Elden Ring Dominates UK Charts, But Physical Sales Poor On Xbox

I honestly can't remember the last physical game I purchased for Xbox. Has to be XCOM 2 or SW Battlefront 2. Got rid of the Battlefront disc when EA Play joined game pass and just recently picked up XCOM digitally for a couple of quid so I am completely disc free now.

Will be picking up Elden Ring on the first sale probably, gonna finish Mass Effect first.

I wonder if this is indicative of the Series S gaining a lot more traction (obviously in large part due to its relative availability) than the X. It seems likely that the game generally sold quite a bit better on PS than Xbox though, which is a surprise given its proximity to Horizon

Well, Xbox offered 6000 Reward points if I buy the game digitally and that's what I did. I still buy physical games here and there but it mostly is digital nowadays especially if I get free reward points for it.

I bought a Series S before i was able to get a Series X, so i have both. Even though my X has a disc drive, I go almost exclusively digital so that I can also play the games on the S.

Well my 3 xbox only friends as tradition said they wont play the game unless its free with gamepass so theres that as well.

I buy all digital on all three consoles.
Do we know digital sales then for comparison?

@Rmg0731
Yes I do wonder if game pass is soaking up Xbox games sales as there is plenty to play on game pass if you like that sort of thing, meaning I like new games only, especially big AAA ones, that’s just my preference that’s all.

Maybe the fact that the Series S/X are built more around Digital gaming and of course, the Xbox customers are taking out Subscription services for 'digital' games and some 'digital' purchases also work on PC too. Quick Resume also seems more geared towards 'digital' as well - it has little/no advantage if you have to keep swapping discs.

Sony's customers seem more against Digital but then they don't have the 'PC' partnership and 'cross-play' purchasing, Quick Resume etc that make 'digital' more valuable to them. Its not surprising as Digital still has its drawbacks and Sony hasn't got the 'best' track record of game preservation too so its no wonder Sony customers maybe more 'reluctant' to embrace Digital so readily as Xbox/PC gamers.

@Rmg0731 As a Game Pass subscriber, there is the option to play 'many' great games for your 'monthly' charge so why spend £60+ on a game when you can 'wait' until the price drops. Unless its a 'special' game that I really want to play Day1, I don't 'need' to buy ANY game now at release to have something 'new' to play.

At the end of the day, I have a 'finite' time for gaming and ALL games are ultimately competing for my time so its got to be 'something special' to not only compete for my time, but also my money when I have a LOT of 'free' games shouting 'Play Me!, Play Me!'

Maybe some people assumed (wrongly) that Elden Ring is a PlayStation exclusive, as quite a few FromSoftware games have been.

@BAMozzy im not saying anything bad about the subscription option to play many games, just an observation as to why sales may be low from what i have seen

@JudaiMasters same here, last physical game i bought was Sekiro.... and technically i didnt buy it my wife did for my birthday...also it was already used so the last new game i bought physical for the xbox was GTA5...i buy physical for my switch only due to storage space limitations.

I got it digital because of rewards

I do a little bit of both on Xbox - coincidentally, all FromSoftware titles I own on Xbox are digital.

Oddly enough, I buy all of the first-party PS5 games in physical form. There is no real deep seeded reason for it, though.

I also do the same for on Nintendo Switch; but physical has more weight on the Nintendo side since games run from the game card rather than install and storage space is limited (even with an SD card).

I'm doing my part. Also didn't know xbox was primarily running on digital sales. Brings a whole nother pov to the weekly boxed sales over on the square.

I started replacing my physical with digital by the end of the 360 gen.

The majority of UK game sales are digital, so tracking just boxed sales is pointless.

I think the fact that these do only track boxed sales explains a lot of why certain video games from certain markets continue to dominate the charts.

@Rmg0731 I know - I'm just saying that there are other reasons too that Physical sales are 'lower' on Xbox - as I mentioned too.

Without that 'Subscription' service, you have great games competing for both your 'time' and money. You also may not have 'many' games you have bought that you want to play in your backlog and so any 'new' release isn't facing the same 'competition' for your time and money.

