So yeah, it’s been breaking every single major PlayStation Store pre-order record out there. In every major market: US, UK, Canada, France, Italy, Spain, Japan, Korea, Brazil, Malaysia, and what-have-you! And all of this occurs during the months of so much drama and potential boycotts surrounding the game.
Pre-order numbers. Wait, where was I? Yeah-rank-wise, at the very least-Sony really just refuses to disclose the actual pre-order numbers. Store charts are set up with internal data and are based on absolute amounts of pre-orders. So, when a game like Ghost of Yotei sits atop of these charts in so many countries, it means people are plunking down pretty darn good money in pre-orders.
That is super weird to stop and even ponder about. Haters have been going on and on online about boycotting this game because of the voice actor and some political foolishness they’re mad over. When you check out those pre-order charts, though, it’s like online uproar has so far done nothing to dent the sales.
The comments to the original post are hilarious. One read, “So much for ‘go woke, go broke’ lmfao,” which pretty much sums up the whole thing. Others accused the company of artificially inflating its store rankings to give the impression that the game was more popular than it actually was. But, like, why would they? It makes no sense.
It was an attempt at humor: “Most of the people boycotting the game probably got it pre-ordered. Top bundle,” which is probably truer than a lot of people want to admit. Pretty funny how one can be so loud on the Internet about boycotting something, yet secretly skip the boycott when it finally gets them excited.
Another interesting one from a competitive standpoint against some big names: Battlefield 6 was topping the charts earlier this year until Ghost of Yotei, a PlayStation-exclusive, managed to have all its pre-orders stacked on one platform. That pretty much helps the PlayStation Store when compared to a multi-platform title, whose competing stores split their numbers.
Here we very much get to the open regional selection! This is doing well not just in the Western markets — Japan, Korea, Malaysia, Brazil… the game is taking that No. 1 spot in locations that have almost entirely different gaming cultures. So the implication for one is that this kind of appeal is fairly universal, which is almost never the case for any game, much less a controversial one.
Targeting some people were wondering, why Malaysia of all places would be so hyped for Ghost of Yotei, but hey, good games are good games, no matter where you’re from. The original Ghost of Tsushima was, of course, a giant worldwide success; no wonder this sequel should get the whole world excited.
The timing aspect must be considered here, as Ghost of Yotei is about to become one of the first big exclusives on this generation of PlayStation – thus, fresh from the press and hotly anticipated.
John Galt conspiracies concerning Sony manipulating the charts just do not hold water here. Why would they risk their reputation by pushing artificially one title? The ranking platform has always been approached as a measurement of real sales numbers, and it would have been entirely foolish from a business standpoint to abuse that trust servicing just one title.
The real scene becomes interesting when we look at whether these pre-orders really translate into sales at day one whilst actual launch marketing seriously kicks in. Pre-orders are one thing-the real challenge sits in whether a game can maintain all of that momentum post-launch. Given how good the first game was, I would wager quite good.
Is this whole actor thing that they’re so riled on down the barrel? Almost none of the regular gamers really think about it. They just want a good game set in feudal Japan, loaded with nice combat and beautiful visuals. And as far as we’ve seen, Ghost of Yotei seems to have that in strength.
An exciting fact is that the ones complaining the loudest probably don’t even belong to the target audience. The original Ghost of Tsushima appealed to a very wide audience, from hardcore action fans to people that just enjoy exploring tranquil open worlds. This wide appeal seems to be continuing with the sequel.
Pre-order charts don’t lie! A simultaneous placing in so many regions of number one means genuine excitement is building toward it. All those online dramas and boycotts make for great viral content on Twitter but don’t affect its commercial prospects.
So yeah, Ghost of Yotei is shaping up to be the next big thing for the PlayStation. Crazy pre-order numbers, crazy hype, and the controversy is just background noise that most players seem to be ignoring. Can’t wait to get my hands on it when it finally launches!
