Physical Destiny 2 sales were down by as much as 50 percent on comparison to its 2014 predecessor, according to several Wall Street analysts.
Destiny 2 physical sales down over Destiny 1 – are digital sales to blame?
The group attributed their findings to NPD sell-through data, although did note that the rise in digital sales may be a factor in the decline of Destiny 2’s retail performance.
In addition, Activision has not yet revealed exactly how many copies Destiny 2 has sold. The publishing giant was more forthcoming with the original game, as it issued a number of press releases detailing Destiny’s sales success.
“The launch month of Destiny 2 was well short of the original iteration by a material amount," wrote Michael Olson, an analyst with Piper Jaffray.
Elsewhere, Wedbush Morgan’s Michael Pachter described Destiny 2 sales as “underwhelming” in a report on Friday, noting how the game missed his NPD September target by 37 percent.
While the NPD Group refused comment on Destiny 2’s sales performance, Activision saw fit to provide the following statement:
"The original Destiny became the biggest new console video game franchise launch in history, and Destiny 2 surpassed the original’s records for engagement and digital sales in launch week. The Destiny universe will welcome a new community of players for the first time on PC on October 24."
Destiny 2 topped the U.K. All Format Chart upon its release on PlayStation 4 and Xbox One on September 6. However, it was noted at the time that launch sales were down in comparison to its predecessor.
Nonetheless, Bungie noted that the Friday following the game’s launch saw 1.2 million concurrent players engaged in the alien shooter. The studio recently confirmed that Prison of Elders won’t be returning for the sequel.
Read our Destiny 2 review to see what we made of Bungie’s MMO shooter follow-up.
Source: CNBC