Citing NPD sell-through data, several Wall Street analysts have revealed that Destiny 2‘s physical sales fell by over 50 percent in its first month compared to the original.
While the reports acknowledge that overall sales data may be less gloomy considering digital sales, analysts point out that Activision hasn’t revealed a total sales number like it did it via press releases in 2014.
“The launch month of Destiny 2 was well short of the original iteration by a material amount,” wrote Piper Jaffray analyst Michael Olson, according to CNBC. We’re told that the situation is similar in the UK, where Gfk reported a 58 percent year-over-year drop in physical sales during the first week.
Analysts believe that the decline can be partly attributed to the game launching on current-gen consoles only. 2014’s Destiny launched on last-gen consoles as well. While NPD declined to comment on the reports, Activision released 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.
Although Activision Blizzard’s stock is up 72 percent this year, shares declined 2.3 percent by midday yesterday following these reports.
In other Activision Blizzard news, financial services firm Cowen & Company believes that this year’s Call of Duty will outperform Infinite Warfare, and predicts a 2018 release for Black Ops 4. However, the firm has expressed concerns that investor expectations for Activision Blizzard’s performance are “too high” and that its Overwatch league may not pull in the revenue they hope it will. As a result, Cowen has downgraded the company’s stock rating.
