Astro Bot was launched on September 6th to mark PlayStation’s 30th anniversary. However, the game’s physical sales are not as impressive as expected. Despite the flop, the critically acclaimed Astro Bot sold more copies in the UK than Firewalk Studios’ hero shooter game Concord sold globally.
Astro Bot was developed by Asobi and published by Sony Interactive Entertainment for the PlayStation 5 console. The game was launched on September 6th to mark PlayStation’s 30th anniversary, paying homage to over 150 PlayStation heroes. Since its debut, the game’s physical sales are not as impressive as expected.
However, the game’s sales performance in the United Kingdom only surpassed the global sales of the first-person hero shooter game Concord, which Sony also published. Asobi and Sony launched Concord on August 23 before discontinuing the game’s sales after days, allegedly due to poor performance.
Astro Bot’s UK sales surpass Concord’s global reach
Astro Bot’s UK sales (physical-only so far) aren’t huge. Opening week is about a third lower than 2021’s Ratchet & Clank: Rift Apart, but I expect a longer sales tail for Astro. It’s certainly sold more copies in the UK in just 2 days than Concord sold worldwide
— Christopher Dring (@Chris_Dring) September 10, 2024
According to Christopher Dring, Head of GamesIndustry.biz, Astro Bot’s sales in the UK are not huge, and the game’s opening week only attracted a third lower than Ratchet & Clank: Rift Apart, released in 2021. However, Dring also emphasized that the UK alone bought more physical copies of the game than Concord’s worldwide sales. Dring highlighted that there was a possibility that the game’s sales would increase with time.
Sony has yet to publish a report on online sales that should give a clearer commercial performance of the game. Until the report is available, the game’s cumulative sales performance metrics will remain unclear. Astro Bot also became the highest-rated 2024 PlayStation 5 game on Metacritic after its release with 94 points.
The platform game outpaced another PS5 exclusive, Final Fantasy VII Rebirth, which has garnered 92 points. Astro Bot also cast a shadow on Balatro with 91 points, Like a Dragon: Infinite Wealth with 90 points, Hades II with 90 points, and Black Myth: WuKong with 82 points.
Concord underperforms, prompting shutdowns from developers
Astro Bot’s performance outshining that of Concord shows how poorly Concord performed, revealing more speculations about why Sony decided to shut down the game as fast as they did. Sony discontinued Concord sales barely two weeks post-launch. The game’s sales ceased, and developers promised full refunds to gamers who had purchased the sci-fi game for PlayStation and PC.
Concord’s development took eight years. However, according to gaming data tracking website SteamDB, the game only garnered an all-time peak player count of only 697 players. At some point, the game Concord recorded only 62 concurrent players, a shockingly low player count for a PlayStation 5 game.
PlayStation released a statement addressing fans. In the blog, Firewalk Studios’ game director, Ryan Ellis, mentioned that some of the game’s aspects were not coherent with how the team intended them to be post-launch. Concord managed to scoop the 21st position in the top 40 and the PlayStation 5 retail charts and number 10 in the PlayStation 5 top 10 before the developers called it off.
Source: https://www.cryptopolitan.com/astro-bots-uk-sales-outperform-concord/