Released at the end of February/beginning of March, Horizon Zero Dawn sold 3.4 million copies as of April 30, Sony Interactive Entertainment America President Shawn Layden revealed to Polygon. Of those 3.4 million copies sold, 915,000 were from the PlayStation Store.
Layden said:
We thought people would go for the digital store because they didn’t want to get off the sofa, get in their car, and go drive and get it. We underestimated that.
People will get the digital copy because they don’t want to get off the sofa and put a disc in the machine.
Two weeks after launch, Horizon was at 2.6 million copies sold.
Speaking with Glixel, he added, “We’ve been so proud of what that studio [Guerrilla Games] has been able to do. It’s a brave step for that studio to go from making shooters like Killzone to an open world game.”
Discussing the large amount of digital sales for Horizon, Layden said, “This kind of shift changes everything. It changes the publishing model, it allows smaller players to put out games, it affects DLC and it has a huge impact.”
Total PlayStation Network sales were up 47% year-over-year, and Layden revealed that “the PS store on PlayStation is now the number one retailer of PlayStation software worldwide.” Netflix use is also “massive” on PlayStation.
In a separate interview with Business Insider, Layden confirmed that MLB The Show 17 is the best-selling entry in the franchise.
We’re still waiting on details from Guerrilla Games regarding the story expansion for Horizon Zero Dawn.
[Source: Polygon, Business Insider, Glixel]
