for-a-while/

But it's not like EA executives read RPS. Maybe their executive assistants should read it. Nah. Why make Workshop-copy or support Nexus when you can sell extra DLC? That's how EA probably sees it. Modder-made content brings no direct income and seeing indirect income from further game sales is probably too complicated for executives grown up in the cold, hard market of selling dishwashing liquid to housewives.

 

[codexian reject]

Skyrim sold more on PC than both consoles combined [...].

Where did you get this from ? The most credible estimation on PC sales I saw, is from this article http://arstechnica.com/gaming/2014/04/introducing-steam-gauge-ars-reveals-steams-most-popular-games/

6M and I estimate half of that with a discount, so it's roughly 20% of total Skyrim's revenue, more than both consoles combined ? Delusional much ?

 

[Infinitron]

Skyrim sold more on PC than both consoles combined [...].

Where did you get this from ? The most credible estimation on PC sales I saw, is from this article http://arstechnica.com/gaming/2014/04/introducing-steam-gauge-ars-reveals-steams-most-popular-games/

6M and I estimate half of that with a discount, so it's roughly 20% of total Skyrim's revenue, more than both consoles combined ? Delusional much ?

Skyrim did not sell more on PC than both consoles combined. What Todd was amazed about is that it sold about on par with the individual consoles (ie, about a third of sales) because for the past decade PC sales have been much lower than that for AAA games (ie, only about 10% of sales).

 

[Jaesun]

Did NDP ever release any sales numbers for Skyrim?

 

[GarfunkeL]

Skyrim sold more on PC than both consoles combined [...].

Where did you get this from ? The most credible estimation on PC sales I saw, is from this article http://arstechnica.com/gaming/2014/04/introducing-steam-gauge-ars-reveals-steams-most-popular-games/

6M and I estimate half of that with a discount, so it's roughly 20% of total Skyrim's revenue, more than both consoles combined ? Delusional much ?

From Todd Howard himself.

http://www.rockpapershotgun.com/2014/02/18/apparently-we-wont-hear-about-fallout-4-for-a-while/

“PC is resurgent,” enthused Howard. “Skyrim did better than we’ve ever done on PC by a large, large number. And that’s where the mods are. That feeds the game for a long time. And it’s exciting that the new consoles are very PC-like. That opens up avenues for us going forward to do things that we’ve wanted to do in the past. There are kind of random ideas we’re working on right now, and it’s like, ‘Wow, I think there’s potential here to do some really cool stuff.’”

And Wikipedia has the numbers:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Elder_Scrolls_V:_Skyrim#Sales

Originally PC was mere 14% of sales but that rose over time. In January 2012, Skyrim had over 5 million simultaneous players in Steam and by that time total copies sold was about ten million - meaning that at least half of all Skyrim copies sold had been on Steam. It is now about twenty million and it's pretty obvious that those sales are mostly on PC and not consoles as my understanding is that no console game has a long "tail".

Now, it's impossible to know for certain because Valve does not release actual figures for game sold - but from the facts we do have, I think it's clear that it has - eventually - sold more on PC than on consoles combined. Now, you change the argument to be about revenue so that you can call me delusional. Fair enough, Codex is full of asshole retards like you - but the original argument I made was only about copies sold, not their prices. Because as difficult as it is to make judgements about actual copies sold, it's even more so for actual income thanks to all the different sales and bundles and so on. Not all console games are sold on full price and not all Steam copies are sold with a slashed price.

 

[LESS T_T]

In January 2012, Skyrim had over 5 million simultaneous players in Steam.

Steam's statistics page showed the client breaking a five million user record by having 5,012,468 users logged in January 2, 2012.

This means Steam had over 5 million simultaneous users, not Skyrim alone. Skyrim had over 230K simultaneous players on first day of release.

 

[Infinitron]

What more needs to be said? 6 million copies out of 20 million is a good number, a respectable number. A much higher percentage of PC sales out of total than most AAA games over the past decade. It's still not a majority. but so what.

 

[Caim]

What more needs to be said? 6 million copies out of 20 million is a good number, a respectable number. A much higher percentage of PC sales out of total than most AAA games over the past decade. It's still not a majority. but so what.

Aside from Skyrim and Civ 5, all of those games are Valve's. Praise Gaben!

 

[tuluse]

Most of the games above Counter-Strike: Condition Zero are free or were given out for free at some point.

