With the latest sales data now in, Yacht Club Games announced today that Shovel Knight has sold 1.2 million copies across all platforms through both retail and digital stores.
In their breakdown, Yacht Club reveals that Steam is the biggest platform for them at 32%, followed by 3DS at 29%, Wii U at 17%, and PlayStation 4 at 10%:
Retail + Digital Sales – 1.2 Million
- Steam (32%) – 384,000
- 3DS (29%) – 348,000
- Wii U (17%) – 204,000
- PS4 (10%) – 120,000
- Xbox One (5%) – 60,000
- PS Vita (4%) – 48,000
- PS3 (1%) – 12,000
Retail Sales – 200,000
- Wii U (38%) – 76,000
- 3DS (37%) – 74,000
- PS4 (23%) – 46,000
For the total sales, Yacht Club points out that the PlayStation and Xbox versions released digitally nine months after PC and Nintendo, they still sell 25,000 – 35,000 copies each month, March 2016 was the worst month for sales since launch, and the first six months of sales on all Sony platforms are equivalent to the first six months on just the Wii U (3DS sold about 50% more than Sony in the same timeframe).
Looking at just the retail sales, retail doubled digital in 2015, retail and digital are about equal so far in 2016, 70% of retail stock has sold through to consumers, Wii U has been their best seller despite retailers requesting the most stock for PS4, and Yacht Club says they make $3 – $4 less on a $24.99 retail game than they do on a $14.99 digital game. Part of the added costs with retail include an expensive insurance policy, rating for every territory, packaging, and more.
As for the free Plague of Shadows content, it cost Yacht Club Games $1 million to develop, even though they only charged $35,000 for it as a Kickstarter stretch goal. Looking at Steam data, just 6% of people completed Plague of Shadows.
Next up for Shovel Knight is the rest of the Kickstarter stretch goals: King Knight’s campaign, Specter Knight’s campaign, Body Swap, and 4 Player Battle Mode, with Yacht Club expecting to complete all development on the game by the end of this year.
If you’ve yet to pick up Shovel Knight, it’s on sale now through the PlayStation Store for $10.04 (33% off).
[Source: Yacht Club Games]
