Activision Blizzard, Inc. (NASDAQ:ATVI) may have sold as many as 5 million copies of their newly released shooter Destiny yesterday according to Wedbush Securities Analyst Michael Pachter, one of the leading gaming analysts. Speaking to Bloomberg yesterday, Pachter divulged that 10 million copies of the highly anticipated game have been shipped to retail, and that probably half of them were sold on day one, despite the lack of reviews available for the title.
“You may notice that there are no reviews out yet on Destiny, and the reason for that, I actually spoke to the editor-in-chief of Game Informer last night, asking why; and he said they estimate they’ll have to put 30 hours of gameplay in before they feel comfortable writing a review, cause it will take them 30 hours to try everything you can try in the game. This game is massive. It is literally probably one of the biggest games ever made, and that means that consumers are getting a lot of value for their $60,” Pachter said.
While that sounds logical, and Activision Blizzard, Inc. (NASDAQ:ATVI) themselves have warned against “day one reviews” from people rushing through the content to get a review out first, it’s rare that games are not released to the press in advance for review purposes and is a clear indication of both the hype of the game, and the respect gamers have for the game’s creator Bungie, of Halo-series fame, who have a 10-year publishing deal in place with Activision Blizzard, Inc. (NASDAQ:ATVI).
In the case of Destiny, Activision Blizzard, Inc. (NASDAQ:ATVI) has explained this as a desire not to have reviewers play what they feel would have been an inferior version of the game without the full immersion of the online elements creating the atmosphere they wanted. The shooter has RPG and MMO elements, with players exploring a world on the brink of collapse; or in fact one that has already suffered “the Collapse”, alongside other players in a persistent world.
Early snippets of reviews so far have been positive, with the game’s stunning visuals and attention to detail being praised, though a common theme is that the game has a bit of an identity problem because of the mash-up of different genres. Pachter predicts the game will sell all 10 million copies shipped by October, and as many as 20 million units all told.
The Tudor Investment Corp hedge fund managed by Paul Tudor Jones added shares of Activision Blizzard, Inc. (NASDAQ:ATVI) to their portfolio during the last quarter, purchasing 124,248 shares of the video game maker according to their most recent 13F filing.
Disclosure: none
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