Otherwise most people have bought Valve packs that include many games. HL2 EP1 is probably mostly Orange Box sales, which people could have bought for any of the games inside.

Also, remember for years Steam was Valve only, and forced. Civ5 and Skyrim are both Steamworks titles. Most AAA titles are not. I suppose it's a little surprising to not see a recent CoD on there. Maybe PC gamers are learning animals.

 

[GarfunkeL]

In January 2012, Skyrim had over 5 million simultaneous players in Steam.

Steam's statistics page showed the client breaking a five million user record by having 5,012,468 users logged in January 2, 2012.

This means Steam had over 5 million simultaneous users, not Skyrim alone. Skyrim had over 230K simultaneous players on first day of release.

What.

Why is that line in Skyrim sales page if it's not pertinent on Skyrim sales?

But yeah, seems I cannot read. 6 mil out of 20 mil is respectable. I am really surprised that it kept selling on consoles for so long.

 

[Infinitron]

I suppose it's a little surprising to not see a recent CoD on there. Maybe PC gamers are learning animals.

http://arstechnica.com/gaming/2014/04/steam-gauge-addressing-your-questions-and-concerns/2/

MW2 is just below that ranking.

 

[Jaesun]

And Wikipedia has the numbers:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Elder_Scrolls_V:_Skyrim#Sales

Originally PC was mere 14% of sales but that rose over time. In January 2012, Skyrim had over 5 million simultaneous players in Steam and by that time total copies sold was about ten million - meaning that at least half of all Skyrim copies sold had been on Steam. It is now about twenty million and it's pretty obvious that those sales are mostly on PC and not consoles as my understanding is that no console game has a long "tail".

VGChartz are not sales numbers. They are magical made up numbers pulled from their ass. Please learn what actual sales numbers are.

 

[tuluse]

http://arstechnica.com/gaming/2014/04/steam-gauge-addressing-your-questions-and-concerns/2/

MW2 is just below that ranking.

Check out the releases since MW2. Blops, MW3, Blops 2 are all declining, and Ghosts isn't even on the list (unless my ctrl-f lied to me).

 

[GarfunkeL]

VGChartz are not sales numbers. They are magical made up numbers pulled from their ass. Please learn what actual sales numbers are.

The Wikipedia sources are Eurogamer, Kotaku and Bethesda's own press releases.

 

[Jaesun]

VGChartz are not sales numbers. They are magical made up numbers pulled from their ass. Please learn what actual sales numbers are.

The Wikipedia sources are Eurogamer, Kotaku and Bethesda's own press releases.

I cannot believe you are this stupid. Here is Sales 101:

Sales
During the first day of release, Steam showed over 230,000 people playing Skyrim concurrently.[116]

These are not sales numbers.

After two days of the game's launch 3.4 million physical copies were sold of those sales, 59% were for the Xbox 360, 27% for the PS3, and 14% for the PC.[117]

Again, source is VGChartz magical bullshit numbers they pull for their ass.

In the first week of release, Bethesda stated that 7 million copies of the game had been shipped to retailers worldwide, and that total sales through the following Wednesday were expected to generate an estimated US$450 million.[118][119]

Shipped units ARE NOT SALES NUMBERS.

By December 16, 2011, this had risen to 10 million copies shipped to retail and around US$620 million.[120]

Shipped units ARE NOT SALES NUMBERS.

Additionally, Valve stated that it was the fastest selling game to date on their Steam platform.[120]

OK.

Steam's statistics page showed the client breaking a five million user record by having 5,012,468 users logged in January 2, 2012. Total number of sold copies on the PC platform is difficult to confirm because Steam doesn't publicly publish digital sales.[121]

That is an interesting number, but how many of those were actually sold units?

During this time, Skyrim was the most-played game on Steam by a huge margin, with double the number of players as Team Fortress 2, the second-placed game.[122]

OK

In the United Kingdom, Skyrim was the 9th best selling title of 2012.[123]

Source for this is some GfK Chart-Track. Who the fuck is that?

In June 2013, Bethesda announced that over 20 million copies of the game had been sold.[124]

It *seems* http://www.bethblog.com/ is an actual Zenimax owned website(?). I have a feeling that is a typo, and the word sold is probably shipped. MOST Publishers do not ever ever mention sales numbers. They only say units shipped. Which again are NOT SALES.

