Gran Turismo Sport has Sold Around 3.3 Million Copies Worldwide

[SleezyBigSlim]

Do you guys think GTAV has led to low sales for racers this gen? That game has sold more then any console game ever and I here a lot of people race online in GTAV. Just a theory tho.

 

[TheNuvolari]

Do you guys think GTAV has led to low sales for racers this gen? That game has sold more then any console game ever and I here a lot of people race online in GTAV. Just a theory tho.

I think you are right. Like I said in my earlier post before:

Looks like everyone is happy with GTAV (or a similar action game what offers to drive), where you jump into the car, then you crash it. No matter how bad and unrealistic the physics are.

 

[infamousphil]

What kid does not imagin being a thug with all the guns, killa cribs and cars and infinite life? One with half of these things... I imagine. But it, GTAV, is not in the same genra. At least in my book.

What's holding GTSport's sells back is... the lack of offline saves and the scaling back on the car selection and venues. I do not know why people here don't get that. And I don't like it when the Planet poses this question as if they haven't been cronicling Gran Turismo's evolution for almost a decade?

 

[cjr3559]

Why? Every time there's a poll of the day on gamefaqs about online/offline gaming it always comes out north of 80% favouring one player gaming under 20% preferring multi player and less than 2% are totally about multiplayer only.

If anything, it makes it more impressive that things like iRacing have gotten as large as they have. Competitive multiplayer is a niche inside a niche in any genre, outside of a handful of massive exceptions like CS:GO and DotA2.

Which is surprising considering the preponderance of modern titles encouraging and pushing online play. What gives?

 

[Tired Tyres]

Which is surprising considering the preponderance of modern titles encouraging and pushing online play. What gives?

Because it is much simpler to make an online PVP game than it is to make a fully featured one player game?

Therefore Devs and Publishers like to pretend it's all about online.

 

[cjr3559]

Because it is much simpler to make an online PVP game than it is to make a fully featured one player game?

Therefore Devs and Publishers like to pretend it's all about online.

With the number of penalty system updates in GTS, it appears to be anything but simple.

 

[Imari]

Which is surprising considering the preponderance of modern titles encouraging and pushing online play. What gives?

This is just a suspicion, but I think it's a few things.

One, what @Tired Tyres said. There's a lot less work involved in creating the content for a PVP game than a good PVE one. Balance is hard, but it's less important if you're just pumping out sequels every year or two. Or just constantly tweak balance until you get it right. Or not. Broken games are fun too, especially for less skilled players, as long as they're not Akuma-in-SF2 levels of broken.

Two, the thought of being the next CS:GO, DotA2, Overwatch or PUBG. GTA V aside, the really, really massive games of recent times have been online and mostly PVP.

Three, the idea of games as a service. A single player game has a really hard time doing this. The Witcher 3 DLC was great, but you look at the amount of work that must have gone into it and I'm not sure how profitable it was. I mean, I'm sure they made money but it wouldn't be on the same scale as something like FIFA or Overwatch.

An online game gets people paying to stay up to date with expansions even if the content is limited, it plays to people's vanity with cosmetics, and if it allows P2W stuff then people will absolutely pay for that too. Human psychology is all too well understood and easy to manipulate. We are social creatures, and will go to extreme lengths to maintain an image and position that we desire.

With the number of penalty systen updates in GTS, it appears to be anything but simple.

But think about the work involved in getting the penalty system right, or even just tweaking it every few months so that people see progress, as compared to say building a massive amount of events and challenges all over an open world like FH3.

http://swissgameguides.com/maps/forza_horizon_3/world/interactive_map.html

Multiplayer generally requires a small number of systems to be reasonably finely tuned. Single player is slightly more forgiving in terms of balance, but the amount of content required goes way, way up because most modern gamers aren't big fans of grinding the same events over and over.

 

[Tired Tyres]

With the number of penalty system updates in GTS, it appears to be anything but simple.

New to the modern world of gaming? Updates are what happens to everything. Especially when you're in the mood to play something and you can't because it's downloading an update.

 

[GT6mebe]

Last week, Sport mode had nearly 700 000 players play in it. Thats a ridiculous amount of active players to be able to retain 5 months after launch.

Iracing's total number of subs ever is something is 55,000.

 

[SlipZtrEm]

Bear in mind that GT4/5/6 numbers are lifetime shipped and GT was never record setting series in terms of sales charts. It's a slow burner system seller. I'd say that 3.5 to 4 mil. actually sold copies in 8 months is a huge start for any racing game, let alone Gran Turismo title. Every Forza Motorsport this gen is slightly above 1 million shipped, for example.