With a Subscription service, you have a curated list of 100's of 'great' games all competing just for your time - not your 'money' too. So a 'new' release that's asking for £60+ from you before you can spend your valuable gaming time playing it has to be 'special' when you can play 'other' great games for 'free'. You can also keep playing 'lots' of great 'new' games and many 'great' older games for free until the 'price' point to experience those others drops to a point you're willing to invest both money and time into it.

With Subscriptions, its no longer about how much a game is 'worth' to you to spend your money before you get to spend your time in that game. Its about whether the game does 'enough' to make you want to try it. Its not asking you to 'have faith' that the 'Devs' were competent or had 'sufficient time' to polish and pay your £60 up front, its just letting you decide if they have done enough to make you want to try it.

With Elden Ring, I am NOT a FromSoftware fan, never liked Dark Souls, Sekiro or Bloodborne (all of which I have tried many times) and to me, Elden Ring has NOT done enough to make me want to spend £60 to try it to see if this actually is 'enjoyable' for me. Halo Infinite, despite the 'dismal' 2020 trailer, the public difficulties and high profile features that were NOT ready at launch still did enough to make me want to 'try it' without asking for a 'big' financial investment first. If Elden Ring had come to Game Pass, I'd try it as it did 'enough' for that, but not enough for me to buy it.

ALL Games are competing for your valuable game time and as more and more great games release every month into a Subscription service, those games that are also asking for Financial investment first are at a 'disadvantage'. When you have great games 'free' to play, why spend £60? It makes more sense to play the games you want to play 'free' and wait until the price drops or it comes to a Sub service...

@Richnj

Totally agree. It would be very interesting to see digital sales chart to compare with physical.
Does such a thing exist?
At the very least an combination of the two to give everyone a better idea of true sales.

@Dezzy70 I wondered this as well. I’m not sure how if we don’t have those numbers we can just say everyone bought digital on Xbox?

This is because xbox has mainly either become a secondary console to own just for its exclusives along with a playstation 5 which is used for its exclusives and multiplatform games or people are just getting xbox's just for gamepass. I can't ever seeing a multi platform game ever again selling best on xbox

Whelp, I guess I’m a rare breed I picked the game up physically on the Series X. The launch edition was really nice, it came with a badge, a poster and some art cards. While not as cool as a working designs RPG from the 90s it was still a lovely package and great value for less than 40 quid.

2 reasons xbox is more digital

game sharing
Microsoft rewards

@BAMozzy Whilst I'm not disputing much that you you have said, it struck me as pretty funny to say that PS don't embrace digital when Sony are the ones offering a digital only PS5. Where is the series X equivalent? There isn't one.

Xbox have staked their claim to the 'bargain bucket' side of the business with their Games Pass, and I'm all for it. But inevitably it means less Xbox players are likely to buy full price games and its a trend we see with most 3rd party titles.
Nobody I know with an Xbox buys any games on it, if its not on Games pass it doesn't get played.
Its only if we get a publishers full sales break down that we can fully analyse where sales are going. I suspect it wont make happy reading if you want to publish on Xbox, but we wont know until we have full figures.

Everything I have on PS5 is physical whereas while I have some physical games on Xbox most are digital(mix of game pass and digital purchase).

For those that don't know yet, the physical game is merely a place holder having less than 1 gig, the rest of the game has to be downloaded. 48gigs

@FatalBubbles
Also when I purchased my Xbox one x I new I was getting the best version of that multiplatform game on release. Maybe resolution normally 4K, graphically and/or fps. This was a big draw to the Xbox one x for me for multiplatform games.

With my Series x I thought the same, this seemed to be true until recently.
The last 2 multiplatform games the Cyberpunk update and Elden Ring have the slight edge for whatever reason on the PS5. Mainly FPS.

Now I say let’s buy them for PS5.
Microsoft really don’t need this as my series x was my preferred multiplatform console, now maybe not.

No big exclusive AAA games until probably November 2022 from an Xbox studio.

Multiplatform games looking or performing better on the PS5, when clearly the series x has 12tflop.

Come on Microsoft sort your house out, I really have no need for my Series X in 2022.

And in the UK now the shops are showing that, Series X stock drops last week still have stock today, even after the weekend.
Also getting a series x on All Access always seems available.