In regards to sales on the PC, Todd Howard stated in an interview with Rock, Paper, Shotgun that “Skyrim did better than we’ve ever done on PC by a large, large number. And that’s where the mods are. That feeds the game for a long time."[125]

OK

 

[GarfunkeL]

Yeah, I can't believe I'm this stupid either.

These are not sales numbers.

I would say that if 230,000 people are playing Skyrim in Steam at the same time, it means that at least 230,000 people have bought it.

Chart-Track was formed in 1996 to monitor sales of music, videos and software through retail in the UK and Ireland. Since then we have established an unparalleled reputation for fast and accurate retail research in the home entertainment market. In July 2008 GfK took a majority stake in the company and in January 2012 acquired the remaining shares to take full ownership of the company.

Source for this is some GfK Chart-Track. Who the fuck is that?

Key report services include:
UK Leisure Software
Republic of Ireland Leisure Software
European Leisure Software (in conjunction with GfK)
UK Hardware and Peripherals
Republic of Ireland Music and Video

Registered Office: 14 New Street, London, EC2M 4TR
Registration No: 3073596
VAT No: UK673150544

and methodology:

The methodology used across all GfK Chart-Track's services is continuous quantitative retail research. GfK Chart-Track reports are based on retail/web sales where the data is captured electronically each day via EPoS systems. Reports are generated using an Oracle relational database, integrated with a custom-built PC-based processing system.

Clients receive a broad range of statistical information from our standard and customised services, enabling them to track market size, market trends and product sales through retail. Data is disseminated to clients on a daily basis, and our monthly, quarterly and annual reports provide invaluable information about longer term sales trends and opportunities.

So they seem to be a trustworthy source. Now I agree that the VGChart lists are unreliable but Skyrim has been out for a long time - and if they hadn't sold enough copies, they would not have shipped more copies out. Have the sold all 20 million copies shipped? Probably not. But they sold at least 10 million because they kept shipping more which means that there was enough demand that resale needed more copies. Furthermore, the VGChart listing is only about the initial sales and were used to show that the game at first sold mostly on consoles - but the long tail, of how the game has kept selling, is most likely coming from PC and not consoles. So chill out Jaesun.

 

[Jaesun]

These are not sales numbers.

I would say that if 230,000 people are playing Skyrim in Steam at the same time, it means that at least 230,000 people have bought it.

Every single one of those copies is a PURCHASED copy? How do you know that?

 

[GarfunkeL]

Can you register a pirated copy in Steam? I don't really use Steam but isn't that it's entire purpose?

 

[Infinitron]

O_o

If you have a Steam code, then somebody must have bought it, yeah.

Well, unless somebody at the company did something dumb like generate a bunch of Steam keys for the game and they leaked out, like what happened to Wadjet Eye a while back.

 

[Lhynn]

Not really, no. steam will register anyone playing a steam version of any of its games while open, regardless if pirated or not.

 

[Infinitron]

Not really, no. steam will register anyone playing a steam version of any of its games while open, regardless if pirated or not.

lolwut

OK, please tell us how to pirate a Steam game and register it in Steam. Apparently Steam DRM is a sham, who knew.

 

[Lhynn]

Not really, no. steam will register anyone playing a steam version of any of its games while open, regardless if pirated or not.

lolwut

OK, please tell us how to pirate a Steam game and register it in Steam. Apparently Steam DRM is a sham, who knew.

You dont register it in steam, you just open the cracked game while steam is running and it will let steam know you are playing that game (you get green status and your friends can see what you are playing). you get some steam functionalities like chat interface, etc.

Happened a couple times with skyrim, i honestly thought steam would ban me, but nothing happened. Gaben is a kind overlord.

 

[Infinitron]

You dont register it in steam

Right.

That's like "registering" a non-Steam game in Steam. Your friends can see that too, but it doesn't get counted in Valve's statistics.

 

[Lhynn]

You dont register it in steam

Right.

That's like "registering" a non-Steam game in Steam. Your friends can see that too, but it doesn't get counted in Valve's statistics.

No no, i dont register the game, it sends the info that im playing it to the automatically. and im guessing it also sends it to steam servers to keep statistics.
Like, someone somewhere installs a pirated version of skyrim, cracks it, opens steam, opens the game, steam lets everyone know he is playing skyrim, steam lets the user use skyrims interface to chat without going to desktop, no need to add anything at all manually.