Following the debut week's physical sales data from the United Kingdom, we now have more estimates suggesting that Ghost of Yōtei was very successful for developer Sucker Punch Productions and publisher Sony Interactive Entertainment.
Rhys Elliott from Alinea Analytics has shared that the game has already surpassed 1.6 million units sold to customers to date (over two million units if we consider copies already sold to retailers). This is just slightly slower than its predecessor, Ghost of Tsushima, which sold 2.4 million units in the first three days and became the fastest-selling Sony-published new intellectual property released for the PlayStation 4.
As previously noted, though, Ghost of Tsushima launched on July 17, 2020, when most of the world still had stay-at-home restrictions that effectively turned into a considerable incentive to play games. During that time, the gaming industry reached new revenue heights due to the abnormally high amount of time people were able to dedicate to games.
Furthermore, the game debuted at the very end of the PS4's lifecycle, when the console had sold 110 million units globally, whereas the PS5 has just reached 80 million units sold as of this August. In this perspective, Ghost of Yōtei is performing admirably, even more so when you consider other factors, such as the fact that the budget was reportedly the same as the previous installment (around $60 million) and that it is currently outperforming all major PS5 releases, including Assassin's Creed Shadows, since Marvel's Spider-Man 2.
Unsurprisingly, over 93% of those who played Ghost of Tsushima returned for the new game. They certainly didn't go wrong, as I explained in my review:
Ghost of Yōtei is a worthy sequel to the already excellent Ghost of Tsushima, building upon that game's foundation with an equally interesting (albeit quite different) plot and select improvements to combat and open world exploration. It may feel a little too familiar, not to mention similar to the previous game, but that sensation is quickly forgotten amidst all the fun you'll have in Ezo.
The latest Alinea Analytics newsletter also reveals that Battlefield 6 is poised to launch to great numbers tomorrow, with 1.8 million pre-orders on Steam alone and 3.5 million wishlists on Valve's platform. While you wait to play the game yourself, go read Wccftech's review written by David Carcasole.
About the author: With over two decades of experience in gaming journalism, Alessio Palumbo has led the gaming vertical at Wccftech since August 2015. He started working at a young age for Italian websites like Everyeye.it, Gamestar.it, Nextgame.it, and Multiplayer.it before kickstarting the indie English-language publication Worlds Factory as its founder and Editor in Chief. In the last decade, he has coordinated the overall output of Wccftech's gaming section, managed PR relations, assigned reviews, produced daily news coverage, edited gaming content as needed, and delivered game reviews. Arguably, his trademark content is the long series of exclusive developer interviews that have been cited by Wikipedia and by the biggest news media and gaming publications. His passion for technology also makes him knowledgeable when it comes to gaming hardware and tech. His favorite genres include RPGs, MMORPGs, and action/adventure games.
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