@Dezzy70 While I don't regret my Series X purchase, I definitely think I would've held off if my original XB1 was in better shape. The Switch's lineup is so insane that I could go without the Xbox games I'm interested in that run poorly on the original XB1 model.

Nintendo's approach to keeping the Switch relevant as it enters its 6th year appears to be to cram a crazy amount of very high quality games into a short space of time but without having droughts such that you don't need another system.

@Titntin That is the first all digital Playstation and their entire set up isn't geared towards Digital as much as Xbox. Take the issues of playing the 'best' version for your system, the ease of transferring save data etc. It doesn't matter if I buy Forza Horizon 5 digitally on my XB1S, I can play it on my XB1X, Series X or PC

Having a 'discless' PS5 doesn't necessarily mean its 'embracing' the Digital format and offering something that Physical media struggles with - it just means they are offering a 'cheaper' system. If you buy Spider-Man on PS4, you have to pay to play the 'same' game but the PS5 version and if it ever came to PC, you'd have to buy it again to play. Point is, its just a discless PS5 more than a platform designed around the 'Digital' experience.

Xbox already had the XB1s all-digital version and offering features more 'difficult' with Physical media - like not having to buy PC versions of the same game because your PS5/XSX disc version doesn't work there.

Quick Resume too is most beneficial with Digital games - takes the 'Quick' out of it if you have to keep swapping discs. A lot of the features are 'beneficial' for an ALL-Digital future and that includes the Series X too even though that has a Disc Drive.

There is a difference between simply removing the Disc Drive to offer a 'cheaper' unit - after all, $400 is 'supposedly' the console 'sweet spot' and enabled Sony to hit that price and designing the 'experience' and feature set for an all digital future.

Sony too have to turn around the 'fear' of their gamers losing access to digital games and be more pro-active around Game preservation too. It seems more 'Sony' gamers are concerned they won't be able to play their £60 games in 20yrs time if they buy digitally. That seems a 'bigger' concern amongst Sony gamers than Xbox but that maybe down to very different public statements from their 'heads'.

We know Phil is a big supporter of Game Preservation and Backwards Compatibility but Jim Ryan isn't - he's more 'business' minded and would rather 'sell you games multiple times than let you play the 'best' version your console can regardless of what version you buy - hence Auto HDR, Resolution/Frame Rate boosts etc added by MS's BC team too. That 'message' may help Xbox gamers feel more comfortable buying Digital and lets be honest here, MS did 'more' during the 360 era to establish Digital with Xbox Live Arcade than Playstation Network did on the PS3.

I'm not saying Sony has 'done' nothing to help Digital sales or convert Physical media users over to Digital on their platform, all I said was that MS has done a LOT more to make Digital a much more attractive proposition.

If you want to waste your money buying games on day 1 when they are at their 'most' expensive and often at their 'worst' too until they get patched and all the content delivered, that's up to you. Game Pass means I am not 'starved' of Content to play that I will drop £60 just to have something 'new' to play. When I have 'great', sometimes more 'enjoyable', often more polished games available to play 'free' of any additional charge, I'd be completely foolish to spend £60+ on a game unless that game is 'something' special.

@BAMozzy your welcome to your thoughts - more power to you, but I disagree and in reality, all the things you tout as being a barrier to digital adoption on PS have never bothered or interfered with my digital consumption on that platform at all. I often think they are check box items for people to 'score points with' but maybe they have genuinely made all the difference to you.
I also consume on Series X and if it has a discernable difference in terms of delivering digital content its certainly not one I've noticed and makes zero difference to me.
When games boot in less than 10 seconds, quick resume is hardly earth shattering and given its failed on me several times, I actually save and quit normally on Xbox to prevent losing my save.

In terms of 'waste of money' we can agree that this will be different for everyone and I am more than happy to pay full price for a good game, I'm not poor, games are my thin g and both me and the wife play a LOT.
I've bought 4 titles on PS5 @£70 per pop and I wouldn't change any of them. Foolish - absolutely not, and as I have games pass ultimate for another 18 months, I have access to everything you do - I just don't rate it as highly as the titles I'm happy to pay for.

People happy to pay for the best titles are not 'completely foolish' or 'wasting their money', unless you truly believe you are the arbiter of all taste and anyone who doesn't think like you is stupid? I don't want to consume games like you do, and I see no reason why I should limit myself in the way you do.

