Electronic Arts boss John Riccitiello has described sales of the PlayStation 3 version of Mass Effect 2 as “meaningful,” following the sprawling sci-fi sequel’s launch on Sony’s platform back in January.
Chatting at the recent Morgan Stanley Technology Conference in San Francisco, Riccitiello seemed especially chuffed with sales of the digital version of the RPG, which launched alongside its boxed counterpart.
Specifically, the executive noted that the meaty 12GB (later topping 20GB) downloadable release scoffed double-digit numbers in terms of overall sales, though wouldn’t say exactly how many copies the game shifted. He did admit, however, that EA did “absolutely nothing” to promote the PS3 release.
"Sony had never done a day and day release," said Riccitiello. "They were very cautious about their infrastructure so it was mostly a technology test."
"This was really more about proving it can be done than it was proving what the opportunity would be," he added. "So an unmarketed game one year after the original was done on the Xbox and the PC, we released the PS3 and managed to do very, very well with it."
"They have got to manage both selling boxes at retail, and it’s generally a pretty thin margin business," he explained. "And so they basically negotiate and leverage shelf space on the promise of making retail margin on software."
Sony’s online service currently offers a handful of full games available for digital consumption, a strike contrast to Xbox LIVE, which currently hosts 200 plus.
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