Wo Long: Fallen Dynasty has been one of the biggest Xbox Game Pass launches of the year so far, with millions of fans going hands on with Koei Tecmo's excellent soulslike in recent weeks. Well, the team has just provided some updated numbers that show how much of an impact Xbox's subscription service has had.
The developer has announced that Wo Long: Fallen Dynasty has sold one million copies worldwide. However, if you add Xbox Game Pass users into the mix, Koei Tecmo has seen 3.8 million players get stuck into the action slasher - almost four times its out-and-out sales number.
That 3.8 million number includes players across all platforms, including Xbox One, Xbox Series X|S and PC Game Pass. It's an impressive total though, and the developer will no doubt be delighted at the mix of strong sales and a high amount subscription players for Wo Long: Fallen Dynasty.
We thought the game was the team's best soulslike experience to date, scoring it a very strong 8/10 in our Pure Xbox review. For more on what we thought of the recent Game Pass title, check out our write up down below.
Did you play this recent Game Pass title? Leave your thoughts on the experience in the comments.
Comments 23
Good game. Unfortunately, I feel like the buzz for the game died very quickly.
I do wonder how publishers feel about this.
I am sure Microsoft provided money to have this on Game Pass, but was it enough to compensate for the "lost" 3 million sales it could have had were it not on Game Pass?
I really like Game Pass and I probably wouldn't have given the game a chance if it wasn't for Game Pass (Nioh didn't click with me), but I do wonder if this is a success for Koei Tecmo or a failure financially (which is what matters in the end).
As someone that was stuck there until they nerfed it I wonder how many people actually got past the first boss before giving in. Great game otherwise though and I definitely need to get back to it.
Impressive numbers but no doubt lots of people rage quit at the first boss😁.
@GamingFan4Lyf I guess that's the gamble that the publishers have to take in allowing their games on to a sub service. Although they may have a deal that was structured where they got paid depending on the player base and whenever it hits a certain target it triggers a bonus payment.
My 10 minutes counted! 😂
@GamingFan4Lyf I played a lot of this game with a friend in coop. I would not have touched this game at all without game pass. Not my type of game but most games are fun if coop is an option.
@Moonglow For me it's just pure curiosity. It takes 2 to tango and I am sure the bean counters on both sides have taken everything into consideration prior to signing the deal.
I just wonder the publisher's standpoint if the popularity outweighs what was given to strike the deal.
Switching topics: I can't believe people are finding the first boss so hard. I guess all my Soulsborne skills paid off as I picked up his pattern rather quickly and took him down in like 4 tries.
None of the bosses I fought were as hard as I thought - I think I fought three before I lost interest.
Tried it pre nerf and afterwards but just cant get used to the deflect system, soon removed it but once finished with all the other games got in my library, I'll give it another go. The first boss just ruined the hype I had before it came out.
Finished the game yesterday and loved it. Took me a while only because I didn’t have much time to play but I was always itching to get back to it. Just need to mop up 2 achievements.
@GamingFan4Lyf I think it's worth it for this type of game (soulslikes) where you see what looks like a 50% drop off on some games (based on cheevs)
Only 37% managed to complete Nioh 2's first mission.....
I think the average consumer wouldn't wanna spend money on something they're not sure they might be able to complete at all.
I don’t like ‘player’ numbers. Because how many of 3.8million actually played the game? Or gave up after 15mins? Games pass gives that option, which is good to have.
I’d be most curious to see how a deal is done, is it we expect to sell X copies so will pay Y, pay per download numbers? If a game is played X we will pay bonus.
@GamingFan4Lyf That's the thing — Game Pass is responsible for 3 million players. The dev can't claim those players would have translated into sales 1:1 without Game Pass. We know it would not. There were only 1 million sales across all platforms outside of Game Pass.
Thinking about the other angle — paying devs for a console exclusive. FF16 is skipping Xbox (permanently) and PC (at least 6-12 months if ever). How much does Sony have to pay for that? Will it be worth it to Square Enix? SE may have come out on top getting Sony to pay for Forespoken exclusivity, judging by how it performed.
Spencer stated that the contracts come in many shapes. Devs can get their entire dev budget covered (likely smaller games like Tunic), receive flat payments, and/or get compensated based on engagement. Tecmo, seeing the first game built a fanbase, could roll the dice and skip Game Pass for a sequel.
I platiniumed it until 05.04.2023 Despite that it is not as good as "Nioh 2" but still a lovely game... I utterly enjoyed...
Great game! Makes me happy to read this.
I think I liked Nioh a little more, but I enjoyed it a lot more than Nioh 2.
Suprisingly found this rather easy....being usually pretty meh at souls like games I was shocked others where struggling with it
I do hope that game remains part of the game pass, so we can all enjoy the upcoming DLC's this summer... (Everybody knows that Team Ninja always keep the quality level of DLC higher than the main game)...
@Lup Literally can not agree more my friend...
How many turned off and uninstalled after getting killed by the first boss? I think that number would be interesting!
@GamingFan4Lyf It's always going to be impossible to tell. I'd have never bought this, but tried it on Gamepass, so no lost sale there.
I enjoyed playing through it but making the first boss so hard was a massive own goal. The game was easier at the end than the beginning besides one boss which makes no sense. I did love the mix of genres though and the gfx and performance were spot on. Looking forward to the DLC. More like this would be welcome.
@GamingFan4Lyf As others have said, especially @theduckofdeath who made excellent points, most of those won’t have been ‘lost’ sales. But while every deal is different, there’s quite a few factors that go into deciding what you pay to get a game on your service. E.g.
How many ‘lost’ sales were there really on Xbox? I’m going to make up some rough numbers here, I don’t pretend these are accurate, but it’s just a rough idea.
It sold 1 million so far on all platforms including Xbox (not everyone has or wants Game Pass). If we look at console market share, factor in PC etc. how many would have really been lost on Xbox if it was a normal release only? At a stretch maybe 250,000 more… at a push. But let’s go with that regardless. So an additional 2.5ish million people tried it due to Game Pass.
But we also need to factor in some other things. Sales don’t happen in a vacuum. Consider this: Would it have sold as much as 1 million if it wasn’t on game pass? Being on Game Pass is great advertising, it has increased column inches and mindshare. That typically leads to more sales.
Additionally having around 2.5 million additional players due to being on Game Pass will lead to a small proportion of those 2.5 million recommending it to other players. Which again leads to more sales.
More generally if a game ends up having DLC or MTX there is now a much larger pool of people to entice and you will get more money there too.
Lastly some will have played one of these games for the first time because it was “free” that may lead to increased sales of other games of theirs both from their back catalog and in the future. These things are all interconnected.
So as you see there are a LOT of different factors and considerations. Many more we haven’t covered. But being on Game Pass, or other subscription services, can lead to more revenue in other areas. Due to all this, Microsoft likely don’t have to pay anywhere near that 250,000 ‘lost’ sales, and will pay a fraction of that cost. But every deal is different. Food for thought.
@GamingFan4Lyf
Yeah but no way all those 3 million would have bought it otherwise. Almost all the games I have played with Game Pass I wouldn't have bought (and played) even if they're not in the service.
Publishers are not so stupid that if game gets played by 3 million people by game pass that they think "damn, we lost 3 million sales". Okay, maybe square will, but still.
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