@Grumblevolcano
Yes my Switch should be busier this year.
I’m waiting for the Kirby reviews before I jump in, as not a big Kirby fan but this one does look special.
We have eight new MK tracks as well in March.
All I want now is a BOTW2 2022 release date and finger crossed a new Mario platform game this year.
Hoping Bayo 3 will be good as well, enjoyed the first one but not number 2 as much.
Splatoon 3 I shall wait and see.
So looking good this year along with PS5 releases, for my personal preferences.
I like new games not old ones and big AAA games.

@Titntin
I totally agree apart from FH5 and a little bit Halo Infinite gamepass has not been great for me and 2022 looks very lean.
I’m a big time AAA new game player only.
I have paid £70 for 4 PS5 games and I would take that over game pass any day so far as those games have given me far more enjoyment and entertainment because of my personal preference with new games and big AAA ones.

@Dezzy70 I'm in the same boat mate.

I'm genuinely hoping for MS to blow my socks off and I'll wait patiently till they do, I'm nobody's corp warrior!

I just don't want to be targeted because I actually buy games and support devs, as an ex dev, I'm happy to pay for what I play.

@Titntin
Same here, I’m sure and hoping Microsoft do, but it seems to be taking a while and for me 2022 with them don’t look great.
But like you I’m not gonna go all corporate and wait for them when Sony and Nintendo are dishing out the goods that I’m happy to pay for.

Digital game higher because you can get your money back, like me when i didnt like Elden ring it was too hard souls game !!

I think 3 reasons.

1.) The PS5 has been touted as the better system for this particular game and those with multiple systems probably bought the PS5 version.

2.) I think also allot of Xbox owners are actually series S owners so more of those people probably bought digital.

3.) Also like someone said earlier the Series S is a companion to the PS5 for those who want Gamepass or MS exclusives without spending allot , that is also me. Those people will buy it on the PS5.

I think more people have multisystem now than ever. I just think fanboys just make more noise than ever.

@Titntin Its totally foolish to pay £60 for the SAME game on ANY platform - its FOOLISH to buy MLB21 on PS5 when you have the SAME game on Game Pass for FREE.

Games like Elden Ring isn't 'better' than Forza Horizon 5, MSFS etc - its a 'different' game so may appeal to different audiences. ALL are AAA quality and the 'same' price to buy IF you don'thave a Subscription service. Without 'Game Pass', those AAA games would still be competing for your TIME & MONEY. The fact they are on Game Pass doesn't diminish the 'quality' - you get exactly the same Game as you would if you bought it.

It would be 'Foolish' to spend £60+ on any game when I have plenty of AAA equal quality games being offered 'Free' to play all of which I want to play too. It makes 'much more' sense to play the games I can 'free' of charge and whilst they 'are' free than to spend £60+ to play 'broken' new releases in need of 'patches' to get a 'stable' and 'better' game experience.

I really do not see your argument here. The games on Game Pass are still the SAME games you have to pay £60 for on Xbox (or PS5) if you don't Subscribe -you are NOT getting a 'worse' version.

I'm not going to spend £60+ on some broken day1 games anymore and certainly don't 'need' to buy games 'day 1' just to have something half decent to play. I didn't buy FC6 or GotG on Day1 because I had Forza Horizon 5, Halo Infinite and numerous other 'great' games - all AWARD winning titles.

FH5 has won many awards so being able to play 'free' on Day1 meant I could 'wait' for both FC6 & GotG to 'drop' in price as I had 'great' Award winning games to play that didn't require an upfront investment. Its foolish to spend 'more' money than is necessary to fill my precious game time. If I have 20hrs a week to game and Game Pass has plenty of options to fill that 20hrs with great, critically acclaimed experiences that non-subscribers have to pay £60+ to play, then why spend £60 on games when I can wait until they are 50% or lower,.

I also said that non-subscription games have to do more to make me part with my money now on Day 1. In the past, the 'hunger' for something 'new' to play would make me buy games that are unpolished, buggy messes but now I can be much more particular on 'when' I think a game is 'worth' jumping in. I made it clear that a game has to be 'special' to me to make me want to spend money. I also don't waste money on 'sale' games or 'bored' purchases - the purchases I made when bored or browsing sales because I browse Game Pass and come across many GREAT games that otherwise would 'cost' money upfront to even try.