GT Sport will easily hit 10 millions because it's a single GT game for the entire generation. GaaS and racing platform, if you want. Will it be full price? Maybe not. But that's not the point for both Sony and PD, the monetization here is PS+ subscription. Thats why cars and tracks are free.

Er, yeah, outside of GTAV (which had a generation re-release) and perhaps a handful of other titles, no game sells triple it's first six months total. Our resident numbers guy @Famine sums it up pretty well here:

https://www.gtplanet.net/forum/threads/gt6-sales-discussion.292590/page-59#post-10948165

And GT has consistently been a record setter in terms of the sales charts.

The title is incorrect.

No, it says "around 3.3 million". It's not an exact figure — and we never present it as such. That's the benefit of reading the article.

GT series shipped 77 million in Sept 2017. Its now sold 80.4 million. GTS has sold 3.4 million + .
Judging by user data, its probably 4-5 million.

This is around 2-4x times as much as other recently released sims.

You're bothered by the title, but then use figures pulled from...?

As I've already mentioned in the thread, it's very unlikely the shipped/sold difference in the series prior to GT Sport is in the seven-figure range. It doesn't make sense; Sony wouldn't have kept pumping out more copies of GT6 (or even older titles) if there wasn't a demand in the market for it.

3.3 million (at a bare minimum) is still a very solid number. Excluding Mario Kart, that puts it right near the top of the racing game pile this generation. The only potential competitor in terms of sales figures would be FH3, but MS hasn't released numbers on that (and it misses out on the Japanese market, which, while not huge, is still a major contributor for GT).

 

[rofajole]

On KudosPrime, there are notes talking about how the statistics are calculated:

Statistics based on 46,605 players representing 4,660,500 players (4,226,800 of the final game) on 2018-05-08.

Where does that 4.2M number come from, and how does it relate to the 3.3M copies sold?

My brothers and I share a copy of the game for example.

 

[TurismoBad]

No career (on launch but now not really either "eeeh here's some events shut up now geez"), little content (for a GT game and compared to competition) "Prologue" stigma - 3.3m without digital is a success. This is without digital ?

 

[Tired Tyres]

No career (on launch but now not really either "eeeh here's some events shut up now geez"), little content (for a GT game and compared to competition) "Prologue" stigma - 3.3m without digital is a success. This is without digital ?

They don't say but it doesn't say discs either. I'd assume it includes digital downloads as it is third party chart sites that count discs only. PD will know how many of each they've sold.

 

[dzumaalcapone]

One big thing why GTS and some other racing games might not sell that much is that wheel setups have become more common. A person who doesn't want to spend that amount of money for gaming is probably gonna pass on GTS too.

I didn't play GT6 cause I was on Xbox, but few of my friends did. They didn't have steering wheels or didn't even talk about them. Now I think they're more common and people might think it's not worth it with a pad.

Friends who have played GTS with my rig have been only praising GTS. But they're not gonna get it because they don't want to spend money on a wheel. It's just too much.

Game like Fortnite doesn't become a better game with a better controller. But racing sims sure do.

 

[cjr3559]

New to the modern world of gaming? Updates are what happens to everything. Especially when you're in the mood to play something and you can't because it's downloading an update.

Not new to modern gaming, but unless there was a pressing need to download an update immediately after release, I’ve never had to wait for an automatic update.?

 

[MisterOne77]

As long as PD keeps updating the game, fixing bugs and generally keeping the playerbase alive and well the game should sell at a reasonable pace.

 

[Tired Tyres]

Not new to modern gaming, but unless there was a pressing need to download an update immediately after release, I’ve never had to wait for an automatic update.?

I'm busy watching the Nurburgring 24 hours on YouTube on my PS4 so I'm not going to check version numbers now but most of the games I play have had lots of updates and bug fixes over time and since I don't leave my system in standby unless I'm downloading a new game so any updates happen when I switch it on. Which I've done to play a game. Which needs an update.....

 

[ethomaz]

That is great but actually the minimum.

Previous sales data of 77 million is shipments to retail while this new sales data is sold-through to consumers (why Sony changed the way to share the data? I don't know).

What that means?

Well from these 77 million in September you need to discount the copies of GT games on shelves at retail... that means the number of sold-through to consumer were lower than 77 million... perhaps 0.5 to 1 million lower but there is no way to know.

That makes GTS sales at minimum of 3.4 million sold worldwide including digital.

