UK Sales Charts: Horizon Forbidden West Back on Top, GT7 Sales Improve

Seeing Xenoblade 3 at the top was nice while it lasted

From my experience, buying a PS5 is much easier these days.

But getting one that isn't bundled with HFW is almost impossible. I really wish it wasn't.

The PS4 Pro is really showing the lack of detail in the character models compared to the PS5 videos online, but damn, it plays at 30fps almost the entire time and is an incredible story thus far.

Stoked to find out this is going to be a trilogy.

While I'm sure it's a fantastic game, at this point, HFW physical sales are indicative of PS5 availability during a given week and little else.

@Sakisa Yeah. I mean, it's still a niche series, so a prolonged presence near the top of the charts was never gonna happen. If it manages to outsell XC2, it'll be doing well for itself.

I contributed to the hfw resurgence...kind of. Got a used copy for $36.

the bundles are working

@AdamNovice Not really. Most PS5 games aren't bundled with the hardware, and then counted alongside the physical total.

I'm not slighting the game. The original was great, and I'm sure this is as well. It's just a shame we won't be able to get a sense for the actual level of demand for this release.

@Ralizah @Atreus97 Yeah another bundle would be nice. GT7 specifically would make the most sense. An adventure-ish title bundle and a sports title bundle. As it is I've recently contributed to yet another physical sale for Horizon, despite already owning it, because I bought a digital PS5.

It's been surprisingly difficult to sell the digital code for the game also, especially with the game being on sale, so that's a bit of bad timing.

@AdamNovice Sure. But that reflected actual demand for the game itself.

My point is that, with the HFW bundle being the primary way to snag a PS5 at present, and with the PS5 itself being a hot commodity, we'll never get a sense for the level of interest in the actual game itself.

They could have bundled anything with the PS5, and it'd probably be selling equally well, because demand for the console still currently outstrips supply.

@zupertramp Wait, are you saying that a digital code included with a digital PS5 is also counted as a physical sale?

@Ralizah I assumed so. Because the Disc PS5 also just comes with a code. That's how I took the wording in the article anyway.

Bit of chicanery if you ask me but if it didn't count towards physical it would count as a digital sale which, y'know, still contributes to sales numbers they can boast about.

@zupertramp It's wild to me that they would count digital downloads as physical sales of the game. I thought it at least shipped with the disc for the more expensive console!

@Ralizah tbf you do get a physical piece of paper with a picture of the game lol.

But I'm kinda just guessing that's the case with the disc bundle. From experience game bundles in recent years have just been console + game code for download. Maybe someone can confirm though, in this case.

@Ralizah @zupertramp It's been confirmed that digital download codes provided in these PS5 bundles count as physical sales, as the article explains.

@LiamCroft Thanks for clarifying. Now I think the only thing still in question is whether the Disc PS5 also just comes with a code for HFW when bundled. Fairly certain this is the case but realizing I don't actually know for certain.

@zupertramp Yes it's still a digital code even for disc version PS5. That way you can't immediately trade it in you see...

@Ooccoo_Jr ah thanks. Yeah thought so. Even my TLoU Remastered PS4 bundle was just a digital code so this kinda seemed like the norm now. Though strangely my TLoU 2 PS4 Pro came with a physical copy of the game. Hmm.

Well in any case, it's probably digital downloads from here on out.

One bothersome thing about them having a PSN discount on a game that's currently being sold with the bundle is it really negates any savings you typically get from a bundle. Which is kinda crappy of Sony imo.

@uptownsoul To some extent, sure. Most consoles haven't historically suffered from as much pent up demand as PS5 has, though, and most bundled game + console deals weren't the only way (or nearly the only way) to obtain said hardware.

To be clear, I'm not complaining about the bundle. I'm just interested in the growth of the IP's popularity since the original, and it's interesting to compare sales between different entries.

@zupertramp People thought I was being overly cynical when I jibed that they'd try to count the Steam refunds and repurchases for price adjustment as 2x sales...... and here they are counting mandatory bundled digital games as physical game sales...... You see, @Flaming_Kaiser I'm not overly cynical. I'm spot on the money, you're just too trusting.

@AdamNovice @Ralizah The charts are kind of worthless in terms of game ranking because the rank positioning, at least as far as PS exclusive titles go in general, even aside HFW bundling, is always going to be distorted by the fact that the games sell in bursts whenever stock arrives, so the games drop out of the rankings when consoles are out of stock, then everyone that wanted the game buys all at once when stock arrives in strange bursts. Realistically these charts should just be ignored until stock stabilizes. They say very little, there's the normal patterns like XC3 and whatever FIFA is out there, and then the weird bursts for things like Ratchet and HFW.

But HFW is the exception since it's literally a necessary purchase to buy a console whether people wanted to buy it not. Even if all you want to play is Fortnite and Fifa you have to purchase HFW with the console. Similar to how Knack sold really well, enough to green-light a sequel, despite basically not actually selling at all, because they bundled it in Japan. (RIP Knack, I'm one of the rare True Fans... )

Not knocking HFW, Horizon is my favorite of "modern" Sony's very Western output series (assuming inFamous is dead.) But the very fact that it's one of my favorites from the publisher should tell everyone that it's not naturally among their best sellers. I never seem to back the winners. Like I said, I actually like Knack...

I don't think it's one of their best sellers, but I think it's an objectively better series than most of their best sellers, so hopefully they'll do what they did for Knack, look at the fake skewed bundle numbers, think it's a smash hit and go full steam into another game with an even bigger budget.