There is a reason Returnal 'flopped' in sales - and its not down to the 'game' - its down to the Price point and most being 'unsure' if they'll like it enough to spend that money. It wouldn't change the game if/when it comes to PS+/Spartacus - and if you have R&C, H:FW, GoW:R etc 'free' on Day 1 in Sony's service, then Sony gamers may well not 'spend' unnecessary money buying some 'rushed' 3rd Party game wanting £60 from you when you could play any of the 'Great' games in Spartacus - even 'older' games you may of missed are often a 'better' experience than 'new' games on Day1 after numerous patches, enhancements etc.

Christopher Dring who sees both the UK digital and physical charts points out Xbox gamers are more digital. I can find other tweets of his if people want. Also, Benjo-sales has talked about it etc (In fact I think Daniel
Ahmad had to but not 100% on that one)

Globally, Xbox players buy digitally over physically period. There are a myriad of reasons but the result is the same

https://twitter.com/chris_dring/status/1498058745313697796?s=21

All I have is a Series S and a PS4, I took the Xbox route.

I’m actually buying a lot of digital lately, Death Stranding being the last physical game I bought.

@BAMozzy You do make a great point on game pass, I’ve gotten to try so many games that I normally wouldn’t buy but still wanted to try them out. GamePass is a great venue and has saved me a lot of impulse buys that I would have regretted.

@BAMozzy Are you OK mate, seriously?
Why try and sell me on games pass when I've made it quite clear I'm on it for Series X and PC.

Why try and pretend that Game pass games are always the same as the ones you can buy - on Pc that's absolute folly to believe, and 20% of titles don't work at all, and many others are functionally different to their Steam release, so your argument of getting access to the same games falls apart.

As you wish to label people who think differently to you as 'Stupid', I will the end the conversation now, as another wall of text clearly showing your incapacity to think and your overwhelming capacity to judge is serving nobody.

Fact is I get to play anything and everything you play too, but I'm not so intransigent that I limit myself to only this and so I'm enjoying many other things too.

OK so you'd rather buy games like Forza, MSFS, Psychonauts 2 etc etc because they are 'better' versions than the Game Pass version? Would rather spend £60 on games like BF2042, CoD Vanguard etc instead of playing FH5, Halo:Infinite or countless other 'great' and complete, patched games that run much better because those 'new' £60+ games are 'better' than ANYTHING on Game Pass?

Itis 'foolish' to spend a lot of money on 'broken' or unfinished games on Day1 - especially if you have 100's of great games, new and old to play for free - until such a time as those games get patched, get the content they promised and/or 'drop' in price.

However, you seem to think that 'every' new release not on Game Pass is somehow a 'better' or 'more complete' version than any on Game Pass - that somehow Game Pass games are like 'F2P' games where you have to 'pay' to get the 'complete' experience.

I get to play everything I want to - except I am 'not' wasting money on unfinished, broken/problematic games at launch when they 'cost' the most. Because I have 'lots' of COMPLETE great games all accessible 'free', I do not NEED to buy any 'new' game at launch just to have something 'different' to play. I can wait until the price drops, games get patched etc and pay a LOT less for a 'better' experience and don't get so 'angry' over games. I'd be furious if I bought BF2042 at launch...

I am NOT limited to Game Pass - I have a PS5 too - although its become nothing but a way to play PS5 exclusives -like R&C, SM-MM, H:FW etc. However, I am NOT buying games at 'launch' unless they are 'special' and not available through a Subscription as they are at their most expensive and most 'disappointing' too with numerous issues requiring multiple patches to fix.

If you wish to keep paying £60+ for unfinished, buggy games that will be patched and drop to 50% within a month or two rather than take advantage of the MANY great, mostly patched and exactly the same 'game' as sold, that's up to you - regardless of whether I think that is 'foolish' - but a fool and his money are soon parted!!! Me, I'd rather wait for the games to be 'worth' buying once all the 'Beta' testers who paid to play day1 have reported all the bugs/performance issues and been patched out...