PS. It is some years since I come back to GTPlanet forum... well the site changed to multiples racing news?

PD's numbers are shipped numbers while the 80 M number is sold through. So we can't really deduce GTSport's sales there.

Yes... the article title is inaccurate.

The only guess you can done with the actual data is GTS sold over 3.4 million... around 3.3 million is basically a lie.

 

[KingFrog]

That is great but actually the minimum.

Previous sales data of 77 million is shipments to retail while this new sales data is sold-through to consumers (why Sony changed the way to share the data? I don't know).

What that means?

Well from these 77 million in September you need to discount the copies of GT games on shelves at retail... that means the number of sold-through to consumer were lower than 77 million... perhaps 0.5 to 1 million lower but there is no way to know.

That makes GTS sales at minimum of 3.4 million sold worldwide including digital.

PS. It is some years since I come back to GTPlanet forum... well the site changed to multiples racing news?


Yes... the article title is inaccurate.

The only guess you can done with the actual data is GTS sold over 3.4 million... around 3.3 million is basically a lie.

Yeah plenty of people have pointed that out already .

I don't know why people are acting like this is bad . It took Driveclub 2 years to hit 2 million copies sold .

3.4 million in 6 months is pretty rock solid . Say the game sells half of that in the next six months . that's 5.1 million .

 

[Rustyhole]

One big thing why GTS and some other racing games might not sell that much is that wheel setups have become more common. A person who doesn't want to spend that amount of money for gaming is probably gonna pass on GTS too.

I didn't play GT6 cause I was on Xbox, but few of my friends did. They didn't have steering wheels or didn't even talk about them. Now I think they're more common and people might think it's not worth it with a pad.

Friends who have played GTS with my rig have been only praising GTS. But they're not gonna get it because they don't want to spend money on a wheel. It's just too much.

Game like Fortnite doesn't become a better game with a better controller. But racing sims sure do.

I'm with your friends. IMO the only game currently with a decent pad setup out of the box is GT (talking sims).
I won't pay an additional $XX for a wheel setup when you can't even get the default controller to work right.
Maybe they can be adjusted to behave better. but I can't be bothered.
Not everyone needs or wants a wheel to live out their race driver dreams.
For that, I stick with GT. They understand controller love.

 

[GT6mebe]

No, it says "around 3.3 million". It's not an exact figure — and we never present it as such. That's the benefit of reading the article.

Shipped is always > sold through

Therefore it should be GTS sells > 3.4 million, instead of around which insinuates it could be at or lower than 3.4 million.

As I've already mentioned in the thread, it's very unlikely the shipped/sold difference in the series prior to GT Sport is in the seven-figure range. It doesn't make sense; Sony wouldn't have kept pumping out more copies of GT6 (or even older titles) if there wasn't a demand in the market for it.

Inventory being held globally......would not be surprised if it is large. GTS has 50,000 or so new players come every week. Also you might be surprised at how much older titles still sell.

I would cite for such but I can't seem to find the sales page on PD's website anymore.

 

[Krypton78]

Like in some posts before, I also guess there are way more than 3.3 M sells. This number is only the sum of physical copies.

We are in 2018, so the gap between 3.3M and 4.6M according to @jasguer and @Milouse 's sites should be filled with the digital copies.

I don't think that multiple accounts play at this numbers a big role. I guess only pretty high A/A+ players created second accounts to test things out or play sometimes just for fun without pressure in sport mode

 

[Milouse]

We are in 2018, so the gap between 3.3M and 4.6M according to @jasguer and @Milouse 's sites should be filled with the digital copies.

Kudosprime doesn't count profiles who only played the demo (let's keep in mind that they are existing account, and yet not related to a sale) but it indeed includes all copies, as as soon as you start the game, it creates a PD player account, no matter what.
K' ignores unreadable/broken accounts (most of them being in the lower id, created during the demo phase).

 

[ScottPuss20]

REGARDLESS of how the market stands, the players still need to be supported. Yes this is an insignificant number in terms of other GT games, but then again there are more factors which need to be incorporated. The driving genre no longer has a strong foothold in the market compared to the PS2 days, everyone wants to play Fortnite and PUBG, and the car culture scene has changed dramatically over the last 10 years or so. Many younger kids don't find car racing entertaining, and hence why they take to Fortnite in their droves. You may laugh at the fact that GT Sport has "only" sold 3.3 million+, but when the landscape is as harsh as it is, the figure is not a bad one to sit on. GT will never sell above 10 million copies again; those days are long gone so if you're sitting there going "3.3 million sales is pathetic" you obviously don't understand the context.

