Finance and sales

All about the financial side of the games industry. Financial reports of public companies. Reports on the financial successes and failures of video games. Data on installs and revenues.

Elden Ring has soared 18 positions to land at No.3 on Newzoo's overall revenue charts for June, driven by the launch of its Shadow of the Erdtree expansion. The game from FromSoftware also made its debut in the Top 20 of Newzoo's monthly active user engagement charts, climbing to No.13 from its previous No.27 spot in May. Meanwhile, Fortnite and EA Sports FC 24 have held onto the top two positions in Newzoo's revenue rankings across all platforms, and Destiny 2 advanced three spots from No.8 to No.5
Chinese company Lilith Games, which developed Rise of Kingdoms and AFK Arena, is showing extraordinary generosity. In an interview with PocketGamer, Vincent Ou, head of strategy and investment at Lilith Games, revealed that the company has implemented what they call the "Aladdin Plan," under which they regularly share profits with their employees
EA Sports College Football 25 has surpassed 2 million sales for its premium edition, granting players early access three days prior to the official release. The publisher revealed on Friday that 2.2 million players received early access to the game. According to IGN, the only method to obtain this early access was by purchasing the deluxe edition for consoles, priced at $99.99, as opposed to the standard edition priced at $69.99. Besides the 2.2 million early access players, 600,000 additional individuals played the game in advance via the EA Play subscription service
The mobile market in Japan is exhibiting signs of recovery following a minor dip in 2023, especially within the gaming sector which is outpacing the broader apps market. A recent report by Adjust, in collaboration with Sensor Tower, reveals that Japan saw a mere 1% decline in app installs year-on-year for 2023. However, the first quarter of 2024 experienced a 3% uptick compared to the final quarter of 2023. Consumer spending remained relatively stable last year when considering the fluctuations in the yen's value. Nonetheless, the first quarter of 2024 has already recorded a 3.5% rise in consumer spending compared to Q4 2023
Developers from Ironwood Studios announced that the automotive survival game Pacific Drive has sold over 600,000 copies worldwide. The game took just under five months to reach this number, as Pacific Drive was released on February 22, 2024, for PC and PlayStation 5
Ubisoft announced its financial results for the first quarter, highlighting a 15% increase in gaming session days on consoles and PCs, predominantly driven by its games-as-a-service (GaaS) offerings. The company pointed to XDefiant reaching a significant milestone of 10 million players as a promising development, alongside Rainbow Six Siege's robust performance at the start of the year. Monthly active users (MAU) rose by 7% year-on-year to 38 million. Additional factors contributing to Ubisoft's positive Q1 results included strong pre-orders for Assassin's Creed Shadows, which also boosted sales of older titles in the series, and notable engagement with The Crew Motorfest. The company's player recurring investment (PRI) surged by 24.6% to reach 158.7 million
According to GSD data, nearly 80 million PC and console games were sold throughout Europe in the first half of 2024. This marks a 1.6% decline in unit sales compared to the beginning of 2023. Despite the dip, the results are notable given the less robust lineup of releases in the first half of this year versus the previous year. Notably, the first half of 2023 featured major launches like Hogwarts Legacy, The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom, Diablo IV, and Star Wars Jedi: Survivor. In contrast, only two of the top ten best-selling games in 2024 so far were released this year: Helldivers 2 (ranked No.2) and The Last of Us: Part 2 Remastered (ranked No.10)
Nintendo Switch saw sales of 1.3 million units across its three models in the initial six months of the year in Japan, marking a 31% decline from the 1.9 million units sold during the same timeframe the year prior. In Japan's first half of 2024, Famitsu's sales data indicates that combined sales of both PlayStation 5 models reached 791,497 units, reflecting a 43% decrease from the 1.4 million units sold in the same period last year
Capcom's Resident Evil 7 for iOS has reportedly generated just $28,140 to date. According to AppMagic data cited by Mobilegamer.biz, the game has been downloaded roughly 83,000 times since its July 2 launch. Mobilegamer.biz suggests that considering Apple's revenue share, the number of paying users could be as low as 2,000. GamesIndustry.biz has contacted Capcom for further details.
Video game sales in the United Kingdom have declined by nearly 30 percent in the first six months of 2024. Data from the Entertainment Retailers Association (ERA), representing digital services and retailers of music, video, and games, indicate a 7.9 percent year-over-year (YoY) increase in music revenue, "significantly outpacing" both video and games. Video sales grew by 5.4 percent, while video game sales fell by 29.4 percent YoY. Despite this significant decline, video games remain the largest revenue generator, bringing in £348.6 million
According to GSD data, 2.53 million console and PC games were sold in the UK in June, representing a decrease of almost 14% compared to last year. June 2023 saw a flurry of major releases, including Diablo IV, Final Fantasy 16, F1 23, and Street Fighter 6, whereas June 2024 has experienced a notable slowdown. Leading the sales chart is EA Sports FC 24, bolstered by the ongoing European Championship competition currently being held in Germany
Pokémon Sleep generated $100 million in revenue during its first year, based on figures from AppMagic. PocketGamer reports that Japan led in player spending, with an estimated $73 million since the app's release on July 17 of the previous year. Users in the United States contributed $15 million, while players in Taiwan spent $4 million
According to Sensor Tower data, Squad Busters has earned $24 million in revenue in its first month. PocketGamer reports that Supercell's newest release experienced a steady revenue decline since its launch on May 29, dropping to $3.7 million in the week of June 17. However, the following week saw a modest recovery, with revenue rising to $3.9 million. During this period, Squad Busters amassed 40 million downloads across the App Store and Google Play, largely driven by initial launch activity. The United States led in both player spending and overall downloads