@NEStalgia Good point. If Sony needs to bundle the game to move enough units to justify continuing the series, then I'm all for that. There's supposedly going to be at least one more mainline sequel for the series, along with spinoffs and the like.

Horizon: Forbidden West. The Wii Sports of Sony's catalogue

The truth is that most people that own a Switch do not actually bother buying games on that system that aren't the usual suspects (aka Mario, Zelda, or Pokémon). It is quite sad to be honest.

I some way, it is also Nintendo's fault. The way they handle the promotion of those games is lackluster. Again, if it isn't Mario, Zelda, or Pokémon, Nintendo doesn't not really care.

I fear for Bayonetta 3... I see underwhelming sales for that game (on par of Xenoblade Chronicles 3 or worse), especially after how long it is being in development.

@uptownsoul yeah, but talking about other bundles doesn't let people deride Horizon's success.

@pip_muzz Except for Wii, Wii Sports was the draw. The masses bought the machine just to play the bowling game, and that was all they wanted out of the machine, they didn't care about Zelda and Xenoblate.

For PS5, HFW is just baggage on the way to Call of FIFnite: San Andreas

The ps5 already comes bundled with a great game Astrobot, so now to get two amazing games seems pretty good.

How much does the bundle with horizon cost? If its only £10-£20 more than that's a steal.

@UltimateOtaku91 AFAIK it's the full price of the game in the "bundle", it's not a value pack, just a mandatory game purchase, possibly designed to push numbers of that game. Like what Game/GameStop always does except without $100 of plastic tennis rackets too.

@Toypop It doesn't matter of people "sold the codes", sales are sales with 1:1 sales with the console, even if they otherwise wouldn't have been. I do think ti's considerably boosting sales. I'm glad, but I don't think these are organic numbers for the series. The first one hit half price in 3 months, partially due to launching alongside BotW that stole the marketing spotlight by far.

If only they'd bundle Gravity Rush 2 with the consoles we could finally have some well deserved sequels

@rpg2000 For Nintendo you have to separate global sales from regional sales though. "People buy Nintendo for Nintendo games only" rings really true in Japan. So much of their market consists only of their own games and there's not much of a market for anything else. Nintendo's market is really just Nintendo's market, there, which is why some JRPGs etc target PS instead, even though PS install base is utterly dismal compared to Nintendo's in Japan, because the customers who buy, say, a Falcom game, in Japan, are likely to buy it on PS, while most Nintendo players there aren't too likely to buy it at all.

But outside Japan, that doesn't really hold true anymore, the Nintendo/non-nintendo game sales mix is decent. Obviously few things will outsell Mario, Zelda, or Pokemon in the entire industry, but other things do sell ok.

Xenoblade, is the weebiest of weeb games while simultaneously being more British than Harry Potter. It's never going to be huge in the US. The combat system alone would make the average players eyes glaze over. And you don't even unlock it until like hour 18. They're promoting it well in general, but they know the audience they're targeting with realistic sales expectations. To be fair, from the producers of XC itself, they called it "more of an AA game", so budget-wise, it doesn't need to sell 20M to be a stunning success (A lesson Squeenix needs to relearn, rapidly.)

What is the problem with bundles? ps4 was also heavily bundled in it's lifespan and that worked miracles.

@pip_muzz wish wii spots was that good!

@NEStalgia I don't think the point about Japan is necessarily true. A lot of games in Japan that launch simultaneously on Playstation and Switch perform competitively or better on Nintendo's platform. What Japanese people don't seem to be purchasing are late ports of older games.

@rpg2000 Indies and third-party AA stuff more generally have been finding plenty of success on Nintendo's platform. Far more than on competing console platforms, in many cases. There's a reason NIS has not only ported the majority of their older catalogue to Switch along with all their newer stuff, but also kickstarted the process of bringing Falcom's games to the platform, for example.

Nintendo has also been doing a bang-up job of promoting and highlighting games from both third-party partners and independent developers as well.

Nintendo goes out of its way to heavily market and promote smaller properties like Bayonetta, Xenoblade Chronicles, etc. as well.

By the way, Bayonetta 3 doesn't even need to do Xenoblade numbers to be a success. If it does even 2/3rds of XC2's numbers, it'll still have sold more than the original game did on both Xbox 360 and Playstation 3.

I only wish GT7 was bundled tbh.
Weird I haven’t seen any?
Awesome game.

@zebric21
I bought my OG PS4 bundled with infamous and it’s a great memory.
Nothing wrong with bundles.

How does mlb sell more than gt7 in 2022 as a whole?

I am still very very dissapointed in people's emotional maturity while I look at the red user score gt7 has.

@JJ2 @zebric21 only problem I can see with bundles is when it's the only way you can get a console. Be one thing if individual consoles and bundled consoles were readily available and consumers could choose between the two (or just between different bundles) but no one is getting that option really.

@zupertramp
Oh it’s probably temporary if some can only get bundles instead of just the console. That’s due to shortages and should improve. It’s NOT the bundle that is a problem. (Even I am not interested in HFW but if I had to.buy a bundle it wouldnt be that bad. Just forcing my hand into maybe a nice experience with the game. Though again the shortage is the problem, not the bundle) I think it’s better than the shop bundles with all sort of devices in it amounting to a very expensive buy. That is bad.

@JJ2 yeah those shop bundles are the worst. I agree there. But no, bundles aren't specifically the problem. I kinda like getting a game with a new console actually. I do usually prefer to have at least some choice in which bundle though. But it's early in the PS5s life so there will surely be more down the road.