 

[Imari]

Not new to modern gaming, but unless there was a pressing need to download an update immediately after release, I’ve never had to wait for an automatic update.?

However if it's an online game then your local version has to be the latest. So you have to wait.

I don't know why people are acting like this is bad . It took Driveclub 2 years to hit 2 million copies sold .

Mostly because "good" sales are relative to how much was spent on the game. In absolute terms, 3+ million sales is really very good and puts a game in the top tier. However, a company only looks at the sales compared to what it cost them to make the game. 3 million sales from a $20 million budget would be incredible success. 3 million sales from $150 million budget is probably getting close to an outright loss.

I'm one of those that isn't a fan at all of the "modern" direction that GT has been going in, but first and foremost the series needs to not die if I'm ever to see them change. I'd honestly be surprised if GTS cost less than $100 million, based on the size of the studio, the length of development and some of the OTT marketing that went on. Sony is going to keep pumping that sort of money into GT until they pull the plug, and so Polyphony needs to find a way to make a game that justifies that sort of investment.

I don't think that multiple accounts play at this numbers a big role. I guess only pretty high A/A+ players created second accounts to test things out or play sometimes just for fun without pressure in sport mode

You should remember though that there's more than one player in each PS4 household, and they usually have their own accounts. If a dad and two sons want to play GTS on the family console, that's three accounts.

I'm sure there's plenty of single user PS4s out there as well, but I doubt that the number of either is trivial.

 

[Rustyhole]

Many younger kids don't find car racing entertaining

Car cultures changed for ever. You can barely see the engine in most modern cars, just a plastic shield and expensive ones don't let you at them at all. Not to mention DCT paddle shifting is now on pretty ordinary cars and people can drive like a video game IRL.

Polyphony needs to find a way to make a game that justifies that sort of investment.

I agree with that. GT5 being the last that earned it coming off GT4. Whether it also justified the investment of GTHD and GT5P is debatable. GT6 was Sony trying to salvage people's feelings that GT5 arrived late and unfinished and then delivered a product just as late and arguably more unfinished. GTS is what it is but it'll need to sell many more copies to justify the investment going into the next GT. Not to mention, a significant part of there fan base has been less than impressed at release with the last three titles and will be more inclined to wait. Stating the obvious, not all sold copies have the same value. A game sold day one at $50 is not as valuable to a publisher as a game sold 2 years later for $20 even though they both add one to the sold copies column.

 

[SimTourist]

I'd say overall it's a bad result, the development costs have increased, the team size has doubled, which means it's not making as much revenue/profit as previous games, considering Horizon 3 sold more than 3.5 million copies on an install size of less than half of PS4. Racing sims are on their way out, PCars 2 bombed hard, a third one is very unlikely, Forza 7 bombed as well, leading to irregular dlc arrival and lack of polish, probably suffering budget cuts.

 

[queleuleu]

GTSport is like many French industrial projects: something working pretty well but no one asked for it.
90% of GT players expected a "true" GT and not an eSport game with the track/car lists from a prologue game. I hope they will keep the Sport mode in the next GT but they should keep in mind that a lot of GT players are casual not interested by the online. Some don't even play to videogames except GT when back at home.
With the right choices and the right promotion, I'm sure the next GT could sell much more than that.
Oh, and it's just a confirmation that Forza Horizon is now the biggest car game.

 

[cjr3559]

However if it's an online game then your local version has to be the latest. So you have to wait.

I’ve never heard of local versions, thought everyone got the same version.

My PS4 is set to download updates while in low power (rest) mode so any update is ready when I turn on the console after being away. Never had to wait for an update. Must be blind luck.

 

[Imari]

I’ve never heard of local versions, thought everyone got the same version.

Local as in the one on your computer. Sorry, computer terminology.

My PS4 is set to download updates while in low power (rest) mode so any update is ready when I turn on the console after being away. Never had to wait for an update. Must be blind luck.

You're US, a lot of updates get pushed out during your night-time/early morning simply because you're a big market and it's less disruptive. @Tired Tyres and I are not in that time zone, so we probably see it more than you do. Updates while in standby is a good way that the console manufacturers have managed to minimise the interruption, but it still comes up for some of us reasonably often.

Even more so for games with regular downtime. I remember back many moons ago when I played WoW the weekly maintenance was Tuesday morning for US, which happened to be prime-time Tuesday evening for Australia. Twas annoying.